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The Fur language (or For; Fur: bèle fòòr or fòòraŋ bèle; Arabic: فوراوي, Fûrâwî; sometimes called Konjara by linguists, after a former ruling clan) is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Fur of Darfur in Western Sudan. It is part of a broader family of languages known as the Fur languages.

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (February 2011)

Fur
bèle fòòr
Native to	Sudan, Chad
Region	Darfur
Ethnicity	1,100,000 Fur people (2017)[1]
Native speakers	750,000 (2004)[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Fur Fur
Language codes
ISO 639-3	fvr
Glottolog	furr1244
Linguasphere	05-CAA-aa
Geographic distribution of Fur
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Phonology

The consonantal phonemes are:

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Plosive	p[decimal 1] b	t d	ɟ[decimal 2]	k ɡ
Fricative	f[decimal 1]	s (z)[decimal 3]				h[decimal 4]
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Approximant		l	j		w
Trill		r

All sounds are spelt with their IPA symbols except for the following: j = [ɟ~dʒ], ñ = [ɲ] and y = [j]. Arabic consonants are sometimes used in loanwords.

The vowels are as in Latin: a e i o u. There is dispute as to whether the –ATR vowels [ɛ], [ɔ], [ɪ], [ʊ] are phonetic variants or separate phonemes.[2]^{[citation needed]}

		Front	Central	Back
Close	[+ATR]	i		u
Near-close	[-ATR]	ɪ		ʊ
Mid	[+ATR]	[e]	ə	[o]
Open-mid	[-ATR]	ɛ		ɔ
Open			a

There are two underlying tonemes, L (low) and H (high); phonetically, L, H, mid, HL, and LH are all found.

Metathesis is an extremely common and regular grammatical phenomenon in Fur: when a consonant pronoun prefix is prefixed to a verb that begins with a consonant, either the verb's first consonant is deleted or it changes places with the following vowel; e.g.: lem- "lick" → -elm-; ba- "drink" → -ab-; tuum- "build" → -utum-. There are also various assimilation rules.

Morphology

Plurals

Noun, and optionally adjective, plurals can be formed with -a (-ŋa after vowels): aldí "story" → aldíŋá "stories", tóŋ "(a certain species of) antelope" → pira "antelopes"; piraŋa "old" → tooy'báiná "old (pl.)". This suffix also gives the inanimate 3rd person plural of the verb: liíŋ "he bathes" → liíŋá "they (inanimate) bathe", káliŋa "they (animate) bathe".

Vowel-final adjectives can take a plural in -lá, as well as -ŋa: lúllá "cold" → lúllála or lúlláŋa "cold (pl.)". A similar suffix (metathesized and assimilated to become -ól/-úl/-ál) is used for the plural of the verb in some tenses.

A few CVV nouns take the plural suffix H-ta; roo "river" → roota'wala gal rooŋa "rivers"; ra̱yi' wala gal ra̱y "field" → rǎ̱ytó'wala gal rǎ̱ytá "fields".

At least two nouns take the suffix -i: kóór "spear" → kóórí "spears", dʉ́tʉ "mouse" → kʉ́ʉ́tɨ́ "mice".

Nouns with the singular prefix d- (> n- before a nasal) take the plural k-; these are about 20% of all nouns. In some cases (mostly body parts) it is accompanied by L; e.g.: dɨ́ló "ear" → kɨ́ló "ears"; nʉ́ŋɨ́ "eye" → kʉ́ŋɨ́ "eyes"; dági "tooth" → kagi "teeth"; dormí "nose" → kormi "noses".

• In some cases the singular also has a suffix -ŋ, not found in the plural: daulaŋ "shoe" → kaula "shoes", dɨróŋ "egg" → kɨro "eggs".
• Sometimes a further plural suffix from those listed above is added: nʉ́nʉm "granary" → kʉ́nʉ́ma "granaries", nʉ́ʉ́m "snake" → kʉ́ʉ́mɨ́ "snakes", dɨwwô "new" → kɨwwóla'wala gal 'kɨwwóŋa "new (pl.)"
• Sometimes the suffix -(n)ta, is added: dewer "porcupine" → kewértá "porcupines"; da̱wi "tail" → ka̱wíntó'wala gal ka̱wíntá "tails".
• One noun, as well as the demonstratives and the interrogative "which", take a plural by simply prefixing k-L: úú "cow" → kuu "cows"; á̱yɨ "which (one)?" → ká̱yɨ "which (ones)?".
• Several syntactic plurals with no singulars, mostly denoting liquids, have k-L-a; kewa "blood", koro "water", kona "name, song" koonà.

Nouns

The locative case can be expressed by the suffix -le or by reversing the noun's final tone, e.g.: tòŋ "house" → toŋ "at the house"; loo "place", kàrrà "far" → loo kàrrà-le "at a far place".

The genitive (English possessive s) is expressed by the suffix -iŋ (the i is deleted after a vowel.) If the relationship is possessive, the possessor comes first; otherwise, it comes last; e.g.: nuum "snake" → nuumiŋ tàbù "snake's head"; jùtà "forest" → kàrabà jùtăŋ "animals of the forest".

Pronouns

Independent subject:

Singular	Fur	Plural	Fur
I	ká	we	kɨ́
you (sg.)	jɨ́	you (pl.)	bɨ́
he, she, it	yé	they	yɨeŋ + yeeŋ

The object pronouns are identical apart from being low tone and having -ŋó added to the plural forms.

Prefixed subject pronouns:

Singular	Fur	Plural	Fur
I	- (triggers metathesis)	we	k-
you (sg.)	j-	you (pl.)	b-
he, she, it	- (causes raising; *y-)	they (animate)	y- (+pl. suffix)
		they (inanimate)	(*y-) (+pl. suffix)

Thus, for example, on the verb bʉo- "tire":

English	Fur	English	Fur
I'm tired	ká ʉmo	we tired	kɨ́ kʉmo
you (sg.) tired	jɨ́ jʉmo	you (pl.) tired	bɨ́ bʉmo
he/it/she tired	yé bʉo	they tired	yɨeŋ kʉme + yeeŋ bʉe

gi, described as the "participant object pronoun", represents first or second person objects in a dialogue, depending on context.

Possessives (singular; take k- with plural nouns):

Singular	Fur	Plural	Fur
my	dúíŋ	our	dáíŋ
your (sg.)	dɨ́ɨ́ŋ	your (pl.)	dɨ́eŋ
his, hers, its	dééŋ	their	dɨ́eŋ

Verbs

The Fur verbal system is quite complicated; verbs fall into a variety of conjugations. There are three tenses: present, perfect, and future. Subjunctive is also marked. Aspect is distinguished in the past tense.

Derivational suffixes include -iŋ (intransitive/reflexive; e.g. lii "he washes" → liiŋ "he washes himself) and gemination of the middle consonant plus -à/ò (intensive; e.g. jabi "drop" → jappiò/jabbiò "throw down".)

Negation is done with the marker a-...-bà surrounding the verb; a-bai-bà "he does not drink".

Adjectives

Most adjectives have two syllables, and a geminate middle consonant: e.g. àppa "big", fùkka "red", lecka "sweet". Some have three syllables: dàkkure "solid".

Adverbs can be derived from adjectives by addition of the suffix -ndì or L-n, e.g.: kùlle "fast" → kùllendì or kùllèn "quickly".

Abstract nouns can be derived from adjectives by adding -iŋ and lowering all tones, deleting any final vowel of the adjective, e.g.: dìrro "heavy" → dìrrìŋ "heaviness".

Media in Fur language

Radio Dabanga - broadcasts daily news in the Fur language and in other languages local to Darfur.

References

Sources

• Beaton, A.C. A Grammar of the Fur Language. Linguistic Monograph Series, No. 1. Khartoum: Sudan Research Unit, Faculty of Arts, University of Khartoum 1968 (1937).
• Jakobi, Angelika. A Fur Grammar. Buske Verlag: Hamburg 1989.
• Kutsch-Lojenga, Constance and Christine Waag, "The Sounds and Tones of Fur", in Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages No. 9. Entebbe: SIL-Sudan 2004.
• Noel, Georgianna. An Examination of the Tone System of Fur and its Function in Grammar, University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

Bariwarig Tooduo, "Participant Reference". University of Juba 2014

На других языках

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[de] Fur (Sprache)

Fur (Eigenbezeichnung: bèle fòòr oder fòòraŋ bèle, arabisch فوراوي Fūrāwī; auch Konjara nach einem früheren Clan) ist die Sprache des Volkes der Fur in Darfur im westlichen Teil Sudans.

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- [en] Fur language

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[es] Idioma fur

El idioma fur (en fur, bèle fòòr o fòòraŋ bèle, en árabe فوراوي, fūrāwī; a veces llamado konjara por los lingüistas, del nombre de un antiguo clan dirigente) es un idioma perteneciente a las lenguas fur (rama de las lenguas nilo-saharianas) de Darfur, en el oeste de Sudán. Tiene alrededor de 750.000 hablantes (500.000, en 1983) pertenecientes al pueblo fur.

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[fr] Four (langue)

Le four (ou fur, bèle fòòr ou fòòraŋ bèle, en arabe : فوراوي fûrâwî; parfois appelé Konjara, d'après le nom d'un clan) est parlé par 500 000 Fours au Darfour, dans l'ouest du Soudan. Quelques locuteurs de la langue résident au Tchad.

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[it] Lingue fur

Le lingue fur costituiscono un piccolo gruppo della famiglia linguistica Nilo-Sahariana. Il gruppo è stato proposto per sistemare due lingue vicine all'interno della famiglia linguistica, ma non tutti i linguisti l'hanno accettato e quindi l'esistenza è controversa.

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[ru] Фур (язык)

Язык фур (самоназв. bèle fòòr или fòòraŋ bèle, араб. فوراوي‎, произн. Fûrâwî), иногда лингвисты называют его конджара по названию бывшего правящего клана — язык народности фор, проживающей в суданском регионе Дарфур. Относится к фурской ветви нило-сахарской макросемьи. Число носителей — около 750 тыс.[1]

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