| Fur | |
| Nativename: | bèle fòòr / poor'íŋ belé |
| States: | Sudan, Chad |
| Region: | Darfur, Sila |
| Ethnicity: | million Fur (2023) |
| Date: | 2004–2023 |
| Ref: | e27 |
| Script: | Latin alphabet |
| Familycolor: | Nilo-Saharan |
| Fam2: | Fur |
| Iso3: | fvr |
| Glotto: | furr1244 |
| Glottorefname: | Fur |
| Lingua: | 05-CAA-aa |
| Map: | Fur map.png |
| Mapcaption: | Geographic distribution of Fur |
| Notice: | IPA |
The Fur language (or For; Fur: bèle fòòr or fòòraŋ bèle, Poor'íŋ belé; Arabic: فوراوي, Fûrâwî; sometimes called Konjara by linguists, after a former ruling clan) is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Fur of Darfur in Western Sudan and Chad. It is part of a broader family of languages known as the Fur languages
The consonantal phonemes are:
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Trill | pronounced as /ink/ |
All sounds are spelt with their IPA symbols except for the following: j = pronounced as /[ɟ~dʒ]/, ñ = pronounced as /[ɲ]/ and y = pronounced as /[j]/. Arabic consonants are sometimes used in loanwords.
The vowels are: a e i o u. There is dispute as to whether the –ATR vowels pronounced as /[ɛ], [ɔ], [ɪ], [ʊ]/ are phonetic variants or separate phonemes.[1]
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | [+ATR] | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Near-close | [-ATR] | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Mid | [+ATR] | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /link/ |
| Open-mid | [-ATR] | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
There are two underlying tonemes, L (low) and H (high); phonetically, L, H, mid, HL, and LH are all found.
Metathesis is an extremely common and regular grammatical phenomenon in Fur: when a consonant pronoun prefix is prefixed to a verb that begins with a consonant, either the verb's first consonant is deleted or it changes places with the following vowel; e.g.:
There are also various assimilation rules.
Noun, and optionally adjective, plurals can be formed with -a (-ŋa after vowels):
This suffix also gives the inanimate 3rd person plural of the verb:
Vowel-final adjectives can take a plural in -lá, as well as -ŋa:A similar suffix (metathesized and assimilated to become -ól/-úl/-ál) is used for the plural of the verb in some tenses.
A few CVV nouns take the plural suffix H-ta;
At least two nouns take the suffix -i:
Nouns with the singular prefix d- (> n- before a nasal) take the plural k-; these are about 20% of all nouns. In some cases (mostly body parts) it is accompanied by L; e.g.:
The locative case can be expressed by the suffix -le or by reversing the noun's final tone, e.g.:
The genitive (English possessive s) is expressed by the suffix -iŋ (the i is deleted after a vowel.) If the relationship is possessive, the possessor comes first; otherwise, it comes last; e.g.:
Independent subject:
| Singular | Fur | Plural | Fur | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | ká | we | kɨ́ | |
| you (sg.) | jɨ́ | you (pl.) | bɨ́ | |
| he, she, it | yé | they | yɨeŋ + yeeŋ |
The object pronouns are identical apart from being low tone and having -ŋó added to the plural forms.
Prefixed subject pronouns:
| Singular | Fur | Plural | Fur | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | – (triggers metathesis) | we | k- | |
| you (sg.) | j- | you (pl.) | b- | |
| he, she, it | – (causes raising; *y-) | they (animate) | y- (+pl. suffix) | |
| they (inanimate) | (*y-) (+pl. suffix) |
Thus, for example, on the verb bʉo- "tire":
| English | Fur | English | Fur | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I'm tired | ká ʉmo | we tired | kɨ́ kʉmo | |
| you (sg.) tired | jɨ́ jʉmo | you (pl.) tired | bɨ́ bʉmo | |
| he/it/she tired | yé bʉo | they tired | yɨeŋ kʉme + yeeŋ bʉe |
gi, described as the "participant object pronoun", represents first or second person objects in a dialogue, depending on context.
Possessives (singular; take k- with plural nouns):
| Singular | Fur | Plural | Fur | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| my | dúíŋ | our | dáíŋ | |
| your (sg.) | dɨ́ɨ́ŋ | your (pl.) | dɨ́eŋ | |
| his, hers, its | dééŋ | their | dɨ́eŋ |
The Fur verbal system is quite complicated; verbs fall into a variety of conjugations. There are three tenses: present, perfect, and future. Subjunctive is also marked. Aspect is distinguished in the past tense.
Derivational suffixes include -iŋ (intransitive/reflexive; e.g.
and gemination of the middle consonant plus -à/ò (intensive; e.g.
Negation is done with the marker a-...-bà surrounding the verb; a-bai-bà "he does not drink".
Most adjectives have two syllables, and a geminate middle consonant: e.g. àppa "big", fùkka "red", lecka "sweet". Some have three syllables: dàkkure "solid".
Adverbs can be derived from adjectives by addition of the suffix -ndì or L-n, e.g.:
Abstract nouns can be derived from adjectives by adding -iŋ and lowering all tones, deleting any final vowel of the adjective, e.g.:
Radio Dabanga – broadcasts daily news in the Fur language and in other languages local to Darfur.
Bariwarig Tooduo, "Participant Reference". University of Juba 2014