Alur language

Alur (Dho-Alur [d̟ɔ.a.lur]) is a Western Nilotic language spoken in the southern West Nile region of Uganda and the northeastern Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The language's subialects are Jokot, Jonam/Lo-Naam (mainly spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Mambisa and Wanyoro.

Alur
Lur
Region	Orientale Province (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Uganda
Ethnicity	Alur
Native speakers	1.7 million (2001–2014)[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Nilotic Western Nilotic Luo Southern Luo Luo–Acholi Alur–Acholi Alur
Language codes
ISO 639-3	alz
Glottolog	alur1250

Phonology

Vowels

Alur has 9 vowels.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

Alur has 23 consonants.

Phonetic inventory of consonants in Alur

		Labial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive		p b		t̟ d̟	t d			k ɡ
Fricative			f v		s z			h
Affricate						tʃ dʒ
Trill					r
Approximant		w			l		j

Grammar

Alur has an SVO word order.

Orthography

The Alur language has no officially accepted orthography. However, informal conventions have been established in written materials and road signs.

First, there is usually no written tonal distinction. Second, the phonemic distinction between /ŋ/ and /ng/ is occasionally reflected in the orthography, with /ŋ/ represented by 'ŋ' and /ng/ represented by 'ng'. However, /ŋ/ is also frequently written as 'ng', confusing it orthographically with /ng/.

References

1. Alur at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

External links

• Examples of Alur.
• The New Testament in Alur with text and recordings.