^ ab/i/ and /u/ can devoice between two voiceless consonants or word-finally (e.g. okutu [okú̥tu̥] "ear"). /i/ is often interchangeable with /u/ dialectally (e.g. enyima/enyuma "underside").
^/i/ can optionally be centralised to /ɨ/, especially when adjacent to /u/ (e.g. omumiro [omumɨ́ɾo] "throat").
Nasal vowels
Vowels followed by a nasal cluster tend to be nasalised, even to the point that the nasal consonant is barely heard (e.g. Abakonjo [aβakṍːⁿd͡ʒo] "Konjo people").[5]: xiv
Vowel lengthening
Vowels can be lengthened in these contexts:[5]: xv–xvii
Compensatory lengthening as a result of glide formation (e.g. o-mu-ána → [omwáːna] "child")
If the second vowel is not high-toned but part of a noun phrase, the second vowel is half-lengthened (e.g. o-mu-ana wange → [omwaˑna wáŋge] "my child"]
A high-toned vowel comes before a consonant cluster where the first consonant is nasal (e.g. omugongo [omugóːŋgo] "back").
If the high-toned vowel follows a consonant cluster, the vowel is not lengthened (e.g. [omwénda] "(unit of) nine").
If the vowel is not high-toned but part of a noun phrase, the second vowel is half-lengthened (e.g. omugongo gumu [omugoˑŋgo gúmu] "one back")
A word follows the structure VCV (where C = consonant and V = vowel) and the first vowel has a high tone (e.g. enu [éːnu] "this (class 9)")
If the word follows the structure (C)VCVCV and the second vowel has a high tone, the first vowel is half-lengthened (e.g. omubu [oˑmúbu] "mosquito"
Two identical vowels near each other (e.g. a-ba-ana → [abáːna] "children")
Two underlying consecutive vowels where one of them is not seen on the surface due to vowel elision (the first vowel is dropped) (e.g. ni-a-kir-a → [naːkíɾa] "he/she is becoming cured")
The lengthening does not apply to the negative element ti-, but the dropping does (e.g. ti-o-kozire → [tokozíɾe] "you (sg.) have not worked")
Imbrication, specifically where two -ir suffixes are next to each other and the first /ɾ/ is dropped (e.g. n-jwah-ir-ire → [nd͡ʒwahiːɾe] "I am tired in a way")
A vowel comes before two consecutive nasal consonants (e.g. oku-n-noba → [okuːnóba] "to dislike me (inf.)
Vowel shortening
Word-final long vowels are shortened, except if they are in the penultimate syllable of a noun phrase. As a result, the inherently long final vowel in obuso "forehead" and the phonetically long final vowel in omutwe "head" are shortened in isolation but are lengthened after a monosyllabic qualifier (obuso bwe [oβusóː βwe] "his/her forehead"; omutwe gwe [omutwéː gwe] "his/her head").[5]: xiv
Diphthongs
Tooro has 3 diphthongs, /ai/, /oi/ and /au/, the latter only being attested in 3 words, 2 being English loanwords (autu "vegetable cooking oil", etauni < Eng. "town", etaulo < Eng. "towel").[5]: xviii In some dialects, /ai/ is pronounced as [ei].[citation needed]
Vowel hiatus resolution
Tooro has different ways of resolving vowel hiatus in individual words or in between words:[4]
If the first vowel is /a/ or /o/ and the second vowel is /i/, diphthongisation occurs (e.g. ba-it-a → baita [βáíta] "they kill").
If the first vowel is /e/ and the second vowel is /i/, /e/ is dropped and causes compensatory lengthening in /i/, although it is not always as such (e.g. o-ku-se-is-a → okusiisa [okusíːsa] "to cause to grind").
If the first vowel is a non-close vowel and follows a consonant, and if the second vowel is not /i/, the first vowel is dropped and causes compensatory lengthening (e.g. ba-et-a → beeta "they invite").
If the first vowel is a non-close vowel and does not follow a consonant, and if the second vowel is not /i/, /j/ is epenthetically inserted in the middle of the vowels (e.g. a-et-a → ayeta "he/she invites").
This can occur multiple times in the same word (e.g. o-e-et-a → oyeyeta "you (sg) invite yourself")
This does not occur if the first vowel is before the tense-aspect-mood affix /-a-/ or the refiexive affix /-e-/ in the subjunctive mood, in which case it glides (e.g. o-a-ka-hik-a → wakahika "you (sg) just arrived", a-e-ror-e → yerole "may he/she see him/herself")
Mid vowel harmony
Some suffixes that are added to verbs exhibit mid vowel harmony, where the vowel in the suffix (/i/ or /u/) is lowered to a mid vowel (/e/ or /o/ respectively) if the vowel in the ultimate syllable of the verb root is a mid vowel (e.g. okucumbira "to cook for someone"; okusekera "to laugh for someone"). Mid vowel harmony does not apply if consonant mutation to the verb root also applies, instead only the consonant mutation in the verb root applies (e.g. ngenzire (from the root √-gend-) "I went (and the effect remains)" instead of *ngenzere).[6]
^/r/ is the result of a vowel dropped between two /ɾ/ sounds (e.g. omurro < omuriro "fire"). This vowel-dropping does not happen if the second /ɾ/ is followed by a semivowel (/j, w/).[5]
^[l] is an allophone of /ɾ/ word-initially before /e, i/ or after /a, o, u/ and before /e, i/ (as in aliire "he/she has eaten"). /l, r/ also becomes /d/ before a nasal (as in n-li → ndi [ń̩di] "I am").
Consonant mutation
Certain suffixes, specifically the perfective -ir (not to be confused with the applicative -ir), the nominalizer-i, the short causative -i, and the long causative -is cause the consonant before it to be mutated.[6]
The first two suffixes mutate /ɾ, d͡ʒ/ or [d] to [z] and /t/ to [s] (e.g. barubasire "they have walked" < √-rubat- "to walk"; omubaizi "carpenter < √-baij- "to do carpentry"). However, perfective -ir mutates /d͡ʒ/ to [z] inconsistently (e.g. baizire "they have come" < √-ij- "to come"; bahiijire "they have panted" < √-hiij- "to pant"), and most of the time, it can be used with or without mutation (e.g. babaijire ~ babaizire "they have done carpentry" < √-baij-). The distinction between the perfective and applicative -ir is important as the applicative -ir cannot cause mutation (e.g. okurubatira "to walk for" < okurubata "to walk"). Additionally, only the unmutated perfective -ir can cause mutation, as the mutated form, -iz, cannot cause mutation (e.g. beereze "they have cleaned < √-eer "to clean" instead of *beezize).[6]
Causative -i also mutates /ɾ/ or [d] to [z] and [t] to [s] (no instance has been found of causative -i mutating /d͡ʒ/). Since the /zj/ and /sj/ clusters are not permitted in Tooro"s phonotactics, the /j/ is dropped (e.g. okukwasa "to make touch" < *okukwasya < okukwata "to touch").[6]
Finally, causative -is only mutates /ɾ/ to [z] (e.g. okuhazisa "to cause to scratch" < okuhara "to scratch"). It cannot mutate /d͡ʒ/, [d] or /t/ (e.g. okutundisa "to cause to sell" < okutunda "to sell" instead of *okutunzisa).[6]
Tone
Tooro has 2 main tones (high and low, low tone being the default), and 2 other tones (falling and rising) that appear in restricted circumstances. It is worth mentioning that vowels and nasal consonants can have a high tone (e.g. nnywa [ń̩ɲwa] "I drink").
High tone
Although Tooro lacks lexical tone, it has grammatical tone in the form of the high tone. In isolation, the high tone always falls on the penultimate syllable of a word, however, when a noun is modified by a following disyllabic adjective, the noun loses its high tone except if the noun functions as a predicate. -ona "all, whole" and -ombi "both" are exceptions to this, as they let the noun keep its high tone. Additionally, a noun followed by a monosyllabic adjective makes the high tone fall on the last syllable of the noun. An adjective with more than two syllables morphologically lets the noun keep its high tone. This means that ondi "the other (person, class 1)" & endi "the other (class 9)" are considered trisyllabic as they are derived from o-o-ndi/e-e-ndi and overlong vowels are not permissible. Thus, the only difference between [omuːntu óːndi] "another person" and [omúːntu óːndi] "the other person" is the high tone of the noun.[3]Demonstratives also let the noun keep its high tone, regardless if the demonstrative has only 1 or 2 syllables.
omutwe [omútwe] "head"
omutwe gwe [omutwéː gwe] "his/her head"
omutwe gwange [omutwe gwáːŋge] "my head, any of my heads"
Omutwe gwange. [omútwe gwáːŋge] "The head is mine."
omutwe ogwange [omútʷ‿ogwáːŋge] "my own head"
omutwe murungi [omútwe murúːŋgi] "a good head"
omutwe gunu [omútwe gúnu] "this head"
omutwe gwona [omútwe gwóːna] "the/a whole head"
Falling tone
A falling tone appears in two cases:
When the final two syllables of a word follow the structure CVɾV (where C = consonant and V = vowel), especially when the first vowel is a non-close vowel. (e.g. okukora [okukôɾa] "to work")
In the penultimate syllable, where the following syllable begins with /j/ (e.g. rediyo [redîjo] < Eng. radio)
Rising tone
Rising tone is very rare, and only occurs in one case where a monosyllabic noun stem which has no noun prefix is used without an augment word-finally (e.g. enu ka [eːnǔ ka] "this is a house").
Phonotactics
The following syllable types are allowed in native Tooro words, where V stands for a vowel (short or long), C a consonant, N a nasal consonant, and G a glide.
V (e.g. ina [íːna] "four (class 10)"): this syllable type is only allowed word-initially.
CV (e.g. ina [íːna] "four (class 10)")
N (e.g. ndi [ń̩di] "I am"): this syllable type is also only allowed word initially.
NCV (e.g. endiisa [endíːsa] "honeyguide")
Note that C (consonant) includes other nasal consonants, thus tinnyagire [tiːɲaɡíɾe] "I did not kidnap" is permissible.
CGV (e.g. enwa [éːnwa] "wasps")
NCGV (e.g. embwa [éːmbwa] "dog")
Note that C (consonant) includes other nasal consonants, thus tinnywire [tiːɲwíɾe] "I did not drink" is permissible.
Note that since these rules only apply to native Tooro words, loanwords like Kristo "Christ" may break them.
^/nj/ is written as ⟨ni⟩ in all contexts (e.g. okunia [okúnja] "to defecate").
^/ɲː/ (normally pronounced [ɲ], but still lengthens the vowel before it) is written as ⟨nny⟩ in all contexts (e.g. okunnyaga [okuˑɲáɡa] "to kidnap me").
Vowel hiatus resolution between words is not indicated in the orthography, except for some short words like na "and", -a "of" or nka "approximately" (e.g. okusoma ekitabu [okusóm‿eːkitáβu] "to read a book"; ky'abantu [c‿aβáːntu] "of (class 7) the people"). Doubled vowels are not used in environments where vowel lengthening can be easily predicted (e.g. in a penultimate syllable before a nasal cluster). Tone is not represented in the orthography.
^If used with an augment, class 18 implies a definite noun. If used without one, it implies an indefinite noun, Compare omutauni 'in the town' with mutauni 'in a town, in town'.
A noun is made augmentless (i.e. without an augment, equivalent to the base state in Luganda) in these circumstances:
If the noun is preceded by the class 16 locative ha- or the class 18 locative (o)mu- (e.g. omunju "in the house" < enju "house")
If the noun is preceded by the nya- "the aforementioned" (e.g. nyamukazi "the aforementioned woman" < omukazi "woman")
In proper nouns, including personal names (e.g. Buyudaaya "Judea", Ruhanga "God, Ruhanga", Kisembo (personal name) < ekisembo "gift, present")
If the noun is used as a predicate, regardless of whether a verb is present (e.g. tuli baana "we are children", baana "they are children", ekisani liiso "the drawing is an eye (i.e. the drawing is of an eye)")[11]
These words support augments. For possessive pronouns, the augment conveys the meaning of "own" (e.g. omwana owange "my own child", instead of omwana wange "my child, any of my children"). For other words, it conveys definiteness (e.g. embuzi eya Bagonza "the house of Bagonza" instead of embuzi ya Bagonza "a house of Bagonza").[5]: 415–425
Demonstratives
Demonstratives in Tooro can optionally be placed before or after the noun (e.g. omuntu onu / onu omuntu "this person").
Tooro demonstratives
Noun class
Proximal
(this)
Mesioproximal
(that near you)
Mesiodistal
(that over there, rather near)
Distal
(that over there, rather far away)
1
onu
ogu
oli
2
banu
abo
bali
3
gunu
ogu
guli
4
enu
egi
egyo
eri
5
linu
eri
eryo
liri
6
ganu
ago
gali
7
kinu
eki
ekyo
kiri
8
binu
ebi
ebyo
biri
9
enu
egi
egyo
eri
10
zinu
ezi
ezo
ziri
11
runu
oru
ruli
12
kanu
ako
kali
13
tunu
otu
tuli
14
bunu
obu
buli
15
kunu
oku
kuli
16
hanu
aho
hali
17
kunu
oku
kuli
18
munu
omu
muli
Classes 16 and 17 are used as adverbs (i.e. hanu means "here", kunu "this way", hali "there", kuli "that way")
Verbs
Tooro, like all Rutara languages, is a heavily agglutinative language, with verbs needing to agree with the tense, mood, subject and object in class and number.[12]
okwanguhirra "to be very light/easy" < okwanguha "to be light/easy"
^-i is always placed immediately before the final vowel of a verb (e.g. bagondeze < ba-gond-er-i-e "they loved") except if a verb whose root ends in /t/ has the -ir suffix (applicative or perfective). In this case, -i is inserted twice: once before the root, and again before the final vowel (e.g. okurooseza < o-ku-root-i-er-i-a "to cause to dream for").
Reduplication is also used for some verbs (e.g. okutematema "to cut into small pieces using a machete").
Verb conjugations
Below are some verb conjugations in Tooro with examples that use the subject marker n- "I" and the verb root √-gend- "go". Perfective -ir is subject to mid vowel harmony and causes consonant mutation. Note that SM stands for "subject marker" and RT stands for "root".
tinaakugenzire
"I wouldn't have gone, I wouldn't go"
Numbers
In Tooro, the numbers 1 to 5 are numerical adjectives that need to agree with the noun they qualify, whereas the numbers 6 to 10 are numerical nouns that do not agree with the qualified noun. For abstract counting, the class 10 inflection of the numerical adjective is used. 20 to 50, 200 to 500 and 2000 to 5000 are expressed using the plural of 10, 100 and 1000 respectively with the cardinal numbers for 2 to 5. 60 to 100, 600 to 1000 and 6000 to 10,000 are numerical nouns derived from the same roots as 6 to 10.
In Tooro, time is counted in a 12-hour time convention from sunrise to sunset, with 7:00 am being the first hour of the day and 6:00 pm being the twelfth. Same goes for 7:00pm and 6:00 am respectively. To tell time, use saaha ("hour") + the corresponding number of the hour (equivalent of subtracting 6 from the A.M./P.M. system). The class 16 locative class is used for time (e.g. tukahika hasaaha ikumi "we arrived at four o'clock").
Greetings (Endamukya)
Greetings in Tooro differ depending on number (singular or plural):[13][14]
Oraire ota? = "Good morning (sg)" (literally: How did you (sg) spend the night?)
Muraire muta? = "Good morning (pl)" (literally: How did you (pl) spend the night?)
Osibire ota? = "Good afternoon" (literally: How did you (sg) spend the day?)
Musibire muta? = "Good afternoon (pl)" (literally: How did you (pl) spend the day?)
Oiriirwe ota? = "Good evening (sg)" (literally: How did it become dark to you (sg)?)
Mwiriirwe muta? = "Good evening (pl)" (literally: How did it become dark to you (pl)?)
Oraale kurungi! = "Good night (sg)" (literally: May you (sg) spend the night well!)
Muraale kurungi! = "Good night (pl)" (literally: May you (pl) spend the night well!)
every CL1-person 3SG-have AUG-CL14-right CL14-3SG.POSS because.of-3SG.POSS or AUG.DEF-CL18.LOC-CL7-group and=AUG-CL2-other CL15.INF-take-FV AUG.DEF-CL18.LOC-CL6-eye and and=AUG-CL15.INF-strive.for-FV CL15.INF-protect-FV and=AUG-CL15.INF-arrive-APPL\CAUS-FV AUG.DEF-CL-GEN=AUG-CL14-right CL14-GEN=AUG-CL2.PL-person and=AUG-CL14-peace CL14-3PL.POSS CL15.INF-REFL-take-FV CL16.LOC-CL11-level CL11-GEN=CL5-nation and=AUG-CL11=AUG-CL9-earth CL9-all
Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels.
(Article 1 of the Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms)
