Topotha_language

Toposa language

Toposa language

Eastern Nilotic language of South Sudan

Toposa (also Akara, Kare, Kumi, Taposa, Topotha) is a Nilo-Saharan language (Eastern Sudanic, Nilotic) spoken in South Sudan by the Toposa people. Mutually intelligible language varieties include Jiye of South Sudan, Nyangatom of Ethiopia, Karimojong, Jie[2] and Dodos of Uganda and Turkana of Kenya. Teso (spoken in both Kenya and Uganda) is lexically more distant.

Quick Facts Native to, Region ...

Phonology

Consonants

More information Labial, Alveolar ...
  • All consonants (except, of course, for /w/ and /j/) can occur in labialized and palatalized forms.

Vowels

More information Front, Central ...
More information Front, Central ...
  • Toposa, like many Nilotic languages, has vowel harmony with two sets of vowels: a set with the tongue root advanced (+ATR) and a −ATR set. +ATR is marked. The vowel /a/ is neutral with respect to vowel harmony.[3]
  • All nine vowels also occur as devoiced, contrasting with their voiced counterparts. These voiceless vowels occur primarily in prepause contexts. Some Toposa morphemes consist only of a high voiceless vowel; the functional load appears to be much greater with the high vowels than with the lower.[4]
  • Toposa has tone, which is grammatical rather than lexical. Tone is used to mark case in nouns and tense in verbs.

Bibliography

  • Schröder, Martin C. (1989). "The Toposa Verb in Narrative Structure". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere. 20: 129–142.
  • Schröder, Martin C.; Helga Schröder (1987a). "Voiceless Vowels in Toposa". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere. 12: 17–26.
  • Schröder, Martin C.; Helga Schröder (1987b). "Vowel Harmony in Toposa". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere. 12: 27–36.

References

  1. [1]
    Toposa at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. [2]
    Jiye and Jie are the same name, but refer to different varieties
  3. [3]
    Schröder & Schröder 1987b, p. 27
  4. [4]
    Schröder & Schröder 1987a, p. 17
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