11/04/2024
THUƆŊJÄŊ (THUONGJANG)
1. Introduction:
Dinka (natively, Thuongjang "Thuɔŋjäŋ" or Thonge-Jieeng "Thoŋë-Jiëëŋ") is a western Nilotic language which is spoken by Dinka people South Sudan (Muongjieeng "Muɔnyjiëëŋ" or Jieeng "Jiëëŋ" in plural and Muonyjang "Muonyjäŋ" in single), the major ethnic group of South Sudan. In addition, it is closely related to other western Nilotic languages such as: Nuer, Atuot, Acholi, Shiluk e.t.c.
2. Intelligibility:
Thuɔŋjäŋ (Thuongjang) can be much more intelligible if one learns to handle pitch, length and voice quality. "Pitch" is a height on a musical scale, "Length" is a duration in time, and "Voice quality" refers to the breathiness and the creakiness of vowels.
3. Tone:
In most Dinka dialects, the surface units of vowel length are: single (short) or double (long) e.g., Tim (tree) or Tiim (trees) respectively. The surface units of pitch are three tones; high, low, and drop (falling) e.g., Yíth (to climb), Yìth (facts), and Yîth (a well) respectively. The surface units of voice qualities are: creaky(a, e, i, o, u, ε, ɔ) and breathy (ä, ë, ï, ö, u, ɛ̈, ɔ̈) which have two dots above the letter (diaeresis/umlauts) except "u" which is a breathy sound but it's not a diacritic.
NB: Learning to pronounce these units is relatively simple. What is not simple in Thuongjang (Dinka) is remembering when to use which tone.
4. The verb segment:
The verb segmentally consists of a single consonant (C) followed by a vowel which is either single (v) or double (vv) or a diphthong which is a combination of a glide (w) or (j) with a single vowel (v) or double vowel (vv) and ends with coda (C) e.g., Riang (playground) where (R) is the consonant, (ia) is a single diphthong and (ng) is the coda.
5. Codas:
Dinka uses voiceless consonants as codas in morphemes such as: [p, th, t, c, and k] instead of [b, dh, d, j, and g] respectively and the vowels [u and i] instead of the semi vowels / glides [w and y] respectively and other consonants such as: [m, nh, n, ng, ny, r, and l] according to Dinka orthography.
NB: "Coda" refers to the final part of the syllable, placed after the central part of a syllable (known as the nucleus)
Tr. Makot Mabor Malek
© Romkupoc Media "Sharing is caring".
Kindly follow Romkupoc Media
