Fur language

Fur
poor’íŋ belé’ŋ
Native to	Sudan, Chad
Region	Darfur, Sila
Ethnicity	1.3 million Fur (2023)
Native speakers	790,000 (2004–2023)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Fur Fur
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	fvr
Glottolog	furr1244
Linguasphere	05-CAA-aa
Geographic distribution of Fur

The Fur language (or For; Fur: poor’íŋ belé’ŋ) is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Fur of Darfur in Western Sudan and Chad. It is part of a broader family of languages known as the Fur languages.

Phonology

The consonantal phonemes are:

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d	ɟ	k ɡ
Fricative	f	s (z)				h
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Approximant		l	j		w
Trill		r

All sounds are spelt with their IPA symbols except for the following: j = [ɟ~dʒ], ñ = [ɲ] and y = [j]. Arabic consonants are sometimes used in loanwords.

The vowels are: a e i o u. There is dispute as to whether the –ATR vowels [ɛ], [ɔ], [ɪ], [ʊ] are phonetic variants or separate phonemes.

		Front	Central	Back
Close	[+ATR]	i		u
Near-close	[-ATR]	ɪ		ʊ
Mid	[+ATR]	[e]	ə	[o]
Open-mid	[-ATR]	ɛ		ɔ
Open			a

There are two underlying tonemes, L (low) and H (high); phonetically, L, H, mid, HL, and LH are all found.

Metathesis is an extremely common and regular grammatical phenomenon in Fur: when a consonant pronoun prefix is prefixed to a verb that begins with a consonant, either the verb's first consonant is deleted or it changes places with the following vowel; e.g.:

lem-

"lick"

→

 

-elm-

 

lem- → -elm-

"lick" {} {}

ba-

"drink"

→

 

-ab-

 

ba- → -ab-

"drink" {} {}

tuum-

"build"

→

 

-utum-

 

tuum- → -utum-

"build" {} {}

There are also various assimilation rules.

Morphology

Plurals

Noun, and optionally adjective, plurals can be formed with -a (-ŋa after vowels):

aldí

"story"

→

 

aldíŋá

"stories"

aldí → aldíŋá

"story" {} "stories"

tóŋ

"(a certain species of) antelope"

→

 

pira

"antelopes"

tóŋ → pira

{"(a certain species of) antelope"} {} "antelopes"

piraŋa

"old"

→

 

tooy'báiná

"old (PL)"

piraŋa → tooy'báiná

"old" {} {"old (PL)"}

This suffix also gives the inanimate 3rd person plural of the verb:

liíŋ

"he bathes"

→

 

liíŋá,

"they (inanimate) bathe"

káliŋa

"they (animate) bathe"

liíŋ → liíŋá, káliŋa

{"he bathes"} {} {"they (inanimate) bathe"} {"they (animate) bathe"}

Vowel-final adjectives can take a plural in -lá, as well as -ŋa:

lúllá

"cold"

→

 

lúllála or lúlláŋa

"cold (PL)"

lúllá → {lúllála or lúlláŋa}

"cold" {} {"cold (PL)"}

A similar suffix (metathesized and assimilated to become -ól/-úl/-ál) is used for the plural of the verb in some tenses.

A few CVV nouns take the plural suffix H-ta;

roo

"river"

→

 

roota'wala gal rooŋa

"rivers"

roo → {roota'wala gal rooŋa}

"river" {} "rivers"

ra̱yi' wala gal ra̱y

"field"

→

 

rǎ̱ytó'wala gal rǎ̱ytá

"fields"

{ra̱yi' wala gal ra̱y} → {rǎ̱ytó'wala gal rǎ̱ytá}

"field" {} "fields"

At least two nouns take the suffix -i:

kóór

"spear"

→

 

kóórí

"spears"

kóór → kóórí

"spear" {} "spears"

dʉ́tʉ

"mouse"

→

 

kʉ́ʉ́tɨ́

"mice"

dʉ́tʉ → kʉ́ʉ́tɨ́

"mouse" {} "mice"

Nouns with the singular prefix d- (> n- before a nasal) take the plural k-; these are about 20% of all nouns. In some cases (mostly body parts) it is accompanied by L; e.g.:

dɨ́ló

"ear"

→

 

kɨ́ló

"ears"

dɨ́ló → kɨ́ló

"ear" {} "ears"

nʉ́ŋɨ́

"eye"

→

 

kʉ́ŋɨ́

"eyes"

nʉ́ŋɨ́ → kʉ́ŋɨ́

"eye" {} "eyes"

dági

"tooth"

→

 

kagi

"teeth"

dági → kagi

"tooth" {} "teeth"

dormí

"nose"

→

 

kormi

"noses"

dormí → kormi

"nose" {} "noses"

• In some cases, the singular also has a suffix -ŋ, not found in the plural:

daulaŋ

"shoe"

→

 

kaula

"shoes"

daulaŋ → kaula

"shoe" {} "shoes"

dɨróŋ

"egg"

→

 

kɨro

"eggs"

dɨróŋ → kɨro

"egg" {} "eggs"

• Sometimes, a further plural suffix from those listed above is added:

nʉ́nʉm

"granary"

→

 

kʉ́nʉ́ma

"granaries"

nʉ́nʉm → kʉ́nʉ́ma

"granary" {} "granaries"

nʉ́ʉ́m

"snake"

→

 

kʉ́ʉ́mɨ́

"snakes"

nʉ́ʉ́m → kʉ́ʉ́mɨ́

"snake" {} "snakes"

dɨwwô

"new"

→

 

kɨwwóla'wala gal 'kɨwwóŋa

"new (PL)"

dɨwwô → {kɨwwóla'wala gal 'kɨwwóŋa}

"new" {} {"new (PL)"}

• Sometimes the suffix -(n)ta, is added:

dewer

"porcupine"

→

 

kewértá

"porcupines"

dewer → kewértá

"porcupine" {} "porcupines"

da̱wi

"tail"

→

 

ka̱wíntó'wala gal ka̱wíntá

"tails"

da̱wi → {ka̱wíntó'wala gal ka̱wíntá}

"tail" {} "tails"

• One noun, as well as the demonstratives and the interrogative "which", take a plural by simply prefixing k-L:

úú

"cow"

→

 

kuu

"cows"

úú → kuu

"cow" {} "cows"

á̱yɨ

"which (one)?"

→

 

ká̱yɨ

"which (ones)?"

á̱yɨ → ká̱yɨ

{"which (one)?"} {} {"which (ones)?"}

• Several syntactic plurals with no singulars, mostly denoting liquids, have k-L-a; kewa "blood", koro "water", kona "name, song" koonà.

Nouns

The locative case can be expressed by the suffix -le or by reversing the noun's final tone, e.g.:

tòŋ

"house"

→

 

toŋ

"at the house"

tòŋ → toŋ

"house" {} {"at the house"}

loo

"place"

+

 

kàrrà

"far"

→

 

loo kàrrà-le

"at a far place"

loo + kàrrà → {loo kàrrà-le}

"place" {} "far" {} {"at a far place"}

The genitive (English possessive s) is expressed by the suffix -iŋ (the i is deleted after a vowel.) If the relationship is possessive, the possessor comes first; otherwise, it comes last; e.g.:

nuum

"snake"

→

 

nuumiŋ tàbù

"snake's head"

nuum → {nuumiŋ tàbù}

"snake" {} {"snake's head"}

jùtà

"forest"

→

 

kàrabà jùtăŋ

"animals of the forest"

jùtà → {kàrabà jùtăŋ}

"forest" {} {"animals of the forest"}

Pronouns

Independent subject:

Singular	Fur	Plural	Fur
I	ká	we	kɨ́
you (sg.)	jɨ́	you (pl.)	bɨ́
he, she, it	yé	they	yɨeŋ + yeeŋ

The object pronouns are identical, apart from being low tone and having -ŋó added to the plural forms.

Prefixed subject pronouns:

Singular	Fur	Plural	Fur
I	– (triggers metathesis)	we	k-
you (sg.)	j-	you (pl.)	b-
he, she, it	– (causes raising; *y-)	they (animate)	y- (+pl. suffix)
		they (inanimate)	(*y-) (+pl. suffix)

Thus, for example, on the verb bʉo- "tire":

English	Fur	English	Fur
I'm tired	ká ʉmo	we tired	kɨ́ kʉmo
you (sg.) tired	jɨ́ jʉmo	you (pl.) tired	bɨ́ bʉmo
he/it/she tired	yé bʉo	they tired	yɨeŋ kʉme + yeeŋ bʉe

gi, described as the "participant object pronoun", represents first or second person objects in a dialogue, depending on context.

Possessives (singular; take k- with plural nouns):

Singular	Fur	Plural	Fur
my	dúíŋ	our	dáíŋ
your (sg.)	dɨ́ɨ́ŋ	your (pl.)	dɨ́eŋ
his, hers, its	dééŋ	their	dɨ́eŋ

Verbs

The Fur verbal system is quite complicated; verbs fall into a variety of conjugations. There are three tenses: present, perfect, and future. Subjunctive is also marked. Aspect is distinguished in the past tense.

Derivational suffixes include -iŋ (intransitive/reflexive; e.g.

lii

"he washes"

→

 

liiŋ

"he washes himself"

lii → liiŋ

{"he washes"} {} {"he washes himself"}

and gemination of the middle consonant plus -à/ò (intensive; e.g.

jabi

"drop"

→

 

jappiò/jabbiò

"throw down"

jabi → jappiò/jabbiò

"drop" {} {"throw down"}

Negation is done with the marker a-...-bà surrounding the verb; a-bai-bà "he does not drink".

Adjectives

Most adjectives have two syllables, and a geminate middle consonant: e.g. àppa "big", fùkka "red", lecka "sweet". Some have three syllables: dàkkure "solid".

Adverbs can be derived from adjectives by addition of the suffix -ndì or L-n, e.g.:

kùlle

"fast"

→

 

kùllendì or kùllèn

"quickly"

kùlle → {kùllendì or kùllèn}

"fast" {} "quickly"

Abstract nouns can be derived from adjectives by adding -iŋ and lowering all tones, deleting any final vowel of the adjective, e.g.:

dìrro

"heavy"

→

 

dìrrìŋ

"heaviness"

dìrro → dìrrìŋ

"heavy" {} "heaviness"

Media in Fur language

Radio Dabanga – broadcasts daily news in the Fur language and in other languages local to Darfur.

Sources

• Beaton, A.C. A Grammar of the Fur Language. Linguistic Monograph Series, No. 1. Khartoum: Sudan Research Unit, Faculty of Arts, University of Khartoum 1968 (1937).
• Bariwarig Tooduo, "Participant Reference in the Fur language of the Sudan". University of Juba 2014
• Bariwarig Tooduo, "Number Marking in the Fur language of the Sudan"
• Bariwarig Tooduo, "Modifiers in the Fur language of the Sudan"
• Jakobi, Angelika. A Fur Grammar. Buske Verlag: Hamburg 1989.
• Kutsch-Lojenga, Constance and Christine Waag, "The Sounds and Tones of Fur", in Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages No. 9. Entebbe: SIL-Sudan 2004.
• Noel, Georgianna. An Examination of the Tone System of Fur and its Function in Grammar, University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

External links

• Huffman, Steve. "Language Map of Sudan and South Sudan (pre-separation)" (PDF). www.worldgeodatasets.com. Archived from the original on July 5, 2017.