Dialect comparison of syllable structure Noun plural formation alternation among the dialects

In some words, a vowel without an adjacent semivowel alternates with a vowel and adjacent semivowel among the dialects. And which dialect has which vowel and semivowel, varies from word to word. 53 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo y ɔ hayy ɔhɔ-ni hayy ɔhɔ-ni hɛyyɔhɔ-ni hɛyyɔhɔ-ni hɛyyɔhɔ-ni ‘shepherd’ wɔ mɔrwɔ mɔrwɔ mɔrwɔ mɔrwɔ mɔrwɔ ‘stone’ ay cumay sɔ̀mây sɔmay sɔmay sɔmay ‘fat’ ɛ ~ yɔ dɛrɔ dɛrɔ dy ɔrɔ dy ɔrɔ dy ɔrɔti ‘rats’ ɛ ~ yɛ kɛr ky ɛr kɛr kɛr kɛr ‘sheep’ irɛfit irɛfit ily ɛfit ily ɛfit ɔlɛfit ‘container’ ɛ ~ ya imɛtak imɛtak imyatak imyatak imyatak ‘increase, become’ inɛfɔ inɛfa inɛfu inyafa inyafa ‘catch’ lɔrɛwa lɛrɛwa lɔlyawa lɔlyawa ɔlɛwa ‘husband’ ɔ ~ wɔ idɔŋɔ idɔŋɔ idwɔŋɔ idwɔŋɔ idwɔŋɔ ‘appear’ hɔmwɔŋ hɔ̀mwɔ̀ŋ hɔmɔm hɔmɔm hɔmɔm ‘face, forehead’ ɛ ~ ɛy lɛymɛ lɛ́ymɛ̀ lɛmyɛ lɛmyɛ lɛmɛ ‘lion’ lɛwa lɛ́wá llɛywa llɛywa llɛwa ‘gazelle type’ lɛyfɔri lɛyfɔri lɛyfɔri lɛyfɔri ɛfɔri ‘kitchen’ ɔ ~ ɔy mɔytɛ mɔytɛ mɔtyɛ mɔtyɛ mɔtɛ ‘morning’ a ~ ay fayti fày tî fati fati fati ‘ebony tree’ garay gàráy garay garay igara ‘dry grassland’ a ~ aw hawwɛ hàwwɛ̀ hawwɛ hawwɛ hawɔ ‘arrow’ In a few other words, there are vowel-consonant alternations among the dialects. 54 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo wa mɔrwari mɔrwari mɔrwari mɔrwari mɔrwari ‘rocky place’ wa ~ wa kwan kwàn wan wan hwan ‘body’ wa ~ usa ibwari ibwari ibusari ibusari oburusari ‘escape’ ca ~ tya icaha icaha ityaha ityaha ityara ‘begin’ cɔw ~ sw hɔcɔwan haswani haswani haswani haswani ‘buffalo’ llu ~ lyu tɛ-lyu tɛ-lyu tɔ-llu tɔ-llu tɔ-llu ‘jumb down’ sːi ~ syɔ ma- cɔhi may-sy ɔk a ma- sːik ma- sːik ma- sːik ‘places’ a In Ngotira, ‘places’ can be either may-sihi or may-sy ɔk.

2.4 Dialect comparison of syllable structure

Syllable types and structures are generally the same for the five dialects. However, CVSC syllable types are not found in Lomiaha or Lohutok. However, the semivowel w is found word-final in Lolongo faw ‘earth, ground’ in Lolongo. Semivowels precede and follow the same vowels in other dialects as in 17, except that in Lomiaha, Lohutok and Lolongo, y does not precede u, but instead precedes ɔ as in dyɔrɔ ‘rats’. In addition, w precedes ɛ in Lomiaha huh-wɛ ‘charcoal’ and Lolongo ilulwɛ ‘cry’. The same consonants precede semivowels in other dialects, except that in Dorik —which has no s phoneme— c precedes y instead of s as in icy ɔ ‘honey’. In Dorik, as in other dialects, c is not found to precede w. In addition to the Ngotira consonants preceding adjacent vowels shown in 18, t precedes y in Dorik as in t yaŋ ‘animal’, and ɟ precedes y in Lolongo as in ɟyani ‘broom’. Lastly, tone was only elicited for the Ngotira data in this analysis. However, Turner 2001ː44 claims a two contrastive level tone system in Lolongo High and Low, and Moodie claims at least High a nd Low tone in Dorik 2012ː15.

2.5 Noun plural formation alternation among the dialects

In other dialects, the same plural formation affixes are found except that Lomiaha, Lohutok and Lolongo do not have -sen, and these dialects use -ira instead of -ara. In Dorik, which has no phoneme s, the suffixes -ci and -cen are used instead of -si and -sen. Most plural formation affixes are found in five dialects of the same word. However in some words, there are alternations of the affixes among the dialects. And which dialect has which alternation, varies from word to word. Which suffix alternates also varies from word to word. In 55, the plural suffix -a is shown to alternate with various suffixes and in various dialects. Singular forms of nouns are listed above plural forms in each of five dialects. 55 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo tafar táfár tafar tafar tafar ‘lake, pond’ -a tafar-a tàfàr-à tafar-a tafar-a tafar-a cɔfɛ sɔ̀fɛ̂ sɔfɛ sɔfɛ hisɔfɛ ‘drill, hoe’ -a ~ -cin cɔfɛ-cin sɔ̀fy-â sɔfy-a sɔfy-a sɔfy-a hɔrwɔŋ hɔ̀rwɔ̀ŋ hɔrwɔŋ hɔrwɔŋ hɔrwɔŋ ‘back’ -a ~ - itcɔk hɔrwɔŋ-a hɔ́rwɔ̀ŋ-â hɔrwɔŋ-a hɔrwɔŋ-a hɔrwɔŋ-itɔk fɔtir fɔ́tír fɔtir fɔtir fɔtir ‘warthog’ -a ~ -ak fɔtir-a fɔ̀tìr-à fɔrtir-ak fɔrtir-ak fɔrtir-ak cali sàl ì sali sali sali ‘stove’ -a ~ - cɔ, -tɔ cali-cɔ sàly- â sali- tɔ sali- tɔ sali- tɔ In 56, the plural suffix - ɔ alternates with various suffixes and in various dialects. 56 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo mɔlɔŋ mɔ̀lɔ̀ŋ mɔlɔŋ mɔlɔŋ mɔlɔŋ ‘baboon’ - ɔ mɔlɔŋ-ɔ mɔ̀lɔ̀ŋ-ɔ̂ mɔlɔŋ-ɔ mɔlɔŋ-ɔ mɔlɔŋ-ɔ tamu tàmù tamu tamu tamu ‘helmet’ - ɔ ~ -cin tamu-cin tamw- ɔ tamw- ɔ tamw- ɔ tamw- ɔ dɔrɔŋ dɔ̀rɔ̀ŋ dɔrɔŋ dɔrɔŋ dɔrɔŋ ‘high land’ - ɔ ~ -i dɔrɔŋ-ɔ dɔ́rɔ́ŋ-ì dɔrɔŋ-i dɔrɔŋ-i dɔrɔŋ-i fuhɛr fúhɛ́r fuhɛr fuhɛr fuhɛr ‘farm’ - ɔ ~ -a fuhɛr-ɔ fùhɛ̀r-ɔ̀ fuhyar-a fuhyar-a fuhyar-a buni bùnî buni buni buni-t ‘pool’ - ɔ ~ -cɔ, ∅ buni-cɔ bùnì buny- ɔ buny- ɔ buni The alternations of the plural suffix - ɟin are similarly unpredictable. 57 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo hɔfwɔ hɔ́fwɔ́ hɔfwɔ hɔfwɔ hɔfwɔ ‘flour’ - ɟin hɔfwɔ-ɟin hɔ̀fwɔ̀-ɟìn hɔfwɔ-ɟin hɔfwɔ-ɟin hɔfwɔ-ɟin hɔtwa hɔ̀twáy hɔtway hɔtway hɔtw-ay ‘inside’ - ɟin ~ -ɛ hɔtwa-yɟin hɔ̀twày-ɟín hɔtway-ɟin hɔtway-ɟin hɔtw-ɛ 57 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo hɔtɔ hɔ́tɔ́ hɔtɔ hɔtɔ hɔtɔ ‘blood’ - ɟin ~ ∅ hɔtɔ hɔtɔ-ɟin hɔtɔ-ɟin hɔtɔ-ɟin hɔtɔ-ɟin gɔrɔ gɔ̀rɔ̀ gɔrɔ gɔrɔ gɔrɔ ‘jug’ - ɟin ~ -na gɔrɔ-na gɔ̀rɔ̀-nà gɔrɔ-ɟin gɔrɔ-ɟin gɔrɔ-ɟin bɛlɛ-lyɛ bɛ̀lyɛ̌ bɛlyɛ bɛlyɛ bɛly-ɛ ‘skin’ - ɟin ~ -sin, -lɛ bɛly-ɛ bɛ̀lyɛ̀-ɟìn bɛlyɛ-sin bɛlyɛ-sin bɛlɛ-lɛ The singular suffix -i also has unpredictable alternations. 58 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo -i cɛŋ-i cɛ̀ŋ-î cɛŋ-i cɛŋ-i cɛŋ-i ‘bird’ cɛŋ cɛ̀ŋ cɛŋ cɛŋ cɛŋ -i ~ -ti iwa-y ìwâ-y huwa-ti huwa-ti iwa-ti ‘wing’ iwa ìwâ huwa huwa iwa -i ~ -iti, -y ɔ laky ɛ-ti lɛfɛr-iti ɔfyɛr-i ɔfɛr-i hafɛr-yɔ ‘louse, lice’ laky ɛ lɛfɛr-ɔ ɔfyɛr ɔfɛr hafɛr The singular prefix hi- is most common in singular nouns of all dialects, such as in hì-yɛ̀nìyɛ́ní ‘rope’. However, hi- begins both singular and plural nouns in some dialects of the words of 59. 59 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo hi- hi- yɛni hì-yɛ̀nì hi- yɛni hi- yɛni hi- yɛni ‘rope’ yɛni yɛ́ní yɛni yɛni yɛni hi- riŋɔ hi- riŋɔ hiri- ŋɔ hiri- ŋɔ hiri- ŋɔ ‘meat’ riŋɔ-y riŋɔ-y hiri hiri hiri hiɲaŋ hi- ɲaŋ hi- ɲaŋ hi- ɲaŋ hi- ɲaŋ ‘crocodile’ hiɲaŋ-a ɲaŋ-i ɲaŋ-i ɲaŋ-i ɲaŋ-i hunɔm húnɔ́m hi- nɔm hi- nɔm hi- nɔm ‘cave’ hunɔm-ɔ hùnɔ̀m-ɔ̀ nɔm-i nɔm-i nɔm-i Most nouns utilize the same mechanisms for forming singular and plural nouns in all dialects. That is, in most nouns, all dialects attach a suffix or prefix to the singular form, or they all attach a suffix to the plural form, or they use a combination of the two. However in the nouns of 60, the dialects alternate in the way they form the singular and plural of the noun. 60 Dorik Ngotira Lomiaha Lohutok Lolongo mwarah-i mwárák mwarah-ati mwarah-ati mwarah-ati ‘horn’ mwarah-a mwàràh- â mwarak mwarak mwarak tɔgɔli tɔgɔli tɔgɔl-i tɔgɔl-i tɔgɔl-i ‘canoe’ tɔgɔli-cɛn tɔgɔli-sɛn tɔgɔl-ɔ tɔgɔl-ɔ tɔgɔl-ɔ haŋɛr-i haŋɛr-i haŋɛr-i haŋɛr-i haŋɛri ‘fruit, seed’ haŋɛr ha ŋɛr haŋɛr haŋɛr haŋɛry-ɔ huŋ-u huŋ-u huŋu huŋu huŋu ‘knee’ huŋ-a hùŋ huŋu-ta huŋu-ta huŋu-ta

2.6 Vowel morphophonology in other dialects