Nyole language (Uganda)

Nyole (also LoNyole, Lunyole, Nyuli) is a Bantu language spoken by the Banyole in Butaleja District, Uganda. There is 61% lexical similarity with a related but different Nyole language in Kenya.

Nyole
Lunyole
Native to	Uganda
Region	Butaleja District
Ethnicity	Banyole
Native speakers	340,000 (2002 census)^[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Masaba–Luhya (J.30) Nyole
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nuj
Glottolog	nyol1238
Guthrie code	JE.35^[2]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k
	voiced	b	d	dʒ	g
	voiced prenasalized	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮdʒ	ᵑg
Fricative	voiceless	ɸ	s		x
	voiced	β
Approximant		w	l~ɾ	j	(w)

Nyole has series of voiceless, voiced, and prenasalized stops. /w/ is labio-velar.

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	o
Low	a

Historical changes

Nyole has an interesting development from Proto-Bantu *p → Nyole /ŋ/. Schadeberg (1989) connects this sound change to rhinoglottophilia, where the sound change developed first as *[p] → [ɸ] → [h]. Then, given the acoustic similarity of [h] and breathy voice to nasalization, the sound change progressed as [h] → [h̃] → [ŋ]. The velar place of articulation development is due to velar nasals being the least perceptible of the nasals and its marginal status in (pre-)Nyole and other Bantu languages. In closely related neighboring languages, *p developed variously into /h/ or /w/ or was deleted.

This historical development results in so-called "crazy" alternations, like /n/ + /ŋ/ resulting in /p/ as in the following:

n-ŋuliira ("hear" stem form) : puliira "I hear"

n-ŋumula ("rest" stem form) : pumula "I rest"

In the above two words, when the first person singular subject prefix /n-/ is added to the stem starting with /ŋ/, the initial consonant surfaces as /p/. In other forms (like /oxu-ŋuliira/ "to hear" and /oxu-ŋumula/ "to rest"), the original stem-initial /ŋ/ can be seen.

Writing System

Alphabet nyole^[3]

a

aa

b

bb

c

d

e

ee

f

g

h

i

ii

j

k

l

m

n

ny

ŋ

o

oo

p

r

s

t

u

uu

v

w

y

z

See also

• Luhya language

References

1. Nyole at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009.
3. Lunyole Language Association 2006. sfn error: no target: CITEREFLunyole_Language_Association2006 (help)

• Eastman, Carol M. (1972). Lunyole of the Bamenya, JAL, 11 (3), 63-78.
• Morris, H. F. (1963). A note on Lunyole. Uganda Journal, 27, 127-134.
• Schadeberg, Thilo C. (1989). The velar nasal in Nyole (E. 35). Annales Aequatoria, 10, 169-179. (Available online).