# Fuliiru language

Fuliiru, or Kifuliiru, is a Great Lakes Bantu language spoken by the Fuliiru people (Bafuliiru), also known as the Fuliru, who live north and west of the town of Uvira in Uvira Territory, South Kivu Province in the far eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is closely related to Kinyindu.

## Phonology
### Consonants

The table below gives the consonant set of Fuliiru.
| | | Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Laryngeal |
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | | | k | |
| Plosive | voiced | | d | | | g | |
| Plosive | prenasalized | mb | nd | | | ŋg | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | | | h |
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | ʒ | | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ɲ | | |
| Liquid | Liquid | | l/ɾ | | | | |
| Approximant | Approximant | β | | | j | (w) | |
* ↑ This sound is very rare in Fuliiru, and only occurs after other consonants or as the result of a /u/ becoming a glide.
Several sounds change when preceded by a nasal: voiceless sounds become voiced, and /β/ and /h/ are realized as [b].
The phoneme /n/ assimilates to the place of consonants that follow it: it can be realized as [m], [ɱ], [n], [ɲ], or [ŋ].
The phoneme /l/ is realized as [d] after /n/, as [ɾ] after the front vowels /e/ and /i/, and as [l] elsewhere. The phoneme /ɾ/ is likewise realized as [d] after /n/, but as [ɾ] elsewhere.

### Vowels

The table below gives the vowel sounds of Fuliiru.
| | Front | Back |
| High | i | u |
| Mid | e | o |
| Low | a | a |
All five vowels occur in long and short forms, a distinction that is phonemically distinctive. The quality of a vowel is not affected by its length.

### Tone

Like most Bantu languages, Fuliiru is tonal, with a two-way contrast between high and low tones. Morphemes can be underlyingly high (H), low (L), or toneless. Phonetically, high, low, mid, and falling tones can all occur; mid tones are the realization of an underlying LH sequence, and falling tones are the realization of an underlying HL sequence or an utterance-final H tone.

## Morphosyntax

Fuliiru grammar is agglutinating and, typical of Bantu languages, heavily prefixed. Historically, Fuliiru was not written and the language was suppressed in favor of Swahili and French; in addition, Fuliiru has been subjected to significant influence by neighboring languages, to the point that many native speakers use a large number of loanwords or even French word order. In spite of this, it enjoys a high degree of internal cohesiveness throughout the area in which it is spoken. The following treatment, after Van Otterloo (2011), represents the form of the language as it existed prior to such extensive outside influence.
The basic word order of Fuliiru is SVO, although there are a number of exceptions to this rule based on the rhetorical context of a given statement.

### Nouns

Fuliiru boasts 17 noun classes, with an additional unmarked class, dubbed 1a, that behaves as a subcategory of Class 1. Class is expressed by the addition of a prefix to the noun stem which further governs agreement within the broader noun phrase. Grammatical number is an intrinsic feature of class prefixing, with some noun classes inherently singular or inherently plural, and other classes lacking number entirely. There are numerous homophonous noun stems in Fuliiru, making it possible to express multiple divergent meanings by applying different class prefixes to an identical noun stem, as in:
búgángà
bú-gángà
C14-gángà
búgángà
bú-gángà
C14-gángà
“malaria”
mágángà
má-gángà
C6-gángà
mágángà
má-gángà
C6-gángà
“cow urine”
Generally, words of a similar semantic type are grouped together into noun classes, although there are numerous exceptions to this. The following is a list of all 17 Fuliiru noun classes utilizing the class numbering system traditionally used in Bantu linguistics.
| Singular / non-count classes | Singular / non-count classes | Plural classes | Plural classes | Typical meaning(s) |
| Number | Prefix | Number | Prefix | Typical meaning(s) |
| 1 | mú- | | | Humans |
| 1a | [X] | 2 | bá- | Humans, names, kinship terms |
| 3 | mú- | 4 | mí- | Plants, round items, long items |
| 5 | (l)í- | | | Body parts |
| 6 | má- | | | Liquid masses |
| 7 | kí- | 8 | bí- | Body parts, trees |
| 9 | n- | 10 | n- | Man-made items, large animals, sensations |
| 11 | lú- | | | Places |
| 12 | ká- | 13 | tú- | Small animals, birds, other body parts |
| 14 | bú- | | | Abstract nouns |
| 15 | kú- | | | Verbal infinitives |
| 16 | há- | | | Locatives |
| 19 | hí- | | | Diminutives |

### Pronouns

The Fuliiru pronoun system is very richly developed. As is the case with many other Bantu languages, each noun class has an associated pronoun set. Free-standing personal pronouns are highly marked to show their specific function within the broader text; in all, Fuliiru pronouns function differently than those of other languages and correct pronoun usage serves an important rhetorical purpose. Other parts of speech similarly contain bound pronominal morphemes that show full agreement.
There are five different types of personal pronouns, with each type further subdivided into individual forms representing and showing agreement with each noun class. As each pronoun type corresponds to every noun class, there are dozens of personal pronouns in Fuliiru.
Contrastive pronouns serve to clarify references in rhetorical situations in which the specific referent is ambiguous or unclear.
Ùyó
ùyó
that.N+C1
múnyérè
mú-nyérè
C1-girl
ànáshùbì
à-ná-shùbì
C1-SQ-AGAIN
mwágúlá
mwágúl-á
throw.down-FA
ífwárángà
í=fwárángà
AU=C10+money
hálìkó
hálìkó
but
ùyó
ùyó
that.N+C1
mútàbínà
mú-tàbánà
C1-young.man
yêhé
y-ê-hé
C1-CTR.P
àtànázìtwázà.
à-tà-ná-zì-twáz-à
C1-NEG-SQ-O10-care-FA
Ùyó múnyérè ànáshùbì mwágúlá ífwárángà hálìkó ùyó mútàbínà yêhé àtànázìtwázà.
ùyó mú-nyérè à-ná-shùbì mwágúl-á í=fwárángà || hálìkó ùyó mú-tàbánà y-ê-hé à-tà-ná-zì-twáz-à
that.N+C1 C1-girl C1-SQ-AGAIN throw.down-FA AU=C10+money but that.N+C1 C1-young.man C1-CTR.P C1-NEG-SQ-O10-care-FA
“And that girl again threw down the money, but that young man, he did not pay attention to it.”
Alternative pronouns indicate that the referent is different than one that the listener would have incorrectly assumed; these forms are often used at crucial turning points of stories and exemplify the extreme importance of pronoun usage in Fuliiru discourse.
Múgùmà
mú-gùmà
C1-one
ànábwîrà
à-ná-bwîr-à
C1-SQ-tell-FA
úwábò
ú=w-ábò
AU=C1-SAME.SET
kwóyêhé
kwó=y-ê-hé
CMP=C1-CTR.P
ndááyé
ndáá-yé
NEG.FOC-C1
úwábò
ú=w-ábò
AU=C1-SAME.SET
múndú
mú-ndú
C1-person
úwàngàmútébà
ú-w-àngà-mú-téb-à
S.R-C1-POS-O1-trick-FA
náyé
ná-yé
ADD.P-C1
úwábò
ú=w-ábò
AU=C1-SAME.SET
ànámúbwîrà
à-ná-mú-bwîr-à
C1-SQ-O1-tell-FA
kwóyékì
kwó=y-ékì
CMP=C1-ALT.P
àngàmútébà.
à-ngà-mú-téb-à
C1-POT-O1-trick-FA
Múgùmà ànábwîrà úwábò kwóyêhé ndááyé úwábò múndú úwàngàmútébà náyé úwábò ànámúbwîrà kwóyékì àngàmútébà.
mú-gùmà à-ná-bwîr-à ú=w-ábò | kwó=y-ê-hé ndáá-yé ú=w-ábò mú-ndú ú-w-àngà-mú-téb-à || ná-yé ú=w-ábò | à-ná-mú-bwîr-à kwó=y-ékì | à-ngà-mú-téb-à
C1-one C1-SQ-tell-FA AU=C1-SAME.SET CMP=C1-CTR.P NEG.FOC-C1 AU=C1-SAME.SET C1-person S.R-C1-POS-O1-trick-FA ADD.P-C1 AU=C1-SAME.SET C1-SQ-O1-tell-FA CMP=C1-ALT.P C1-POT-O1-trick-FA
“A certain person told his fellow that nobody would be able to trick. And [the fellow] told him that he [the unexpected alternative] would be the one to trick him.”
Exclusive pronouns represent the “self” of the referent as opposed to others; thus, they indicate that the referent is alone, or is being referred to in opposition to any other referent.
Sì
sì=
but
úmúhyà
ú=mú-hyà
AU=C1-bride
ànásìgálè
à-ná-sìgál-è
C1-CON-remain-FE
hí
hí=
C16+C5
bándá
bándá
shelter
yêngwâ.
y-êngwâ
C1-self
Sì úmúhyà ànásìgálè hí bándá yêngwâ.
sì= ú=mú-hyà || à-ná-sìgál-è hí= bándá y-êngwâ
but AU=C1-bride C1-CON-remain-FE C16+C5 shelter C1-self
“But that bride remained behind in the shelter by herself.”
Another set of exclusive pronouns, borrowed from the neighboring Kiviira language, has the same meaning as above but is more typical of colloquial speech.
Mwámì
mwámì
C1-king
tì
tì=
QUOT
niêhê
ni-êhê
1SG-CTR.P
ngámúyìyìtìrà
n-gá-mú-yì-yìt-ìr-à
1SG-F2-O1-RFX-kill-APL-FA
niêngwâ.
ni-êngwâ
1SG-self
Mwámì tì niêhê ngámúyìyìtìrà niêngwâ.
mwámì || tì= ni-êhê | n-gá-mú-yì-yìt-ìr-à | ni-êngwâ
C1-king QUOT 1SG-CTR.P 1SG-F2-O1-RFX-kill-APL-FA 1SG-self
“The king said, 'I will just kill him myself.'”
Additive pronouns indicate that the referent is involved in the same set of actions as a different, previously mentioned referent.
Ànálámùsà
à-ná-lámùs-à
C1-SQ-greet-FA
yàbó
yàbó
those.N+C2
bágénì
bá-génì
C2-guests
ìrí
ìrí
while
ànáhúnúzà
à-ná-hún-ìz-à
C1-SQ-bow-CS-FA
îtwê.
î-twê
C5-head
Yàbó
yàbó
those.N+C2
bágùndà
bá-gùndà
C2-peasants
íkyânyà
í=ky-ânyà
AU=C7-time
bákábàlámúsâ
bá-ká-bà-lámús-â
C2-P2-O2-greet-FA
nábó
ná-b-ó
ADD.P-C2
bànàgírá
bà-nà-gír-á
C2-SQ-do-FA
kwôkwò.
kwô-kw-ò
EMPH-C15-thus
Ànálámùsà yàbó bágénì ìrí ànáhúnúzà îtwê. Yàbó bágùndà íkyânyà bákábàlámúsâ nábó bànàgírá kwôkwò.
à-ná-lámùs-à yàbó bá-génì | ìrí à-ná-hún-ìz-à î-twê || yàbó bá-gùndà || í=ky-ânyà bá-ká-bà-lámús-â || ná-b-ó bà-nà-gír-á | kwô-kw-ò
C1-SQ-greet-FA those.N+C2 C2-guests while C1-SQ-bow-CS-FA C5-head those.N+C2 C2-peasants AU=C7-time C2-P2-O2-greet-FA ADD.P-C2 C2-SQ-do-FA EMPH-C15-thus
“And [the wedding host] greeted those guests while bowing his head. Those common folk, when they greeted [the guests], they also did the same thing.”
The breadth of pronominal forms in Fuliiru far exceeds the scope of this article.

### Adjectives

Fuliiru has a small number of adjective stems; Van Otterloo (2011) identifies only 39 in total. Adjectives follow nouns. Most of these stems communicate very general concepts which are in turn semantically fleshed out by the addition of a noun class prefix that strongly agrees with the referent, as in:
múndú
mú-ndú
C1-person
múbì
mú-bì
C1-bad
múndú múbì
mú-ndú mú-bì
C1-person C1-bad
“bad person”
bándú
bá-ndú
C2-person
bábì
bá-bì
C2-bad
bándú bábì
bá-ndú bá-bì
C2-person C2-bad
“bad people”
The comparative form of an adjective is constructed using the locative prefix ku, as in the example below. Roughly, this construction expresses “greatness in relation to” the referent marked with ku.
Úmwìgéndérézì
ú=mw-ìgéndérézì
AU=C1-patient.one
yémúkùlù
y-é=mú-kùlù
C1-FOC=C1-great
kúndwánì.
kú=n-dwánì
LOC=C9-fighter
Úmwìgéndérézì yémúkùlù kúndwánì.
ú=mw-ìgéndérézì || y-é=mú-kùlù kú=n-dwánì
AU=C1-patient.one C1-FOC=C1-great LOC=C9-fighter
“The patient one is the one who is greater than the fighter.”
The comparative can also be constructed using the verb -him- (“to surpass”), as in:
Íkíshókómà
í=kí=shókómà
AU=C7-leopard
kyókìrì
ky-ó=kì-rì
C7-FOC=C7-have
némísí
né=mí-sí
CNJ+AU=C4-strength
úkúhímà
ú+kú-hím-à
AU=C15-surpass-FA
ìyó
ìyó
that.N+C9
shúúlì.
shúúlì
C9+bull
Íkíshókómà kyókìrì némísí úkúhímà ìyó shúúlì.
í=kí=shókómà || ky-ó=kì-rì né=mí-sí || ú+kú-hím-à ìyó shúúlì
AU=C7-leopard C7-FOC=C7-have CNJ+AU=C4-strength AU=C15-surpass-FA that.N+C9 C9+bull
“The leopard is the one which has strength surpassing the bull.”

### Verbs

Verbs are constructed by the addition to the verb stem of various prefixes which express categories of tense, aspect, mood, person, negation and so forth. Verbs are inflected according to the following paradigm:
* [subject-relative] + [subject] + [negation] + [TAM] + [additive] + [persistive] + [STEM]
The Subject Relative marker indicates a relative clause in which the subject of the clause is referenced to the noun phrase being modified, as in:
yàbó
yàbó
those.N+C2
bátàbánà
bá-tàbánà
C2-young.men
ábákázíndì
á-bá-ká-zíndì
S.R-C2-P2-LASTLY
yíjà
yíj-à
come-FA
yàbó bátàbánà ábákázíndì yíjà
yàbó bá-tàbánà á-bá-ká-zíndì yíj-à
those.N+C2 C2-young.men S.R-C2-P2-LASTLY come-FA
“those young men who came last”
In this passage, the relative clause “who came last” refers to “those young men” and therefore takes the Subject Relative marker, shown in bold. The marker takes the form of an initial high-tone vowel identical to the vowel of the following subject prefix; thus, it is always á, í or ú.
The Subject marker, displayed in the chart below, shows agreement with the noun class of the verb's subject. Note that in this category, in addition to the standard noun classes, there are also prefixes corresponding to first/second person singular and plural subjects.
Subject Prefixes :
| 1S | 2S | 1 | 1PL | 2PL | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 19 |
| n- | u- | a- | tu- | mu- | ba- | gu- | i- | li- | ga- | ki- | bi- | i- | zi- | lu- | ka- | tu- | bu- | ku- | ha- | hi- |
The Negation marker ta- negates the entire construction.
The TAM marker can be any of several possible prefixes that express tense, aspect, mood or some combination of them. Fuliiru features complex multi-word auxiliary constructions for many TAM forms, including copulas and many progressive expressions. Some of these constructions may have subtle narrative or imperfective connotations. The following is a small selection of TAM prefixes:
| Prefix | TAM meaning |
| -à | Simple Past (P1) |
| -ká | Unmarked Past (P2) |
| -áàli | Remote Past (P3) |
| -àmú | Immediate Future (F1) |
| -gáá | Unmarked Future (F2) |
| -ááyè | Remote Future (F3) |
| [null] | Timeless / Habitual |
The Additive prefix ná- expresses that the action of the verb occurs alongside or in addition to something else.
Nângà,
nângà
no
ndágánákìshèènyà.
n-dá-gá-ná-kì-shèèny-à
1SG-NEG-F2-ADD.V-PERS-cut.firewood-FA
Nângà, ndágánákìshèènyà.
nângà | n-dá-gá-ná-kì-shèèny-à
no 1SG-NEG-F2-ADD.V-PERS-cut.firewood-FA
“No, and in addition I will no longer cut firewood.”
Similarly, the Persistive prefix kì- indicates that the verb's action continues or persists; with the negative, it means that the action has ceased.
Bàtànákìményà
bà-tà-ná-kì-mény-à
C2-NEG-ADD.V-PERS-know-FA
háyì
háyì
where
hóbàlì
h-ó=bà-lì
C16-O.R=C2-is
múgéndà.
mú=génd-à
PROG=go-FA
Bàtànákìményà háyì hóbàlì múgéndà.
bà-tà-ná-kì-mény-à || háyì h-ó=bà-lì mú=génd-à
C2-NEG-ADD.V-PERS-know-FA where C16-O.R=C2-is PROG=go-FA
“And they no longer knew where they were going.”
Stems themselves are often complex structures consisting of object and reflexive prefixes which are in turn attached to a verb root to create what Van Otterloo (2011) terms a "macrostem." Stems are constructed as:
* [object] + [reflexive] + [ROOT] + [TAM ending]
The Object prefix comes at the beginning of the stem and agrees with the noun class of the verb's direct object. Note that in this category, in addition to the standard noun classes, there are also prefixes corresponding to first/second person singular and plural objects.
Object Prefixes :
| 1S | 2S | 1 | 1PL | 2PL | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 19 |
| n- | kú- | mú- | tù- | mù- | bà- | gù- | gì- | lì- | gà- | kì- | bì- | gì- | zì- | lù- | kà- | tù- | bù- | kù- | hà- | hì- |
The Reflexive marker yì- comes immediately before the verbal root. This marker is unusual because it is CV-shaped instead of V-shaped like in most other Bantu languages.
Àtànákìshóbòlà
à-tà-ná-kì-shóbòl-à
C1-NEG-SQ-PERS-be.able-FA
úkúmúyìlyósákwò.
ú=kú-mú-yì-lyó-s-á=kwò
AU=C15=O1-RFX-leave-CS-FA=+C17
Àtànákìshóbòlà úkúmúyìlyósákwò.
à-tà-ná-kì-shóbòl-à || ú=kú-mú-yì-lyó-s-á=kwò
C1-NEG-SQ-PERS-be.able-FA AU=C15=O1-RFX-leave-CS-FA=+C17
“And he was no longer able to remove himself from [another person].”
Lastly, the Final Vowel ending is placed at the end of the root and depends upon the TAM prefix occurring earlier in the verb construction. The specific tense, aspect or mood expressed by the TAM prefix varies depending on this final vowel, so that identical TAM prefixes can have divergent meanings when paired with different final vowels.
Of note, the verb root itself can also be composed of a number of extensions and suffixes, some of them multi-word constructions, making Fuliiru verbs highly complex.
Fuliiru infinitives are essentially nominalized verb forms constructed according to the following paradigm:
* [augment] + [class 15] + [negative] + [object] + [reflexive] + STEM + [final vowel]
Infinitive forms contain the augment ú- and the noun class 15 prefix kú-, and may also be negated by ta-. The final vowel is -a, with the tone changing according to the lexical tone of the verb stem.
úkútàsìmbáhà
ú=kú-tà-sìmbáh-à
AU=C15-NEG-obey-FA
úkútàsìmbáhà
ú=kú-tà-sìmbáh-à
AU=C15-NEG-obey-FA
“to not obey”

## Discourse

Modes of discourse are extremely important in Fuliiru, much more so than in European languages.
Fuliiru has a rich vocabulary of ideophones – idioms, onomatopoeia and quotatives – that shape narrative and discursive speech acts. Fuliiru has a far wider range of these words and expressions than even other Bantu languages where these modes are especially emphasized. The following is a small selection of this specialized vocabulary:
| Word | Category | Meaning |
| tì | quotative | indicates a quoted line |
| ngágì-ngágì | onomatopoeia | two people fighting |
| tóò-tóò | onomatopoeia | sound of rain |
| shólyò-shólyò | onomatopoeia | a witch moving in the night |
| Hálììbwî! | interjection | “How stupid!” |
| Yóò! | interjection | “Oh my!” |
| ààhô | interjection | “okay then” |
In addition to the numerous ideophones that characterize Fuliiru discourse, reduplication is a pervasive feature of the language. This linguistic phenomenon, which can occur in any part of speech, expresses various meanings like repetition, extensiveness, emphasis or pejorative.
It is ultimately this category of discursive language that “brings life” to Fuliiru.