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AHMED SULIMAN IBRAHIM UNIVERSITY OF JUBA Dijakajak@hotmail.com IDEOPHONES IN THE FUR LANGUAGE

Idiophones in the Fur language This paper describes ideophones of the Fur language according to their use in different categories. In the Fur language there are many ideophones which are used to describe actions, movements, sounds, and shapes. Mostly idiophones in the Fur language are used with verbs and modifiers. One verb or modifier may have more than two ideophones to be used with it in different conditions Introduction The Fur are an ethnic group from western Sudan, principally inhabiting the region of Darfur where they are the largest community. The Fur language is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken in the Darfur region, in Western Sudan. Definition of ideophones Doke (1935:118) defined ideophones as “A vivid representation of an idea in sound. A word, often onomatopoeic, which describes a predicate, qualificative or adverb in respect to manner, colour, sound, smell, action, state or intensity.” This definition is limited, because it is restricted only to sounds, but in the Fur language there is more than what is mentioned by Doke. Dingemanse (2011:25) gave a definition that includes a more general understanding of an ideophone in all languages. He defined ideophones as “marked words that depict sensory imagery” Ideophones in the Fur language describe predicates, as Doke's definition is saying, and in the Fur language they describe modifiers as well. Ideophones in the Fur language depict not only sounds but other senses too, as sewet sewettiŋ in Moo sewet sewettiŋ ɨlŋɨ́ (Moo walked with an attractive hip movement), see example below. In this example the ideophone refers to the sense of vision. Ideophones can be used as modifiers (qualificatives) as well as adverbs (manner and degree). Ideophones are classified as an independent word class in the Fur language like other parts of speech (noun, verb and others) in grammer. They are divided into two main categories, those which describe verbs (Action or motion verbs) and those which describe modifiers (Qualificatives). Ideophones in the Fur language are used to give more emphasis, exaggeration, attention, imitation, surprise, confirmation and strong feelings towards an action or a motion. They add an extra dimension to the speech, especially in songs and stories. Ideophones in the Fur language are used in both written and spoken form. Ideophones can be in the lexicon (Word) it is used as a single word, soŋgommiŋ, nyoŋgommiŋ, rɨsɨggɨŋ, rúláátiŋ or sélémmiŋ, they can have reduplication (Sense of repetition) repeating the same word, ta̱lla̱m ta̱lla̱mmɨŋ, teŋges teŋgessiŋ or selem selemmiŋ, and they may be onomatopoeic (Sound symbolism) Imitating the sound of an action, tʉ́llɨŋ, rʉ́ttɨŋ, dɨ́llɨŋ or  bʉ́bbɨŋ. Some ideophones in the Fur language symbolize the sound of action, but more often they refer to other senses like vision at the same time. Ideophones add more emphasis and confirmation to motion verbs. Lexicon Lexical ideophones add an extra sense, mosty to modifiers and some verbs (Action verbs), like an adverb, as in following examples - Júrédʉŋo    jʉrɨ     pukká    píríny       jíŋí (Páálí) young man   cloth   red        deep red   wore ‘A young man wore a deeply red cloth’ (Modifier) - Wʉoŋ    nʉŋ                rɨ́kkɨttɨŋ      amí (Júlŋi) herder   hard porridge    a lot            ate ‘A herder ate a lot of hard porridge’ (Adverb) Reduplication Reduplication is the repetition of the same word or part of the word to put more emphasis to what has happened, as in following example - Ása  jony jonynyiŋ           ɨloŋ (Pulŋí) dog  carrying of steps         walks ‘A dog walks jony jonynyiŋ’ (Adverb) Onomatopoeic Onomatopoeic words carry exactly the sound of an action or a motion in a way as to draw a whole picture of the situation, as in the following example. - Kurú    ká̱rá̱jjɨŋ            duíŋá tree      sound of action   broke ‘A tree broke ká̱rá̱j’

Brief explanation of Ideophones in the Fur language Some examples can be found in the following story about a blind man and a blind dik-dik. The story ‘One day a blind man pulled a stick of bean and went to a blind manꞌs garden to eat the blind manꞌs beans and he found a blind dik-dik eating the blind manꞌs beans and he held up the stick of beans to beat the blind dik-dik and he beat himself on the knee and fell down on his face,’ reads the following in Fur. Kʉrʉ na ʉ́rʉ́m Asi      díg     kʉrʉ            âlbá     bá       kʉrʉꞌŋ         ba̱rɨ      sʉ́ttɨŋ         bawa Time   one    blind man     there    then     of bean        stick    very quickly   pulled ná      kʉrʉꞌŋ           rǎ̱y            wɨt wɨttɨŋ  nyaŋá     áláŋ         kʉrʉꞌŋ            kʉrʉ        amí to      blind man's     garden      so slowly        went      in order    blind man's     beans      eat namá     ʉ́rʉ́m      kʉrʉ      bʉ́lóŋ      ná     kʉrʉꞌŋ          kʉrʉ      kʉkʉrʉm kʉkʉrʉmmiŋ      aam then       dik-dik    blind     found      to     blind man's   beans     very loudly                   eating namá kʉrʉꞌŋ   ba̱rɨ   ná  írí  wɨ́ttɨŋ                 já̱gɨ    áláŋ          ʉ́rʉ́m    kʉrʉ-sí    kʉrʉ  tʉ̂llɨŋ then  of bean  stick  to  up  with strong force lifted  in oder to  dik-dik blind-obj  knee powerfully taan     namá      suur      kʉrʉ      tʉ́ttɨŋ      taan       nás       kʉrgoŋ      kóbóbbiŋ      já̱bɨ́. beat     then        self       knee      so hard   beat       to         on face     very badly    fell. The story above plays with sound and uses homonyms in addition to ideophones, since kʉrʉ is a homonym meaning blind, blind person, bean, and knee. Ideophones, as sʉ́ttɨŋ, wɨt wɨttɨŋ, kʉkʉrʉm kʉkʉrʉmmiŋ, wɨ́ttɨŋ, tʉ̂llɨŋ, tʉ́ttɨŋ and kóbóbbiŋ, play a big role to carry on the story. They imitate the sound of events and encourage the reader to concentrate and follow the story by causing strong feelings in him/her, whether good or bad. For instance, in the story above in the clauses “pulled a stick of bean”, “went to a blind manꞌs garden”, “to eat the blind manꞌs beans”, “eating the blind manꞌs beans”, “he held up the stick of beans”, “beat himself on the knee” and “fell down on his face” each verb is used with an ideophone to describe the way the action took place. Table 1 shows the types of ideophones in the Fur language according to their use Go with modifiers Go with verbs, without redupplication Go with verbs, with redupplication píríny dɨ́rɨ́l ter rát lɨ́t sá̱w rá̱w tɨ́jíg lɨ́jɨ́g rɨ́t ká̱rá̱jjɨŋ tá̱llɨŋ gúrújjiŋ bʉ́ttɨŋ tʉ̂llɨŋ rá̱wwɨŋ tá̱wwɨŋ nyéréssiŋ kɨ̂ggɨŋ rɨ́jjɨŋ korom korommiŋ kʉrʉm kʉrʉmmiŋ selem selemmiŋ bʉrʉʉt bʉrʉʉttiŋ telem telemmiŋ tɨŋgɨs tɨŋgɨssɨŋ ka̱ta̱b ka̱ta̱bbɨŋ kosoot kosoottiŋ tɨndag tɨndaggiŋ talla̱m ta̱lla̱mmɨŋ Table 1: Types of ideophones In the Fur language ideophones are used in both, written and spoken form, and they are used to describe verbs and modifiers. Some verbs and modifiers in the Fur language have more than three ideophones used with it in different situations, as in Table 2: 1st ideophone 2nd ideophone 3rd ideophone 4th ideophone 5th ideophone Verb téldérriŋ bʉ́rʉ́ʉ́ttɨŋ béréétiŋ bʉrʉt bʉrʉttɨŋ nyégéréggiŋ báa – ‘drank’ telem telemmiŋ ka̱ra̱m ka̱ra̱mmmɨŋ korom korommiŋ kʉrʉm kʉrʉmmɨŋ takkij takkijjiŋ amí – ‘ate’ bʉ́ttɨŋ tá̱wwɨŋ tʉ́ttɨŋ ká̱rá̱wwɨŋ gá̱rmá̱ttɨŋ taan – ‘beat’ selem selemmiŋ gɨgɨrɨg gɨgɨrɨggɨg ka̱ta̱b ka̱ta̱bbɨŋ ta̱lla̱m ta̱lla̱mmɨŋ wɨt wɨttɨŋ ɨlŋɨ́ – ‘walked’ tá̱rá̱jjɨŋ télliŋ kʉ́rʉ́jjɨŋ tá̱llɨŋ ká̱rá̱jjɨŋ duíŋá – ‘broke’ Table 2: List of ideophones for some verbs Here are some more examples of the main categories of ideophones in the Fur language. Ideophones of verbs (a) Actions The ideophones nyʉ́rʉ́ssɨŋ ,téttiŋ, nyéréssiŋ, ká̱rá̱ttɨŋ, nyʉ́ttɨŋ, and dá̱lá̱jjɨŋ go with the verb éta which means ‘cut’ to tell us how an action took place. For example in the cutting of grass, meat, human body, tree, cloth, string, etc. With all these objects we use different ideophones with the verb “cut” to show the sound of the cutting. The different objects have a different ideophone that is used with them. Therefore one action-verb in the Fur language may have two or more ideophones which modify it. They are generally placed before the verb, as in the following examples 1. Kwě   dǎy        nyʉ́rʉ́ssɨŋ             béta. boy      grass     way of cutting           cut ‘A boy cut grass by strong force’ 2. Tɨ́bó                             boot              téttiŋ                     béta. name of man/boy          string            way of cutting                cut ‘Tibo cut a string quickly’ 3. Dʉó           suur           nyéréssiŋ        béta. person      self             way of cutting       cut ‘A person cut himself so badly’ 4. Ba̱gʉ                      kurú           ká̱rá̱ttɨŋ                    béta. name of man/boy       tree              the way of cutting       cut ‘Bagu cut a tree completely’ 5. Kɨ́so                    nuuŋ        -sí                  dɨwɨl         dá̱lá̱jjɨŋ              béta name of man/boy   ox            object marker     lap              way of cutting     cut ‘Kiso cut the lap of an ox/an ox at the lap so deeply’

(b) Motions The ideophones ka̱ta̱bka̱ta̱bbɨŋ, jonyjonynyiŋ, sewetsewettiŋ, leleeleŋ, jɨgɨrɨgjɨgɨrɨggɨŋ, and tɨŋgɨstɨŋgɨssɨŋ go with the verb ɨlŋɨ́, which means ‘walked’ to tell us how an action took place. For example the walking of a horse, man, dog, snake, monkey, cow etc. In all the above objects we use different ideophones with the verb “walk” to show the sound of the movement. All those different animals have a different ideophone that is used to describe their way of walking. Therefore, the one verb ‘walking’ in the Fur language has several ideophones which describe it. The movement-ideophones are also placed before the verb, as in the following examples 1. Múrtá           Ka̱ta̱bka̱ta̱bbɨŋ               ɨlŋɨ́. horse              sound of walking             walked. ‘A horse walked gently’ 2. Ása    jony jonynyiŋ        ɨlŋɨ́. dog      way of walking       walked ‘A dog walked steadily’ 3. Moo                            sewet sewettiŋ            ɨlŋɨ́ name of woman/girl        way she walked             walked ‘Moo walked softly’ 4. Nʉ́ʉ́m     leleeleŋ                  ɨlŋɨ snake      way it creeped          creeped ‘A snake creeped slowly and carefully’ 5. Koró           jɨgɨrɨg jɨgɨrɨggɨŋ           ɨlŋɨ́. Monkey        way it walked                walked ‘A monkey walked angrily’ 6. Ú          tɨŋgɨs tɨŋgɨssɨŋ             ɨlŋɨ́. cow        way it walked                walked ‘A cow walked heavily’ (c) Sounds The ideophones tâ̱wwɨŋ, tʉ̂llɨŋ and ká̱rá̱jjɨŋ go with the verbs taan, dʉ́llɨŋa and duíŋá to imitate the sound of the action. All those verbs have different ideophones which are used to illustrate them. The Sound-ideophones are always placed before verb, as in the following examples. 1. Dǎlim      ba̱rɨ       tá̱wwɨŋ                 taan. Police        gun        way of shooting     shot ‘A policeman shot a gun ‘very loudly’ 2. Kása      tʉ̂llɨŋ                     dʉ́llɨŋa. Gourd     way of exploding     exploded ‘A gourd exploded ‘With a strong force’ 3. Dʉónyáa  ba̱rɨ         ká̱rá̱jjɨŋ                        duíŋá. Woman     stick        the way of breaking         broke ‘A woman broke a stick with a lot of noise’ Ideophones of Modifiers Ideophones of modifiers add a degree to the colour, smell, taste and shape. They intensify the modifiers, as in the following examples. (a) Colours The ideophones dɨ́rɨ́l, térél, píríny, rɨ́t and rát go with the colours, 'black', 'white', 'red', 'green', and 'spoted' to tell us more about them. All those different colours have different ideophones that are used with them. Each colour in the Fur language has two ideophones which describe it. The colour-ideophones are always placed after the colour, as in the following examples 1. Mâŋga   pukká     píríny. Mango     red        deep ‘Deep red mango.’

2. Nyɨ̌re     pattá     térél Cotton    white    bright ‘Bright white cotton.’ 3. Dʉó   Jʉrɨ       dɨkkó       dɨ́rɨ́l       jíŋí. Man   Cloth      black        pitch      wore ‘A man wore a pitch black cloth.’ In the place of píríny, térél and dɨ́rɨ́l you can put píny, tér and dɨ́r respectively. The longer form of each is stronger. (b) Shapes The ideophones tól, pópót and rát go with the shapes, dorol, bírnyá and kussé to tell us more about them. All those shapes have different ideophones that are used with them, and each shape may have several different ideophones. The shape-ideophones are always placed after the shape, as in the following examples 1. Ta̱bʉ    dorol       tól. Head     round       roundness ‘A roundness of a round head.’ 2. Lóó      birnyá           pópót. place     smooth            slippery ‘A slippery smooth place.’ 3. Kurú    kussé      rát. tree       hard         sharply ‘A sharply hard place.’ 4. Dɨ́tóŋ bírnyá    pópót / pérét / pórót stone  smooth  very 'the very evenly smooth stone' (you can feel it when you touch) If a person disagrees with what you have said, then you repeat the same statement. But you try to use a different ideophone to make him/her believe in what you are talking about. (c) Taste and smell The ideophones rá̱w, tíjíg, sá̱w and lɨ́t, tág and rát go with the taste and smell ranynyá - 'sour', sɨmmó - 'sweet', tokké - 'hot', maŋŋá - 'smell of dead animal', mʉrré - 'good smell' and sɨ́lgó - 'smell of raw fish', respectively, to tell us more about them. Each taste and smell has a different ideophone that is used with them. The ideophones are always placed after the smell or taste, as in the following examples. 1. Dóól          sɨmmó    tíjíg sugar cane  sweet       very ‘A very sweet sugar cane’ 2. Padîs                 maŋŋá           lɨ́t carcass                 bad smell         very 'A very bad smelling carcass’ Here are some more examples of ideophones in the Fur language, as in the following sentences: (i) Lexicon Lexical idiophones describes the attitudes of person or thing and gives more attention to the verb and situation. 1. Kwě    sógómmiŋ      ooŋo. boy     sorrowfully     sat ‘A boy sat sorrowfully’ 2. Balda                   -si                télénynyiŋ      ká̱á̱lɨ́e. name of a person    obj marker     smoothly         shaved ‘Balda was shaved smoothly’ 3. Ma̱dɨla                    dǔu         rʉ́bʉ́sʉ́ggɨŋ          ooŋo. Name of the girl    down       carelessly      sat. ‘Ma̱dɨla sat down carelessly’

4. Ú    rɨjɨggɨŋ      keera. cow    loosely       stood ‘A cow stood loosely’ 5. Anda    lóó        tólóóliŋ       já̱gɨ́la. spy       place       carefully      looked ‘Anda looked a place carefully’ 6. Dǎlim           zurunynyiŋ       la̱w. policeman       seriously            look ‘A policeman looks seriously’ 7. Dʉónyáa    kóól       rɨssɨŋ      kɨɨrél. woman      pregnant    heavily   stood ‘A pregnant woman stood heavily’ 8. Tɨ́bó                  rúláátiŋ    uŋo. name of the boy   deeply      slept ‘Tɨ́bó slept deeply’ 9. Dolpá                 da̱rɨ́           bɨ́rɨ́ɨ́tɨŋ      báa. name of the boy    porridge       all             drank ‘Dolpá drank all porridge’ 10. Kwa      dʉŋŋɨŋ       kóol. people    silently      stayed ‘people stayed silently’ (ii) Reduplication In the Fur language reduplicative ideophone, always the repeats the same word. As in following examples 1. Sɨllêb                soora                korom korommiŋ        amí. name of a man    dried porridge     a sound of it                   ate ‘Sɨllêb ate a dried porridge korom korommiŋ’’ 2. Leel      pa̱gʉsa     kʉrʉm kʉrʉmmiŋ                kaam. donkey   maize       a sound of eating of maize     eat ‘A donkey eats a maize kʉrʉm kʉrʉmmiŋ’ 3. Kaam     selem selemmiŋ                      ɨloŋ. thief       a sound of his/her walking     walk ‘A thief walks selem selemmiŋ’ 4. Kamal    bʉ̂rgʉ         bʉrʉʉt bʉrʉʉttiŋ                         ba̱ɨ. camel     porridge       a sound of drinking this liquid       drinks ‘A camel drinks a porridge bʉrʉʉt bʉrʉʉttiŋ’ 5. Daamá            báráŋá      seret seretiŋ                            kello. name of a boy   sticks       a sound of pulling these sticks     pulled ‘Daamá pulled sticks (seret seretiŋ)’ 6. Joskôr   tɨŋgɨs tɨŋgɨssɨŋ                                        ɨlŋɨ́. ass         a sound that an ass makes when it walks      walks ‘An ass walks tɨŋgɨs tɨŋgɨssɨŋ’ 7. Múrtá   baama      ka̱ta̱b ka̱ta̱bbɨŋ                    bawa. horse     steps        a sounds of steps of a horse    took A horse walks and its steps make a sound ka̱ta̱b ka̱ta̱bbɨŋ’ 8. Robog                  kosoot kosoottiŋ          ɨloŋ. paralazed person   a sound of his/her feet    walks ‘Robog walks kosoot kosoottiŋ’ 9. Goroŋ    tɨndag tɨndaggiŋ          pawŋel. frog        a sound of its jumping   jumps ‘A frog jumps tɨndag tɨndaggiŋ’ 10. Ulul     kwa        talla̱m ta̱lla̱mmɨŋ                 jáápa. grazy   people      a sound of his/ker walking    walked over A grazy person walked over people talla̱m ta̱lla̱mmɨŋ’ (iii) Onomatopoeic Representing an action of the verb in a sound for a listener to understand a situation. As in following examples 1. Leel     kwě     bʉ́ttɨŋ                taan. donkey  boy      sound of hitting   hit ‘A donkey kicked a boy very hard’ 2. Boot    téttiŋ                      dʉ́sɨŋa. String   a sound of ripping     pull apart ‘A string is pulled apart by strong force’ 3. Jaaru     dǎy      nyʉ́ttɨŋ                    ŋaalo. friend    grass     sound of uprooting    picked ‘A friend plucked a grass quickly and by force’ 4. Kása    tʉ̂llɨŋ                        dʉ́llɨŋa. gourd    noise of explosion       exploded ‘A gourd exploded with a lot of noise’ 5. Íya        aara      rá̱wwɨŋ             jínynyâ. mother   sticks    rattling sound      put down ‘A mother put down sticks causing a lot of noise’ 6. Alam   gonyotógó     tá̱wwɨŋ   taan. hunter   pistol              pow        fired ‘A hunter fired a pistol with a lot of noise’

7. Tîwle                    -sí               dáálí     nyéréssiŋ             béta. name of a woman     obj marker    razor    sound of cutting     cut ‘Tîwle cut herself with razor slightly and very gently’ 8. Leel      boot      tâ̱ttɨŋ                   dʉ́so. donkey  string     sound of ripping    cut ‘A donkey cut string by storong force’ Summary In this paper, ideophones of the Fur language were described according to their use in different categories, as describing actions, motions, colours, sounds, and shapes. In the Fur language there are many more ideophones than can be listed in this paper. Mostly idiophones in the Fur language are used with verbs and modifiers. One verb or modifier may have several ideophones to be used with it in different conditions. References - Doke, C.M. (1935) Bantu linguistic terminology. London: Longmans, Green. - Dingemanse, 2011. The meaning and use of ideophones in Siwu. PhD dissertation, Nijmegen: Radboud University http//thesis.ideophone.org/.