Lango (also called Leb-Lango) is a Southern Luo language or

dialect cluster A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...

of the Western Nilotic language branch. The word "Lango" is used to describe both the language spoken by the indigenous and the tribe itself. It is mainly spoken in

Lango sub-region Lango sub-region is a region in Uganda covering an area of 15,570.7km consisting of the districts of: *Alebtong District, Alebtong *Amolatar District, Amolatar *Apac District, Apac *Dokolo District, Dokolo *Kole District, Kole *Lira Distric ...

, in the North Central Region of Uganda. An orthography for it using the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

has been introduced and is taught in primary schools. The origin of Lango people is strongly linked to the Karamojong and Teso speaking people. Flag of the Lango People

Phonology

Consonants

In addition to these consonants, the Lango language maintains a

gemination In phonetics and phonology, gemination (; from Latin 'doubling', itself from '' gemini'' 'twins'), or consonant lengthening, is an articulation of a consonant for a longer period of time than that of a singleton consonant. It is distinct from ...

ːdistinction in the stops, affricates, nasals and lateral. Voiceless stops and affricates are slightly aspirated, whereas voiced stops and affricates are fully voiced, sometimes with a characteristic of

breathy voice Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, whispery voice, soughing and susurration) is a phonation in which the vocal folds vibrate, as they do in normal (modal) voicing, but are adjusted to let more air escape which produces a sighing-like s ...

. Stops are normally unreleased at the end of an utterance. Fricatives and the voiceless alveolar tap are found in

complementary distribution In linguistics, complementary distribution (as distinct from contrastive distribution and free variation) is the relationship between two different elements of the same kind in which one element is found in one set of environments and the other ele ...

with ungeminated voiceless stops and affricates: * alternates with �* alternates with �̥* ɕalternates with and �* alternates with A glottal stop �can also be heard in word-initial position, or in other intervocalic positions. In slow speech, it may also be heard as a murmured fricative �

Vowels

Kumam has ten vowels, forming an asymmetric vowel harmony system based on

advanced and retracted tongue root In phonetics, advanced tongue root (ATR or +ATR), or expanded pharynx, and retracted tongue root (RTR or −ATR) are contrasting states of the pharynx during the pronunciation of vowels in some languages, especially in Western and Eastern Af ...

, wherein the presence of advanced tongue root vowels ATRmay change retracted tongue root vowels ATR but the reverse does not hold. Vowels can be lengthened but in a predictable manner.

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Writing system

References

External links