OCCASIONAL PAPERS in the study of SUDANESE LANGUAGES No. 9 The Sounds and Tones of Fur Constance Kutsch Lojenga and Christine Waag................................ 1 Issues in Toposa Orthography Martin C. Schröder........................................................................... 27 A Journey in Orthography Evaluation - My Otuho Experience John Duerksen.................................................................................. 39 Kadugli-Krongo Ed Hall and Marian Hall .................................................................. 57 Dinka - Nuer Orthographies John Duerksen.................................................................................. 69 Bongo-Bagirmi Languages in Sudan Janet Persson .................................................................................. 77 Orthographies of Moru-Ma'di languages Eileen Kilpatrick.............................................................................. 85 Phonology of the These Language May Yip............................................................................................ 93 A Brief Description of the Current Talodi Orthographies Tanya Spronk................................................................................. 119 Phonology and Orthography in Gaahmg Timothy M. Stirtz........................................................................... 127 Didinga Orthography Nicky de Jong................................................................................. 145 The Lwoian Family Leoma G. Gilley............................................................................. 165 The Adamawa - Ubangi Languages in Sudan Clement Murba Wau Bilal ............................................................. 175 Suggestions for Writing Modern Nubian Languages Asmaa Mohd. Ibrahim Ahmed....................................................... 185 Competing Orthographies for Writing Nobiin Nubian Muhammad Jalāl Ahmad Hāshim .................................................. 215 OCCASIONAL PAPERS in the study of SUDANESE LANGUAGES No. 9 Partners in Language Development i There are a number of institutions and individuals who are interested in research on languages in Sudan and there is a need to make research presently being done available to others. The purpose of these Occasional Papers is to serve as an outlet for work papers and other useful data which might otherwise remain in private files. We hope that Sudanese and non-Sudanese linguists alike may profit from such a series of papers. Manuscripts for the series are welcomed. A clear, hard copy following the format of the pages in this volume should be sent to the editors for consideration. Edited by Leoma C. Gilley © 2004, SIL-Sudan Address correspondence to: The Editor Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages SIL-Sudan Box 750 Entebbe, Uganda Previous volumes are available. Prices are $10.00 U.S. apiece. All volumes are available through SIL-Sudan, Box 750, Entebbe, Uganda Nos. 4 - 7 are also available through the INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC BOOKSTORE, Summer Institute of Linguistics, 7500 W. Camp Wisdom Road, Dallas, TX 75236 Contents of volumes 1-8 is located on the last 2 pages. ii Preface to Volume 9 It is encouraging to see this collection of papers with a common theme of Orthography Development. Orthography development in Sudanese languages continues to be a live issue, and it will remain a key issue for decades to come. Linguistic analysis and description is one of the major gifts that the academic linguistic world can bring to the language communities of Sudan. The survival of Sudanese languages will be in the hands of the speakers themselves and the choices they make, but documentation of linguistic analyses of these languages will increase the range of options that the speakers have. What we have here is 'work in progress' – there are no complete answers, and there is a great deal of research still to be undertaken. But what we can see here represents what is being undertaken now, and indicates that research will continue. The importance of linguistic research Linguistic research is critical for the development of Sudanese languages. By development I mean the way that the language communities of the Sudan are choosing to use their own language. Language choices are being made everyday by individuals in their homes, their village and town communities, their places of worship, their classrooms – in the whole range of human activities. These choices are often made without conscious thought and with a limited knowledge base. The decisions being made are currently of critical importance in the area of the written form of the language. Without adequate linguistic research the choices are limited – and some, having tried, have come to believe that their language cannot be adequately written. The kind of linguistic research and description represented in these papers will encourage conscious thought and provide data for these decisions. The importance of documentation One of the dangers facing all researchers, and maybe linguists in particular, is to carry out research but fail to adequately document that research. Maybe the major factor that discourages documentation is that the research is never complete, and we are always looking for that additional data and that additional insight which will radically improve the analysis. These papers represent a healthy lack of finality – they are not presenting The Complete Answer to Writing Sudanese Languages. There is no complete answer, but a continual groping towards a better way of writing Sudanese languages. In these papers there are several recurrent issues which highlight where the better way might lie. Tone – does it need to be represented? One of these issues is that of tone. Does tone need to be represented in the orthographies of Sudanese languages? The indications from these papers are mixed – as the decisions for individual languages will be mixed. But each language community will need sooner or later to grapple with the question and make clear decisions. The papers in this volume, and similarly documented research, provide important data to inform that decision process. Should the orthography represent the surface or underlying? Another key issue raised in many of these papers, and underlying many of them, is the question of which level of the language should the orthography represent? The practice in the iii past years has been to represent a surface level – a practice largely based on the practical consideration that this was all that was possible for the non-native speakers of the language who were making the decisions. Decisions were largely made based upon the then current understanding of phonology. As the science of linguistics has developed, so the options for representation have increased. One particular area reflected in these papers is that of representation of the vowels. With greater understanding of vowel phonology, including vowel harmony, the options available to the communities has been expanded. Further research in the area of writing is important for the development of Sudanese languages – and especially research carried out by mother-tongue speakers who bring insights not available to the outside researcher. How can the orthography balance the linguistic and the sociolinguistic factors? The decisions being made in writing Sudanese languages are influenced by many factors, including not just the linguistic but also the sociolinguistic. This is highlighted in the papers by Asmaa Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed and by Muhammad Jallal Ahmed Hashim. The choice of scripts for Sudanese languages is largely a sociolinguistic one – and one that generates rhetoric when raised. But this issue must be faced by the language communities in Sudan. If Arabic is the national language, and as such a key to full participation in the life of the nation, then how can mother-tongue literacy and education best prepare the learner for Arabic? How do we know when an orthography is adequate? The issues raised by these papers, and by the research represented, are concerned with improving the way that Sudanese languages are written. That is to say, developing adequate orthographies. But how is anybody to know when an orthography is adequate? These papers highlight areas where the question is especially relevant. Is the language adequately represented without representing tone? Does the surface or underlying form more adequately represent the language? Before these questions can be answered, they must be refined. Adequate for whom? Generally speaking, the people making decisions about orthography are the educated members of the community. These individuals are in the best position to be able to use a poor orthography – in other words, what may be adequate for the bilingual mother-tongue speakers, may be hopelessly inadequate for the beginning reader. The beginning reader requires more information to be represented in the orthography than the fluent reader. This should make us careful in recommending that a feature, such as tone for example, not be represented. Criteria for adequacy So what is needed is some criteria to be established for determining the adequacy of orthographic representations. The papers in this volume indicate where adequacy needs to be examined. What is needed now is some agreement on adequacy and some procedure for testing adequacy. I look forward to a volume of OPSL that addresses this issue. John Hollman SIL Sudan Director Entebbe Uganda January 2004 iv Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages,