Anuak language explained

Anuak or Anywaa is a Luo language which belongs to the western Nilotic branch of the Nilotic language family. It is spoken primarily in the western part of Ethiopia and also in South Sudan by the Anuak people. Other names for this language include: Anyuak, Anywa, Yambo, Jambo, Yembo, Bar, Burjin, Miroy, Moojanga, Nuro. Anuak, Päri, and Jur-Luwo comprise a dialect cluster.^[1] The most thorough description of the Anuak language is Reh (1996) Anywa Language: Description and Internal Reconstructions, which also includes glossed texts.

Phonology

Anuak is notable for lacking phonemic fricatives.

Consonants

! scope="col"

Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Plosive/ affricate		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Approximant		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Trill				pronounced as /link/

Vowels

! rowspan="2"

Front	Back
Unrounded	Rounded
Close	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Near-Close	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Close-mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Open-mid	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
Open	pronounced as /link/

Diphthongs!! [Front vowel|Front ! [[Back vowel|Back]]|-! Close| pronounced as /ie/| pronounced as /uo/|-! Near-Close| pronounced as /ɪɛ/| pronounced as /ʊɔ/|-|}

Tones

Tones

Description	IPA
Rising	˩˥
High	˦
Mid	˧
Low	˨

External links

• World Atlas of Language Structures information on Anywa

Notes and References

1. Book: Reh, Mechthild . 1996 . Anywa Language: Description and Internal Reconstructions . Köln . Rüdiger Köppe . 5 . 978-3-927620-73-5 . NISA Nilo-Saharan – Studies in Language and Context . 11.