Gula Iro language

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The Gula Iro language (autonym kùláál) is a Bua language spoken by some 3,500 people (in 1991) north and east of Lake Iro in southern Chad, between the and Salamat rivers. It has four dialects, according to Pairault:

• páṭóól (350 speakers), the northernmost and the least comprehensible to speakers of the other dialects, spoken in and around ;
• pòŋààl (2,000 speakers), by the north shore of the lake, spoken in and around , , and ;
• tɩ́ààlà (730 speakers), spoken east and south of the lake, including , , , and ;
• tííṭààl (200 speakers), the easternmost, spoken in various villages west of ;

to which Ethnologue adds a fifth, Korintal (170 speakers), spoken in .^[1]

Gula Iro is very closely related to Zan Gula and Bon Gula, but they are not mutually comprehensible.

Phonology[]

The consonants, along with their orthography, are:

The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, ɛ, ɩ, ɔ, ʋ. Nasalization (only on a, e, o) and length are both contrastive, and diphthongs can be formed. Tone is phonemic; each vowel must carry high or low tone.

Grammar[]

Typical word order is subject–verb–object. The basic subject pronouns are: ñó I, mó you (sg.), á he/she/it, pʋ́ we (exclusive), én we (inclusive), í you (pl.), ʋ́ they.

Bibliography[]

• P. Boyeldieu. "La formation du pluriel nominal en kulaal (Tchad): essai de systématisation des documents publiés par C. Pairault". Afrika und Übersee, 1986, n° 69, vol. 2, p. 209-249.
• C. Pairault, Documents du parler d'iro: kùláál du Tchad. Langues et Littérature de l'Afrique Noire V. Klincksieck: Paris 1969.

References[]