# Sukuma language

Sukuma is a Bantu language of Tanzania, spoken in an area southeast of Lake Victoria between Mwanza, Shinyanga, and Lake Eyasi.

## Dialects

Dialects (KɪmunaSukuma in the west, GɪmunaNtuzu/GɪnaNtuzu in the northeast, and Jìnàkɪ̀ɪ̀yâ/JimunaKɪɪyâ in the southeast) are easily mutually intelligible.

### Language identity

It is reported that although Sukuma is very similar to Nyamwezi, speakers themselves do not accept that they make up a single language.

## Phonology

There are seven vowel qualities, which occur long and short:
| | Front | Central | Back |
| High | i iː | | u uː |
| Near-high | ɪ ɪː | | ʊ ʊː |
| Mid | e eː | | o oː |
| Low | | a aː | |
/ɪ ʊ/, which are written ⟨ĩ ũ⟩, may be closer to [e o], and /e o/ may be closer to [ɛ ɔ].
Sukuma has gone through Dahl's Law (ɪdàtʊ́ 'three', from Proto-Bantu -tatʊ) and has voiceless nasal consonants.
| | | Bilabial | Bilabial | Labio- dental | Labio- dental | Alveolar | Alveolar | Alveolar | Palatal | Palatal | Velar | Velar | Velar | Glottal | Glottal |
| | | plain | pren. | plain | pren. | plain | pren. | labial | plain | pren. | plain | pren. | labial | plain | labial |
| Nasal | voiced | m | | | | n | | | ɲ | | ŋ | | ŋʷ | | |
| Nasal | voiceless | m̥ | | | | n̥ | | | ɲ̊ | | ŋ̊ | | ŋ̊ʷ | | |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | ᵐp | | | t | ⁿt | tʷ | c | ᶮc | k | ᵑk | kʷ | | |
| Plosive | voiced | b | ᵐb | | | d | ⁿd | dʷ | ɟ | ᶮɟ | ɡ | ᵑɡ | ɡʷ | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | ɸ | | f | ᶬf | s | ⁿs | sʷ | ʃ | ᶮʃ | | | | h | hʷ |
| Fricative | voiced | β | | v | ᶬv | z | ⁿz | zʷ | | | | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | | | | | l | | | j | | | | w | | |
It is not clear whether /c ɟ/ should better be considered as stops or affricates as /tʃ dʒ/ or whether they are even palatal.
Syllables are V or CV. There are four tones on short vowels: high, low, rising, and falling.

## Orthography

Its orthography uses Roman script without special letters, which resembles that used for Swahili, and has been used for Bible translations and in religious literature.

## Grammar

The following description is based on the JinaKɪɪya dialect. One of the characteristics of that dialect is that the noun-class prefixes subject to Dahl's Law have been levelled to voiced consonants and so they no longer alternate.

### Noun concord

Sukuma noun-class prefixes are augmented by pre-prefixes a-, ɪ-, ʊ-, which are dropped in certain constructions. The noun classes and the agreement that they trigger are as follows, with attested forms in other dialects being added in parentheses:
(For compatibility, /j/ is transcribed ⟨y⟩.)
| Class | Prefix | Example noun | Example noun | Adj. conc. | Possessive | Subject | Object | 'one/two X' | 'this X' | Semantic field |
| 1 | ʊ-mu | mùùn̥ʊ̀ | 'person' | m- | o- | a- | m- | ʊ̀mô | ʊ̀yʊ̀ | human |
| 2 | a-βaa- | βààn̥ʊ̀ | 'persons' | βa- | βa- | βa- | βa- | βaβɪlɪ | àβà | human |
| 3 | ʊ-m- | ntɪ̌ | 'tree' | m- | go- | gʊ- | lɪ- | gʊ̀mô | ʊ̀yʊ̀ | trees, etc. |
| 4 | ɪ-mi- | mɪ̀tɪ̌ | 'trees' | mi- | ya- | i- | i- | ɪ̀βɪ̀lɪ́ | ɪ̀yɪ̀ | trees, etc. |
| 5 | ɪ-lɪ- (ɪ) | liisǒ | 'eye' | ɪ- | lɪ- | lɪ- | lɪ- | lɪ̀mô | ɪ̀lɪ̀ | body parts, food, common objs, (pl.) liquids |
| 6 | a-ma- | mɪ̀sǒ | 'eyes' | ma- | a- | a- | ga- | àβɪ̀lɪ́ | àyà | body parts, food, common objs, (pl.) liquids |
| 7 | ɪ-ɟi- (kɪ) | Jìsùgǔmà | 'Kɪsukuma' | ɟi- | ɟa- | ɟi- | ɟi- | ɟı̀mô | ɪ̀ɟì | things, language, body parts, etc. |
| 8 | ɪ-ɟi- (sɪ) | ɟítáβò | 'books' | ɟi- | ɟa- | ɟi- | i- | ɟìβɪ̀lɪ́ | ɪ̀ɟı̀ | things, language, body parts, etc. |
| 9 | ɪ-n- | nùúmbà | 'house' | n- | ya- | i- | i- | yɪ̀mô | ɪ̀yɪ̀ | common objects, animals, fruits, etc. |
| 10 | ɪ-n- | mbʊ̀lǐ | 'goats' | n- | ɟa- | ɟi- | ɟi- | ɪ̀βɪ̀lɪ́ | ɪ̀ɟì | common objects, animals, fruits, etc. |
| 11 | ʊ-lʊ- | lʊ̀gòyè | 'rope' | lu- | lo- | lu- | lu- | lʊ̀mô | ʊ̀lʊ̀ | common objects, body parts, etc. |
| 12 | a-ga- (ka) | gàɪǎ | 'a little dog' | ga- | ga- | ga- | ga- | gàmô | àkà | diminutives |
| 13 | ʊ-dʊ- (tʊ) | dʊ̀ɪǎ | 'little dogs' | dʊ- | do- | dʊ- | dʊ- | dʊ̀mô | ʊ̀tʊ̀ | diminutives |
| 14 | ʊ-βʊ- | βʊ̀sààdǔ | 'sickness' | βʊ- | βo- | βʊ- | βʊ- | βʊ̀mô | ʊ̀βʊ̀ | abstractions, insects, etc. |
| 15 | ʊ-gʊ- (kʊ) | gʊ̀tʊ̌ | 'ear' | gʊ- | go- | gʊ- | gu- | gʊ̀mô | ʊ̀yʊ̀ | body parts and infinitives |
| 16 | a-ha- | hààn̥ʊ̀ | 'place' | ha- | ha- | ha- | ho- | hàmô | àhà | location |
| 17 | a-gʊ- (kʊ) | gʊ̀gàbáádi | 'on the cupboard' | gʊ- | ya- | gʊ- | ko- | ? | ʊ̀kʊ̀ | location |
| 18 | ʊ-mu- | mʊ̀gàbáádi | 'inside the cupboard' | m- | ya- | mu- | mo- | ? | ʊ̀mù | location |
Many kin terms have a reduced form of the nominal prefixes, zero and βa-, called class 1a/2a, as in mààyʊ̂ 'mother', βàmààyʊ̂ 'mothers'. Concord is identical with other class-1/2 nouns.
Singular/plural pairs are 1/2, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, and 12/13, and locative classes 16, 17, and 18 do not have plurals. Most others use class 6 for their plurals: 11/6, 14/6, 15/6, and also sometimes 7/6 and 12/6. There are also nouns that inflect as 11/4, 11/14, 14/10, and 15/8.

### Verbal complex

Infinitive verbs have the form gʊ-object-ext-ROOT-ext-V-locative, where ext stands for any of various grammatical 'extensions', and -V is the final vowel. For example, with roots in bold and tone omitted,
    gũ-n-tĩn-ĩl-a
    'To cut for him/her'
    gwĩ-tĩn-ĩl-a
    'To cut for each other'
-ĩl is the applicative suffix, translated as 'for'. The reciprocal prefix ĩ has fused into the infinitive gũ.
    gũ-fum-a-mo
    'To get out there'
-mo is a locative 'inside', as in class 18 nominal concord.
Finite verbs have the form subject-TAM-ext-object-ROOT-ext-TAM-V. For example,
    βa-lĩ-n-iiš-a
    'They are feeding him/her'
The root iiš includes a fused causative suffix. Tense is marked by a prefix. The subject marker βa- shows that the subject is human plural, per the noun-concord table above.
    o-dũ-saang-ile
    'He found us'
Here tense is marked by a suffix.
    βa-gĩ-gunaan-a
    'They helped each other/themselves'
Here the prefix is fused tense and reciprocal ĩ.