Alur language

Alur
Lur
Region	Orientale Province (Democratic Republic of Congo), Nebbi and Zombo districts of Uganda
Ethnicity	Alur
Native speakers	1.7 million (2001–2014)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Nilotic Western Nilotic Luo Southern Luo Adhola-Alur-Luo Alur
Dialects	Jokot Jonam Mambisa Wanyoro
Language codes
ISO 639-3	alz
Glottolog	alur1250

Alur (Dho-Alur [d̟ɔ.a.lur]) is a Western Nilotic language spoken in the southern West Nile region of Uganda and the northeastern Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The language's subdialects are Jokot, Jonam/Lo-Naam (mainly spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo), Mambisa and Wanyoro.

Phonology

Vowels

Alur has 9 vowels.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Near-close	ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

Alur has 23 consonants.

Phonetic inventory of consonants in Alur

		Labial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Plosive		p b		t̟ d̟	t d			k ɡ
Fricative			f v		s z				h
Affricate						tʃ dʒ
Trill					r
Approximant		w			l		j

Grammar

Alur has an SVO word order.

Orthography

The Alur language has no officially accepted orthography. However, informal conventions have been established in written materials and road signs.

First, there is usually no written tonal distinction. Second, the phonemic distinction between /ŋ/ and /ng/ is occasionally reflected in the orthography, with /ŋ/ represented by 'ŋ' and /ng/ represented by 'ng'. However, /ŋ/ is also frequently written as 'ng', confusing it orthographically with /ng/.

External links

• Examples of Alur.
• The New Testament in Alur with text and recordings.