Lele (Chadian language)

The Lele, self-designation lèlé, is a language spoken near the city of Kélo in Chad . It belongs to the eastern branch of the Chadian languages .

According to the system

Consonants

The Lele distinguishes the following consonants:

	Labials	Dental	Palatal	Velare	Labiovelare
voiceless plosives	p	t	c	k	kp
voiced plosives	b	d	j	G	gb
prenasal plosives	mb	nd		ŋg	ŋgb
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Nasals	m	n	ny	ŋ

Then there are h, s, w, y, r and l.

The labiovelars are rare.

There are no consonant groups at the beginning or the end of a syllable, if the sounds represented in the table are regarded as simple consonants (a word like ŋgbògòm "cold" is therefore possible).

Vowels

The Lele has five vowels: a, e, i, o, u. These can occasionally appear long in contrast to the consonants, which do not appear as lengths.

Occasionally, mostly in the neighborhood of y, nasal vowels are found (e.g. gũ´yé "spider"). Presumably this is to be understood as the realization of a consonant -ny- (in this example actually gúnyé), which assumes a reduced pronunciation in the position between vowels.

volume

The Lele is a tonal language with probably three registers, which are represented here by accented characters: high (á), medium (ā), low (à). The statements about tones in Frajzyngier's grammar show numerous contradictions. The sound system must be viewed as not yet fully analyzed.

Personal and possessive pronouns

The personal pronouns of Lele make a gender difference in the 2nd pers. so called and the 3rd pers. so called and distinguish three different forms that correspond to our "we".

	independent pronoun	Subject pronouns	Object pronouns	Possessive pronouns (alienable)
1st sg. "I"	Dan	ŋ ...	... (in	kònòŋ
2.sg.mask. "you"	dìgì	gī ...	... gi	kòm
2.sg.fem. "you"	lady	mē ...	... me	kèrè
3.sg.mask. "he"	dày	... dí	... (i) y	kèy
3.sg.fem. "she"	dàdù	... dú	... you	kòrò
1.pl. "I + you"	dàŋgà	ŋgā ...	... ŋga	kàŋgà
1.pl. "I + you"	dàŋgàŋgù		... ŋgaŋgu	?
1.pl. "me + others"	?	nī ...	... ni	kìnì
2.pl. "her"	dàŋgù	ŋgū ...	... ŋgu	kùŋgù
3.pl. "she"	dàgè	... gé	... ge	kègè
impersonal "man"	-	gē ...	-	-

The dots in the subject and object pronouns indicate whether the pronoun comes before or after the verb.

The independent pronouns are used with stress or as a predicate in the nominal sentence, e.g. B .:

• nè dàŋ "it's me"

The 3rd person subject pronouns require that the person concerned has been mentioned beforehand. If it is not mentioned but is pointed to ("he there"), the independent pronouns must be used, which are constructed like nouns.

noun

gender

The Lele has a grammatical gender, but it is in decline. In the case of personal names, the gender corresponds to the natural gender. Subject terms are grammatically mostly treated as masculine. A smaller number of terms are treated as feminine, although the linguistic usage can vary (examples of feminine are: tùwà "sun", ɗīglē "year", tídí "bird").

Some of the nouns have prefixes that are related to gender, namely k- for masculine and plurals, t- for feminine. These prefixes cannot be separated and belong to the word. The prefixes are well demonstrated by the following series:

• kōrmō "boy" - tōrmō "girl" - kārmā "children"

Plural

Only a few nouns, especially those for living beings, form a plural form. If there is a plural form, it is quite irregular. Typical means of plural formation are:

Plural ending:

• bā "man" - báŋwé "men"

Vowel abutment:

• kùlbá "cow" - kòlbé "cows"
• gùmá "rat" - gòmé "rats"
• kūdō "husband" - kōdē "husbands"
• gìrà "dog" - gàrwè "dogs" (with additional plural ending)

Prefix change:

• tāmá "woman" - kāmdā "women" (with additional plural ending)

very irregular:

• bāyndī "human" - kārā "people"

Possession

Like many other Chadian languages, Lele makes a grammatical difference between inalienable possession (especially of body parts and relatives) and alienable possession (especially of things).

Inalienable Possession

In the case of inalienable possession, one generally uses possessive suffixes on the noun. The shapes are not always completely predictable. However, the following table provides an indication:

	1st sg. "my"	2.sg.mask. "your"	2.sg.fem. "your"	3.sg.mask. "be"	3.sg.fem. "her"
after vowel	-niŋ	-m	-re	-y	-ro
after nasal	-niŋ	-num	-de	-di	-do
after consonant	-in	-around	-re	-iy	-ro

These suffixes have no inherent tone, but their tone is mostly identical to the tone of the preceding syllable.

In the case of plural possessor, the suffixes are usually not attached directly to the noun, but rather to a supporting element dí- / dú-, which creates the following forms:

• díŋgà "our (my + yours)"
• díŋgàŋgù "our (my + your)"
• dínì "our (my + hers)"
• dúŋgù "your"
• dígè "you (pl.)"

Examples:

• kùm "your mouth" - kùb dúŋgù "your mouths" - kìb dīgè "their (pl.) mouths"
• yé dínì "our mother"

In individual cases, however, a suffix -ge is the 3rd person. Plurals directly attached to the noun:

• kūsīgè "their (pl.) body"

Noun with possessive suffix

For some nouns, the following table shows how they are connected with possessive suffixes. It is noteworthy that the suffixes often evoke an abbreviation of the stem vowel. Only the stem vowel -a- is always stable and is not affected by the ablaut.

	absolutely	+ "my"	+ "your (mask.)"	+ "your (fem.)"	+ "to be"	+ "you (fem.sg.)"
eye	kūn	kīnīŋ	kūnūm	kīndē	kīndī	kūndō
Brothers	ɓén	ɓénīŋ	ɓónúm	ɓéndé	ɓéndí	ɓóndó
Village	túgú	túgríŋ	túgrúm	túgré	túgríy	túgró
husband	kūdō	kūdēnīŋ	-	kūdērē	-	kūdōrō
friend	bùgà	bùgànìŋ	bùgàm	bùgàrè	bùgã`y	bùgàrò
hand	kàbú	kàbìŋ	came	kàbrè	kàbìy	kàbrò
heart	múglú	múglíníŋ	múglúm	?	múglíy	múglúró
children	karma	kārānīŋ	kārām	kārāndē	kārāndī	kārāndō
head	cà	cànìŋ	càm	càrè	cày	càrò
body	kūsū	kūsīŋ	kūsūm	?	kūsīy	kūsūrō
mouth	kùb	kìbìŋ	kùm	kìbrè	kìbíy	kùbrò
mother	yé	?	yóm	?	yéy	yóró
Surname	kōn	kōnīŋ	kōnūm	?	kōndī	?
nose	hìndá	hìndáníŋ	hìndám	hìndáré	hìndáy	hìndáró
voice	lám	lámníŋ	lámnúm	lámdé	lámdí	lámdó
daughter	tōrmō	tērēnīŋ	tōrōm	tērēndē	tērēndī	tōrōndō

Inalienable Possession with nominal Possessor

If the possessor is nominal, a possessive suffix is ​​still used and the possessor is placed in front of the entire group:

• kùrmbàlō bà-y "the boss his father" = "the boss's father"
• cànìgé cà-y "Canige (name) his head" = "the head of Canige"
• kòlbé dūbū dígé "the cows (kòlbé) their stable (dūbū)" = "the cowshed"

Alienable Possession

In alienable possession, the possessive is followed by a possessive pronoun, which consists of the connection of a stem k- with the possessive suffixes. The exact forms of the possessive pronouns are listed above in the section "Personal and possessive pronouns". The initial k- is replaced by t- if the reference noun is a feminine:

• làlé kèy "his money"
• lūŋbā kònòŋ "my horse"
• tídí tònòŋ "my bird" (feminine)

Some nouns can be constructed both alienabel and inalienable, which results in a difference in meaning:

• kùb "mouth, language" - kìbíy "his mouth" - kùb kèy "his language"
• sìlyà "liver" - sìlyànìŋ "my liver (as an organ)" - sìlyà kònòŋ "my liver (as a meal)"
• làlì "money" - làlìy "his price, the price of it" - làlì kèy "his money (that he owns)"

In the case of alienable possession with nominal possessor, the construction possessum - possessor - possessive pronouns is used:

• kúlbá cànìgé kèy "the cow of Canige (name)", literally: "the cow - Canige - his"
• gúrbálò kārmā kègè "children's clothing, children's clothing", literally: "clothing - children - their"

The relative pronoun gō is often inserted in alienable possession, which results in a "specific" reading:

• lūŋbā kùrmbàlō kèy "a chief's horse"
• lūŋbā gō kùrmbàlō kèy "the chief's horse"

The alienable and the inalienable possession can be nested, which can result in relatively complicated constructions:

kōlō yé-y kò-rò
word mother-be her
"(words, ie:) message from his mother"

tūmādū gō làmndá bā-y kè-y
death SPEC elephant being father-his
"the death of the father of the elephant"

Definite article

The Lele has a specific article, but its function does not exactly correspond to that of the German specific article. The article has the following form:

• after vowel: -ŋ with an increase in tone
• after consonant: -ŋgòŋ

Examples:

• kāmā "water" - kāmáŋ "the water"
• làlì "money" - làlīŋ "the money"
• ísì "bone" - ísíŋ "the bone"
• kūr "place" - kùrùŋgòŋ "the place"
• ɓándāŋ "bow" - ɓándāŋgòŋ "the bow"

If a possessive connection is definite, the article is only set once, namely for the possessor, who - as shown above - can be in first or second position depending on the construction:

tòrò kònōŋ-gōŋ
chicken my-DEF
"my (mentioned) chicken"

túgú póì kúsígē-ŋ kèy
House Poi Kusige (name) -DEF be
"the house of Poi Kusige"

bāyndí-ŋ tērēn-dī
man-DEF daughter-being
"the daughter of the man"

Demonstrative

Common demonstrative pronouns are:

• káŋ (masc. and plural) - táŋ (fem.) "this"
• kōlōŋ (masc. and plural) - tōlōŋ (fem.) "that"

They come after the noun:

• kòjò káŋ "that hoe"
• tāmá táŋ "that woman"

verb

The verb forms only four forms: aorist, verbal noun, future tense, imperative. The aorist can be taken as the basic form of the verb.

Aorist

The aorist generally ends in -i. If the stem ends in a single l, m, n or b (these are exactly those consonants that are allowed in the Lele at the end of a word), this -i drops out.

Functionally, the aorist corresponds to a German present or past tense.

Verbal nouns

The verbal noun ends in -e. This is also retained after l, m, n and b.

Future tense

The form of the future tense is identical to that of the verbal noun, but the first syllable of the word is high-pitched.

imperative

The imperative is formed from the aorist by changing vowels. Starting from the stem vowel of the aorist, the stem vowel and the end vowel of the imperative can be predicted using the following table:

Vocalization of the aorist	Vocalization of the imperative
-ai	-aa
-egg	-ia
-ii	-uu
-oi	-ua

Stems with -u- in the aorist do not occur.

The imperative ending -u falls according to the same rules as the ending -i of the Aorist. The imperative ending -a, on the other hand, is stable.

The pure imperative denotes an order to a 2nd person so-called. Other command or wish forms can be created by adding pronouns. The pronoun is the 1./2. Pers. pl. after the verb, the 3rd person pronoun. before the verb, the word order is exactly the opposite of the other verb forms:

• that "eat!" - dā-ŋgù "eat!" - dà-ŋgá "let's (= me + you) eat!"
• kūl "buy!" - kùlù-ŋgú "buy!"

kīyā dí à jè
Kiya (name) he goes.IMP here
"Kiya shall come here"

volume

Verbs usually start with a medium or low tone, not a high tone. The aorist, the verbal noun and the imperative of the same verb have the same tone progression. Only the future tense differs in its high tone on the first syllable.

Stem forms

The root forms of some representative verbs follow:

	Aorist	Verbal nouns	Future tense	imperative
stay	jèn	those	those	jìnà
think	kīrbī	kīrbē	kírbē	kūrbū
eat	dì	dè	dé	there
go	è	è	éè	à
help	òjì	òjè	ójè	ùjà
Listen	ɗēŋlí	ɗēŋlé	ɗéŋlē	ɗīŋlá
to buy	kīl	kīlē	kílē	kūl
call	tēy	tēgē	tégē	tīgā
say	yàá	?	yáá	yà
see	gōl	gōlē	gólē	gūlá
drink	sì	?	lake	sà
leave	on	ānē	ánē	ānā
pull	sàgì	legend	legend	saga

Plural stem

Some verbs form a plural stem that expresses either a repetitive action, a plural subject (for intransitive verbs), or a plural object (for transitive verbs). The shapes are quite irregular. Typical remedies are a suffix -wi or the initial consonant becoming voiceless, in which case a low tone of the first syllable is raised to a middle tone. Examples:

• "break": bòy, plur. pōy
• "to fall": bàá, plur. pādwí
• "to run": gìr, plur. kīywí
• "to beat": tèy, plur. tóm
• "cut": wàl, plur. wàlwì
• "kill": dìgrì, plur. tīgrí
• "to pull": dèr, plur. door

Object suffixes after "give"

Object pronouns can be added to verbs without changing the verbal stem. Examples can be found below in the section "Word order in verbal sentences".

The verb bè "give", however, forms special forms with the object pronouns, which then have a dative sense, in which the stem vowel aligns with the endings:

• béŋ "give me"
• bígí "dir (mask.) give"
• bémé "to give you (fem.)"
• béy "give him"
• búdú "give her"
• béŋgá "give us (me + you)"
• bíní "give us (me + them)"
• búŋgú "to give you"
• bégé "give them"

Subject suffixes follow the entire complex:

• béŋ dí "he gave me"
• bùdù dí "he gave her"

dative

The pronominal dative after bè "to give" is expressed by the object suffixes just discussed. The nominal dative after "giving" is used without any special marking:

• gìlkíníŋ bùdù làlì "Gilkiniŋ (name) gave her money"
• béŋ dí làlì "he gave me money"
• bè dí làlì cànìgé "he gave money to Canige (name)" (literally: he gave money to Canige)

Individual other verbs such as ār "to give to eat" also allow the construction with an unmarked, dative noun.

In most verbs, however, a noun with a dative meaning cannot simply be added. Rather, a construction with the verb "give" has to be formed, the meaning of which then fades towards a dative preposition:

• kūl béy gùná, literally: "buy (and) give him peanuts!", meant: "buy him peanuts!"
• yàá dí béŋ "he told me". The literal translation "he said (and) gave me" no longer makes sense here.
• gìlkíníŋ yàá búdù kōlō "Gilkiniŋ spoke to her", literally: "G. said (and) gave her a word"
• lòr gé béŋ kàsà "they burned my grain / my grain". The literal translation "they burned and gave me the grain" would be wrong here.

yàá kōlō-ŋ bé kùrmbàlō
say word-DEF give boss
"(he) said it to the boss"

ŋ kílè béy kùlbá kònòŋ cáání
I buy.FUT him-give cow my way
"I'll sell him my cow"

Prepositions, adverbial expressions

A common preposition is ná "with", which is also used as the equivalent of our verb "haben":

• kīyā ná lūŋbā "Kiya (name) (is) with a horse", d. H. "Kiya has a horse"
• ŋ ná lūŋbā "I have a horse"

For a pronominal subject of the 3rd person, ná must appear twice:

• ná dí ná lūŋbā "he has a horse"

If the complement of "with" is a pronoun, a stem variant ín- / ún- is connected with a pronominal suffix:

• ín-ìŋ "with me"
• ún-úm "with you (mask.)"
• ín-dé "with you (fem.)"
• ín-dì "with him"
• ún-dó "with her"
• ín-dígè "with them"

Overall, however, prepositions play a lesser role in Lele than in German, because in simple cases such as the connection of a verb with a place name no preposition is required:

è-gé túgú
go-they village
"they went into the village"

ŋ sē bòŋgór
I go away Bongor (city)
"I went away from Bongor"

gī kín túgr-úm
you return village-your
"you returned to your village"

If the complement is not a place name, the element nī follows, which in a sense makes it a place name:

dùgì-dí kāmā nī
sink-er water LOC
"he sank into water"

A local preposition dà "in" is also available:

dà dēbrēŋ
in Debreng (place name)
"in Debreng"

dà kāmā kìb-ìy nī
in water bank-sein LOC
"on the river bank"

With the help of body part names, more complex relationships can be expressed. Even after the body part terms, since they have no inherently local sense, nī must stand:

sùgyá cà-y nī
grass head-sein LOC
"on / over the grass"

kūl kàrgà-y nī
house back-sein LOC
"behind the house"

tāmá-nīŋ kàrgà-rò nī
woman-my back-her LOC
"behind my wife"

syntax

Word order in verbal sentence

If the subject is pronominal, it is in the 1st and 2nd person before the verb, but in the 3rd person after the verb. The impersonal gē "man" comes before the verb:

• yàá gé "they said"
• gē yàá "they said"

If the subject is nominal, it comes before the verb. Usually no additional subject pronoun is required:

bìsí-ŋ gír
Antilope-DEF run
"the antelope ran away"

gìlkínín è kàsùgú
Gilkinin (name) go to market
"Gilkinin went to market"

But there are also sentences in which a subject suffix appears:

bāyŋdí-ŋ yàá dí
man-DEF he say
"the man said"

The object is behind the verb:

• gī gōl-īŋ "you saw me"
• ŋ gōl-gī "I saw you (mask.)"
• ŋ gōl-īy "I saw him"
• ŋ gōl-dū "I saw her (fem.)"
• ŋ tòb-dù "I love you (fem.)"
• ŋ kīl-īy "I bought it"
• ŋ tòn-ìy "I asked him"
• ŋ dìgr-ìy "I killed him"

If the subject is a third person pronoun and is therefore also behind the verb, the following order applies: Verb - object of the 1st / 2nd. Person - 3rd person subject - 3rd person object. Examples:

• gōl-īŋ-dú "she saw me"
• gōl-īŋ-dí "he saw me"
• gōl-mē-dí "he saw you (fem.)"
• tòn-īŋ-dú "she asked me"
• tòn-ŋgá-gé "they asked us (both)"
• gōl-gé-dú "they saw her (fem.)"
• gōl-dú-gé "she (fem.) saw her (pl.)"

A nominal object is always behind subject and verb, even with a pronominal subject of the 3rd person:

• wàl dú kùlbá-ŋ "she slaughters the cow" (wàl "slaughter")
• gē wàl kùlbá-ŋ "the cow is slaughtered"
• nī wèl kūná "we slept"
• wèl dí kūná "he slept"
• wèl gé kūná "they slept"

Non-verbal sentence

If a noun forms the predicate, there is a copula nè. This can be connected with a subject pronoun of the first or second person, but not the third person:

gī nè ɓén-íŋ
you COP brother-my
"you are my brother"

nè ɓén-íŋ
COP brother-my
"he is my brother"

nè kíyà
COP Kiya (name)
"he is Kiya"

kíyà nè kōn-dī
Kiya COP Name-sein
"Kiya is his name"

kòlbé-ŋ nè kàŋgà
cows-DEF COP our
"the cows are ours (of both of us)"

An adverbial predicate stands without a copula:

cànìgé dà dēbrēŋ
Canige (name) in Debreng (place name)
"Canige is in Debreng"

negation

All types of sentences can be negated by ɗé "not" at the end of the sentence:

• ŋ nè bā-m ɗé "I'm not your father"
• kīyā ná lúŋbà ɗé "Kiya has no horse"
• è dí ɗé "he goes / didn't go"
• ūl ɗé "don't cry!"

question

All types of questions have a particle gà at the end of the sentence, before which a low tone is raised to a mid tone (while a mid tone remains unchanged).

• dì dí kàrè "he ate the sauce (kàrè)" - dì dí kàrē gà "did he eat the sauce?"
• nè kāmā "that is water" - nè kāmā gà "is the water?"

This also applies to questions with a question word. The question word is always in its normal syntactic position and not at the beginning of the sentence:

nè wéy gà
COP who QUESTION
"who is that?"

nè wéy tāmã´-y gà
COP who woman-his QUESTION
"whose wife is she?"

gī gōl wéy gà
you see who QUESTION
"who did you see?"

nè dú kàrè bé wéy gà
cook them put sauce who QUESTION
"who did she cook the sauce to?"

mē è mínā gà
you go where QUESTION
"where are you going?"

Alternatively, questions can also be formulated as a focus construction with the focus particle bā, whereby the question word moves to the beginning of the sentence:

wéy bā é gà
who go FOC QUESTION
"who has gone?"

mē bā gōl dí gà
what FOC did he see QUESTION
"what did he see?"

Relative clause

Relative clauses are introduced by a relative pronoun. This is usually gō, but optionally also dō after the feminine reference word.

kàrà gō ná kōlbé
people REL with cows
"people who (are with cows =) have cows"

tāmá dō tēy dū
Ms. REL they call
"the woman he called"

bāyndí-ŋ gō ŋ bè-y kòjò kōnōŋ
man-DEF REL I give-him hoe my
"the man I gave my hoe to"

vocabulary

Some elements from the basic vocabulary:

eye	kūn
three	súbù
one	pínà
eat	dì
woman	tāmá
five	bày
give	bè
go	è
big	gùmnyá
Well	kúrà
hand	kàbú
Listen	ɗēŋlí
man	bā
mouth	kùb
Surname	kōn
say	yàá
see	gōl
four	pórìn
water	kāmā
knowledge	sèn
two	so

literature

Zygmunt Frajzyngier, A grammar of Lele, Stanford 2001

Remarks

1. ↑ The form ŋgāŋgū could be assumed here, but the form is not documented.
2. ↑ From * tēgī.
3. ↑ A 3rd person pronominal subject is often left unexpressed in context.
4. ↑ The combination of kílè "buy" and cáání "away" means "sell".
5. ↑ The basic rule would actually suggest that the third person pronoun would follow ná. This is also the case with the first ná. The second ná probably comes about through analogy after constructions with other types of subjects.
6. ↑ The verb wèl together with the object kūná "sleep" corresponds to our verb "sleep".
7. ↑ Pronominal subject of the 3rd person not expressed here.