Laal (yəw láà:l)
Spoken in:	Chad
Region:	Gori, Damtar, Mailao villages in Moyen-Chari prefecture
Total speakers:	749 (2000)
Genetic classification:	Unclassified language  Laal
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	—
ISO 639-2:	mis
ISO/DIS 639-3:	gdm
Location within Chad where the Laal language is spoken
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.

The Laal language is a still-unclassified language spoken by 749 people (as of 2000) in three villages in the Moyen-Chari prefecture of Chad on opposite banks of the Chari River, called Gori (lá), Damtar (ɓual), and Mailao. It may be a language isolate, in which case it would represent an isolated survival of an earlier language group of central Africa. It is unwritten (except in transcription by linguists). According to SIL-Chad member David Faris, it is in danger of extinction, with most people under 25 shifting to the locally more widespread Baguirmi language. Gori is a small village in Chad on the banks of the Chari River, near Sarh. ... Categories: Stub | Prefectures of Chad ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Unclassified languages are languages whose genetic affiliation has not been established, mostly due to lack of reliable data. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... A map showing the location of the Laal language, based on the CIA World Factbook map File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A map showing the location of the Laal language, based on the CIA World Factbook map File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... Unicode is an industry standard whose goal is to provide the means by which text of all forms and languages can be encoded for use by computers. ... Unclassified languages are languages whose genetic affiliation has not been established, mostly due to lack of reliable data. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Categories: Stub | Prefectures of Chad ... The Chari or Shari River is a 949-kilometer-long river of central Africa, flowing from the Central African Republic through Chad into Lake Chad. ... Gori is a small village in Chad on the banks of the Chari River, near Sarh. ... A language isolate is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ... Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken language source, such as the proceedings of a court hearing. ... SIL International is a non-profit, faith-based, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ... The Baguirmi language (autonym ɓarma) is the language of the Baguirmi people of Chad, belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family. ...

This language first came to the attention of academic linguists in 1977, through Pascal Boyeldieu's fieldwork in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based for the most part on a single speaker, M. Djouam Kadi of Damtar. For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...

Speakers and status

The language's speakers are mainly river fishermen and farmers; they also sell salt extracted from the ashes of doum palms and Vossia cuspidata. Like their neighbors the Niellim, they were formerly cattle herders, but lost their herds around the turn of the 19th century. They are mainly Muslims, although until the latter half of the 20th century they followed the traditional Yondo religion of the Niellim. The area is fairly undeveloped; while there are Qur'anic schools in Gori and Damtar, the nearest government school is 7 km away, and there is no medical dispensary in the region (as of 1995.) The Murray River in Australia. ... Fishing is the activity of hunting for fish. ... A farmer in Germany working the land in the traditional way, with horse and plough Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... Salt Crystals (http://www. ... A doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica) is a type of palm tree, also called gingerbread tree, with edible oval fruit, originally native to the Nile valley. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) (sometimes also spelled Moslem) is an adherent of Islam. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... A Madrasah complex in Gambia Ulugh Beg Madrasa, Samarkand, ca. ... A kilometre (American spelling: kilometer) (symbol: km) is a unit of length equal to 1000 metres (from the Greek words khilia = thousand and metro = count/measure). ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

The village of Damtar formerly had a distinct dialect, called Laabe (la:bé), with two or three speakers remaining in 1977; it was replaced by the dialect of Gori after two Gori families fled there at the end of the 19th century to escape a war. No other dialects of Laal are known. For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... War is a state of widespread conflict between states, organisations, or relatively large groups of people, which is characterised by the use of lethal violence between combatants or upon civilians. ...

Under Chadian law, Laal — like all languages of Chad other than French and Arabic — is regarded as a national language. While the 1996 Constitution stipulates that "the law shall fix the conditions of promotion and development of national languages", national languages are not used for education nor for official purposes, nor usually for written media, although some of the larger ones (not Laal) are used on the radio. Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... A national language is a language (or language variant, i. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Classification

Laal remains unclassified, although extensive Adamawa-Ubangi (particularly Bua) and to a lesser extent Chadic influence is found. It is sometimes grouped with one of those two language families, and sometimes seen as a language isolate. Boyeldieu (1982) summarizes his view as "Its classification remains problematic; while it shows certain lexical, and no doubt morphological, traits with the Bua languages (Adamawa-13, Niger-Congo family of Joseph H. Greenberg), it differs from them radically in many ways of which some, a priori, make one think of geographically nearby Chadic languages." Roger Blench (2003), similarly, considers that "its vocabulary and morphology seem to be partly drawn from Chadic (i.e. Afro-Asiatic), partly from Adamawa (i.e. Niger-Congo) and partly from an unknown source, perhaps its original phylum, a now-vanished grouping from Central Africa." It is the latter possibility which attracts particular interest; if this proves true, Laal may be the only remaining window on the linguistic state of Central Africa before the expansion of the main African language families—Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger-Congo—into it. Unclassified languages are languages whose genetic affiliation has not been established, mostly due to lack of reliable data. ... The Adamawa-Ubangi languages are spoken in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, southern Central African Republic, by a total of about 12 million people. ... The Bua languages are a subgroup of the Mbum-Day subgroup of the Adamawa languages spoken in southern Chad. ... The Chadic languages are a language family spoken across Nigeria, Niger, Chad, and Cameroon, belonging to the Afro-Asiatic languages phylum; their best-known member is Hausa, the lingua franca of much of West Africa. ... Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... A language isolate is a natural language with no demonstrable genealogical (or genetic) relationship with other living languages; that is, one that has not been demonstrated to descend from an ancestor common to any other language. ... The Bua languages are a subgroup of the Mbum-Day subgroup of the Adamawa languages spoken in southern Chad. ... Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the worlds major language families, and Africas largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. ... Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915-May 7, 2001) was a prominent and controversial linguist, known for his work in both language classification and typology. ... Map showing the distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. ... The Adamawa languages are a group of languages scattered across the Adamawa Plateau in central Africa, in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad. ... The term African languages refers to the approximately 1800 languages spoken in Africa. ... Map showing the distribution of Afro-Asiatic languages The Afro-Asiatic languages are a language family of about 240 languages and 285 million people widespread throughout North Africa, East Africa, the Sahel, and Southwest Asia. ... Map showing the distribution of the Nilo-Saharan languages. ...

It contains many loanwords from Baguirmi, since the region was for several centuries part of the Baguirmi Empire; the local capital was Korbol. In addition, they almost all speak Niellim as a second language, and "at least 20%-30%" of their attested vocabulary (Boyeldieu 1977) shows similarities to that language. Their immediate neighbors speak Bua, Niellim, and Ndam. Like the Baguirmi, they are Muslims; partly because of this, some Arabic loanwords are also found. A loanword is a word directly taken into by one language from another with little or no translation. ... The Baguirmi language (autonym ɓarma) is the language of the Baguirmi people of Chad, belonging to the Nilo-Saharan family. ... The Baguirmi Empire or Bagirmi Empire was an Islamic empire or sultanate that existed in the 16th and 17th centuries southeast of Lake Chad in what is now the country of Chad. ... The Niellim language (autonym lwaà:) is a Bua language spoken by some 5,000 people (as of 1993) along the Chari River in southern Chad. ... Baguirmi is a department of Chad, one of three in the Chari-Baguirmi region. ... A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) (sometimes also spelled Moslem) is an adherent of Islam. ... Arabic (; , less formally, ) is the largest member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ...

Sounds

The sounds of Laal are transcribed here using International Phonetic Alphabet symbols. The consonants are: The International Phonetic Alphabet. ...

Implosives and prenasalised stops, as well as h, are found only word-initially. Voiceless stops, as well as s, cannot occur at the end of a syllable. ŋ occurs only intervocalically and word-finally. s appears exclusively in loanwords and certain numbers. The prenasalized stops, as well as ʄ, are extremely rare. In phonetics, a bilabial consonant is a consonant articulated with both lips. ... Alveolar consonants are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. ... Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ... Glottal consonants are consonants articulated with the glottis. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Implosive consonants are glottalic ingressive consonants, meaning that air is sucked into the mouth while pronouncing them rather than expelled out of the mouth via the lungs as in pulmonic consonants. ... A stop or plosive or occlusive is a consonant sound produced by stopping the airflow in the vocal tract. ... Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... A continuant is a sound produced with an incomplete closure of the vocal tract. ... (adj. ... In music, a trill is a type of ornament; see trill (music) In phonetics, a trill is a type of consonant; see trill consonant In the fictional Star Trek universe, the Trill are two symbiotic races of aliens; see Trill (Star Trek). ... A loanword is a word directly taken into by one language from another with little or no translation. ...

The vowel system for non-initial syllables is: i, ɨ, u, e, ə, o, a, ua, with no length distinction. For initial syllables, however, it is much more complicated, allowing length distinctions and distinguishing the following additional vowels: ia, yo, ya (though the latter two appear only as morphologically conditioned forms of e and ia, and are perhaps better seen as allophonic.) In addition, y may occur very occasionally; Boyeldieu quotes the example of mỳlùg "red (pl.)".

There are three level tones: high (á), middle (a), low (à). Combinations of these may occur on a single vowel, resulting in phonetic rising and falling tones; these are phonemically sequences of level tones. Such cases are transcribed here by repeating the vowel (eg àá); long vowels are indicated only by the colon (eg a:).

Suffixes may force any of four kinds of ablaut on the vowels of preceding words: raising (takes ia, a, ua to e, ə, o), lowering (takes e, ə, o to ia, a, ua), low rounding (takes i and ɨ to u; e and ia to yo; ə, a, and ua to o), and high rounding (takes i and ɨ to u; e and ia to ya; ə, a, and o to ua). They are transcribed in the suffix section as ↑, ↓, ↗, ↘ respectively. In some verbs, a/ə is "raised" to e rather than, as expected, ə. In linguistics, the term ablaut (from German ab- in the sense down, reducing + Laut sound) designates a system of vowel gradations in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages. ...

In suffixes, ə and o undergo vowel harmony: they become ɨ and u respectively if the preceding vowel is one of {i, ɨ, u}. Likewise, r undergoes consonant harmony, becoming l after words containing l. Suffixes with neutral tone copy the final tone of the word they are suffixed to. In linguistics, a language is said to possess vowel harmony (also metaphony) when it has a phonological rule that requires all vowels in a word to belong to a single class. ...

Grammar

Syntax

The typical word order can be summarized as subject - (verbal particle) - verb - object - adverb; preposition - noun; possessed - possessor; noun - adjective. Nouns can be fronted when topicalized. See the sample sentences below for examples, and the conjunctions for clause syntax. The subject of a sentence is one of the two main parts of a sentence, the other being the predicate. ... In linguistics, the term particle is often employed as a useful catch-all lacking a strict definition. ... A verb is a part of speech that usually denotes action (bring, read), occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its tense, aspect, mood and voice. ... In linguistics, the object of a transitive verb is one of its core arguments, which generally represents the target of the verbs action. ... An adverb is a part of speech that usually serves to modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs, clauses, and sentences. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with adposition. ... A noun, or noun substantive, is a part of speech (a word or phrase) that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance or quality. ... A noun, or noun substantive, is a part of speech (a word or phrase) that refers to a person, place, thing, event, substance or quality. ... An adjective is a part of speech which modifies a noun, usually making its meaning more specific. ... Topic can refer to: The topic or theme of a proposition in linguistics An XML topic (a kind of resource) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Nouns

Nouns have plural and singular forms (the latter are perhaps better viewed as singulative in some cases), with plural formation hard to predict: kò:g "bone" > kuagmi "bones", tuà:r "chicken" > tò:rò "chickens", ɲaw "hunger" > ɲə̀wə́r "hungers". Nouns do not have arbitrary gender; however, as in English, three natural genders (male, female, non-human) are distinguished by the pronouns. In linguistics, a singulative form is a form of a noun which expresses the idea of an individual example of the noun; for instance, snowflake may be considered a singulative from snow. In some languages, singulatives can be productively formed from collective nouns; eg Algerian Arabic ḥjəṛ stone > ḥəjṛa (individual...

The possessive is expressed in two ways:

• "inalienable", or direct, possession: by following the possessed with the possessor (and modifying the tone or ending of the possessed in some cases), eg piá:r no "person's leg" ("leg person");
• alienable possession: by putting a connecting word, conjugated according to number and gender, between the possessed and the possessor, eg làgɨˋm má màr-dɨb "blacksmith's horse" ("horse CONN. man+of-forge"). This word is sometimes abbreviated to a simple high tone.

However, if the possessor is a pronoun, it is suffixed with extensive vowel ablaut (in the first case), or prepositional forms with "at", and optionally the connector as well, are used (in the second case): na:ra ɟá ɗe: "my man" ("man CONN. at-me"), mùlù "her eye" ("eye-her", from mɨla "eye"). Some nouns (eg páw- "friend") occur only with bound pronouns, and have no independent form. This phenomenon - obligatory possession - is found in many other languages, for instance the Andamanese languages, usually for words referring to personal relationships. See the pronouns section for the relevant suffixes. Inalienable possession is a relationship between two objects indicating that they are (possibly on a less-than-physical level) connected in some way that cannot be changed. ... In linguistics, the term ablaut (from German ab- in the sense down, reducing + Laut sound) designates a system of vowel gradations in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages. ... Ethnolinguistic map of the precolonial Andaman Islands (drawn 1902) The Andamanese languages form a language family spoken in the Andaman Islands, a India. ...

A noun indicating someone who does, is, or has something can be formed with the prefix màr, meaning roughly "he/she/it who/of": màr jùgòr "landowner", màr ce "farmer" (ce = cultivate), màr pál "fisherman" (pál = to fish), màr pàlà ta: "a fisher of fish".

Pronouns

Personal

In the following tables, note the distinction between inclusive and exclusive we, found in many other languages but not English, and the gender differentiation of "I" in certain forms. The inanimate plural has in general been dropped by younger speakers in favor of the animate plural, though both are given below. The object paradigm for verbs is quite complex; only two of its several sets of allomorphs are given in the table below. Inclusive we is a pronoun that indicates the speaker, the addressee, and perhaps other people, as opposed to the exclusive we that excludes the addressee. ... Exclusive we is a pronoun that indicates the speaker and perhaps other people, but excludes the addressee, as opposed to the inclusive we that includes the addressee. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... This article is about a lingustic term. ...

Relative and indefinite pronouns

Interrogative

jé "what?", ɟè "who?", ɗé "where?", sɨ̀g "how much?".

Prepositions

Prepositions precede their objects: gɨ̀ pə:l "in(to) the village", kɨ́ jà:ná "to his body" (="to near him".) It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with adposition. ...

Verbs

The verb does not vary according to the person or gender of the subject, but some verbs (about a quarter of the verbs attested) vary according to its number: no kaw "the person eats", mùáŋ kɨw "the people eat". The plural form of the verb is hard to predict, but is often formed by ablaut (typically raising the vowel height) with or without a suffix -i(ɲ) or -ɨɲ and tonal change. The verb does, however, change according to the direct object. It takes personal suffixes to indicate a pronominal direct object, and commonly changes when a non-pronominal direct object is added to a transitive form with final low tone (formed similarly to the "centripetal", for which see below); eg ʔà ná ká "he will do"; ʔà ná kàrà mɨ́ná "he will do something"; ʔà kú na:ra "he sees the man"; ʔà kúù:rùúŋ "he sees you (pl.)". The accusative case of a noun is, generally, the case used to mark the direct object of a verb. ... The accusative case of a noun is, generally, the case used to mark the direct object of a verb. ... In grammar, a transitive verb is a verb that requires both a subject and an object. ...

The verb has three basic forms: simple, "centripetal", and "participative" (to calque Boyeldieu's terminology.) The simple form is used in the simple present tense or the imperative, eg ʔà duàg jə́w gə̀m "he goes down the riverbank" (lit. "he descend mouth riverbank.") The "centripetal" indicates action "hither", either spatially - motion towards the speaker - or temporally - action up to the present moment; it is formed mainly by suffixing a vowel (often, but not always, identical to the last vowel in the word), eg ʔà duàgà jə́w gə̀m "he comes down the riverbank (towards me)". The "participative" - generally formed like the centripetal, but with final high tone - generally indicates an omitted object or instrument, eg ʔà sá ɗa:g ʔà sɨ̀rɨ́ su "he takes a calabash and drinks water with it" (lit. "he take calabash he drink-participative water".) In linguistics, a calque (pronounced [kælk]) or loan translation (itself a calque of German Lehnübersetzung) is a phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word translation. ... The present tense is the tense (form of a verb) that is often used to express: Action at the present time A state of being A habitual action An occurrence in the near future An action that occurred in the past and continues up to the present There are two... Imperative programming, as opposed to functional programming, is a sort of programming employing side-effect as central execution feature. ... Binomial name Lagenaria siceraria (Molina) Standl. ...

Immediately before the verb, a particle may be placed to indicate forms other than a simple present tense; such particles include ná (pl. ní) marking future tense, taá:/teé: (pl. tií:) marking continuous action, wáa: (pl. wíi:) marking motion, náa: (pl. níi:) being apparently a combination of ná and wáa:, mà (pl. mì) meaning "must", mɨ́ marking reported speech (apparently an evidential), mɨ́nà (pl. mínì) expressing intention, kò marking habitual action, ɓə́l or ga (pl. gi) marking incomplete action, and wó (always accompanied by ʔàle after the verb) meaning "maybe". An evidential is a cover term for a grammatical element in some languages that provides information about grammatical evidentiality. ...

Mediopassives (see passive voice, middle voice) can be formed from transitive verbs by adding a suffix -↑ɨ́ɲ: eg no siár sà:b "someone ripped the cloth" > sà:b sérɨ́ɲ "the cloth ripped". For the inverse operation - forming transitive verbs from intransitives - tonal changes, or changes to the plural, sometimes occur. In grammar, voice is the relationship between the action or state expressed by a verb, and its arguments (subject, object, etc. ... Voice, in grammar, is the relationship between the action or state expressed by a verb, and its arguments (subject, object, etc. ... In grammar, a transitive verb is a verb that takes both a subject and an object. ... In grammar, an intransitive verb is an action verb that takes no object. ...

Verbal nouns can sometimes be formed, mainly from intransitives, by the addition of a suffix -(vowel)l, sometimes with ablaut and tone change; eg wal "fall" > wàlál "a fall", sùbá "lie" > sɨ́blál (pl. súbɨ̀r) "a lie". The l here becomes n near a nasal, and r near r: man "taste good", manan "a good taste". A verbal noun is a noun formed directly as an inflexion of a verb or a verb stem, sharing at least in part its constructions. ... In linguistics, the term ablaut (from German ab- in the sense down, reducing + Laut sound) designates a system of vowel gradations in Proto-Indo-European and its far-reaching consequences in all of the modern Indo-European languages. ...

Adjectives

Adjectives do not seem to constitute an independent category in Laal; to all intents and purposes, they behave just like verbs. Eg gò: ʔì:r "the goat is black". Attributively, they are typically linked as a relative clause: gò: má ʔì:r "the black goat" (literally "goat which black".) A relative clause is a subordinate clause that modifies a noun. ...

Numbers

The numbers include ɓɨ̀dɨ́l "one", ʔisi "two", ɓisan "four". No other numbers are given specifically in the works so far published.

Adverbs

Adverbs generally come at the end of the clause. Some important adverbs are:

Adverbs of location:

• "here": ɗágàl, núŋú
• "there": ɗaŋ
• "over there, yonder": ɗàŋá

Temporal adverbs:

• "day before yesterday": tá:r
• "yesterday": ʔiè:n
• "today": cicam, tari-màá
• "recently": bèrè
• "soon": sugo
• "tomorrow": jìlí-kà:rì
• "day after tomorrow": miàlgà

Modals

Among the most important modals are:

• Before the verb: mɨ́ "(say) that", gàná "then"
• After the verb: wó "not", (ʔà)le "maybe", ɓə́l "again", ʔá or gà "already", à interrogative, wá exclamatory, ta "now", cám "again, anew".

A question is any of several kinds of linguistic expressions normally used by a questioner to request the presentation of information back to the questioner, in the form of an answer, by the audience. ... Exclamation may refer to one of the following. ...

Conjunctions

Syntactically, these can be divided into five types:

• only {main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause}: mɨ́ "(say) that", ɓə "because"
• either {main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause} or {conjunction - subordinate clause - main clause}: ɟò "if", dànngà (possibly from Baguirmian) "when"
• circumposed: either {conjunction - main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause} or {conjunction - subordinate clause - conjunction - main clause}: ɟò... gàná "if"
• coordinate clause - conjunction - coordinate clause: ní "then afterwards", ku "then", kó "nonetheless", á or ná "and", ɓe: "or", ʔàmá (from Arabic or Baguirmian) "but".
• circumposed: conjunction - coordinate clause - conjunction - coordinate clause: ku... ku "then", jàn... jàn "both... and".

A clause is a group of words consisting of a subject (often just a single noun) and a predicate (sometimes just a single verb). ...

Sample sentences

• mùáŋ lá tií: kìrì jé? "What do the people of Gori do?" (lit. "people Gori progressive-plural do-plural-transitive what?")
• mùáŋ lá tií: pál. "The people of Gori fish." (lit. "people Gori progressive-plural fish.")
• màr-ce ɓɨ́lá mɨ́ "bɨ̀là, ʔò teé: ɗɨ̀grɨ̀r". "The farmer said 'No way! You're tricking me.'" (lit. "man+who-cultivate say that no-way you progressive trick-me".)
• ɟá ná wùsù na pè:rí ní ʔárí ʔò ná kìnì jé? "If/When I take out the snake, what will you give me?" (lit. "I(masc.) will take+out-transitive for-you(sg.) snake then first you give-me-transitive what?")
• jà kàskàr mà mùáŋ lá sə̀ɲə́ be. "It's with swords that the people of Gori fight." (lit. "with swords emphatic(inan.) people Gori fight-participative battle.")

References

• Roger Blench. Archaeology, Language, and the African Past. Altamira Press forthcoming.
• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1977. "Eléments pour une phonologie du laal de Gori (Moyen-Chari), Etudes phonologiques tchadiennes, Paris, SELAF (Bibliothèque, 63-64), p. 186-198.
• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1982. Deux études laal (Moyen-Chari, Tchad), in Verbindung mit SELAF, Paris. Berlin: Reimer. Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde: Ser. A, Afrika; Bd. 29. ISBN 3-496-00557-2.
• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1982. "Quelques questions portant sur la classification du laal (Tchad)". in JUNGRAITHMAYR, H., The Chad languages in the Hamitosemitic-Nigritic Border Area (Papers of the Marburg Symposium, 1979). Berlin : Reimer, p. 80-93. Coll. Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde, Serie A : Afrika.
• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1987. "Détermination directe/indirecte en laal". in BOYELDIEU, P., La maison du chef et la tête du cabri : des degrés de la détermination nominale dans les langues d'Afrique centrale. Paris : Geuthner, p. 77-87. ISBN 2-7053-0339-1
• David Faris, 19 September 1994. "In-House Summary: Laal/Gori language". SIL/Chad Survey Team. (Unpublished.)

SIL International is a non-profit, faith-based, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ...

External links

• Laal at LLACAN
• Laal at the Ethnologue