The Laal language is spoken by about 300 people in three villages in the Moyen-Chari prefecture of Chad on opposite banks of the Chari River, called Gori (lá), Damtar (ɓual), and Mailao . Damtar had a distinct dialect, called Laabe (la:bé), with two or three speakers remaining in 1977; it was replaced by the dialect of Gori after two Gori families fled there at the end of the 19th century to escape a war. The language's speakers are mainly river fishermen and farmers; they also sell salt extracted from the ashes of doum palms and Vossia cuspidata . Like their neighbors the Niellim , they were formerly cattle herders, but lost their herds around the turn of the 19th century.

Laal remains unclassified, although extensive Adamawa-Ubangi (particularly Bua) and to a lesser extent Chadic influence is found. It is sometimes grouped with one of those two language families, and sometimes seen as a language isolate. Boyeldieu (1982) summarizes his view as "Its classification remains problematic; while it shows certain lexical, and no doubt morphological, traits with the Bua languages (Adamawa-13, Niger-Congo family of Joseph H. Greenberg), it differs from them radically in many ways of which some, a priori, make one think of geographically nearby Chadic languages." Roger Blench (2003), similarly, considers that "its vocabulary and morphology seem to be partly drawn from Chadic (i.e. Afro-Asiatic), partly from Adamawa (i.e. Niger-Congo) and partly from an unknown source, perhaps its original phylum, a now-vanished grouping from Central Africa."

It contains many loanwords from Baguirmi, since the region was for several centuries part of the Baguirmi Empire ; the local capital was Korbol . In addition, they almost all speak Niellim as a second language, and "at least 20%-30%" of their attested vocabulary (Boyeldieu 1977) shows similarities to that language. Their immediate neighbors speak Bua , Niellim , and Ndam . Like the Baguirmi , they are Muslims; partly because of this, some Arabic loanwords are also found.

This language first came to the attention of academic linguists in 1977, through Pascal Boyeldieu's fieldwork in 1975 and 1978. His fieldwork was based for the most part on a single speaker, M. Djouam Kadi of Damtar.

Laal (yəw láà:l)
Spoken in:	Chad
Region:	Gori, Damtar , Mailao villages in Moyen-Chari prefecture
Total speakers:	~300
Ranking:	Not in top 100
Genetic classification:	Unclassified  Laal
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mis
SIL	GDM
Location

Contents

1 Sounds 2 Grammar 2.1 Syntax 2.2 Nouns 2.3 Pronouns 2.3.1 Personal 2.3.2 Relative and indefinite pronouns 2.3.3 Interrogative 2.4 Prepositions 2.5 Verbs 2.5.1 Adjectives 2.6 Numbers 2.7 Adverbs 2.8 Modals 2.9 Conjunctions 3 Sample sentences 4 Bibliography 5 External links

Sounds

The consonants are:

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosives	p b	t d	c j	k g	ʔ
Implosive s	ɓ	ɗ	ʄ
Prenasalised plosives	mb	nd	nj	ng
Fricatives		s				h
Continuant s	w	l	y
Nasals	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Trills		r

Implosives and prenasalised stops, as well as h, are found only word-initially. Voiceless stops, as well as s, cannot occur at the end of a syllable. ŋ occurs only intervocalically and word-finally. s appears exclusively in loanwords and certain numbers. The prenasalized stops, as well as ʄ, are extremely rare.

The vowel system for non-initial syllables is: i, ɨ, u, e, ə, o, a, ua, with no length distinction. For initial syllables, however, it is much more complicated, allowing length distinctions and distinguishing the following additional vowels: ia, üo, üa (though the latter two appear only as morphologically conditioned forms of e and ia, and are perhaps better seen as allophonic.) In addition, ü may occur very occasionally; Boyeldieu quotes the example of mǜlùg "red (pl.)".

There are three level tones: high (á), middle (a), low (à). Combinations of these may occur on a single vowel, resulting in phonetic rising and falling tones; these are phonemically sequences of level tones.

Suffixes may force any of four kinds of ablaut on the vowels of preceding words: raising (takes ia, a, ua to e, ə, o), lowering (takes e, ə, o to ia, a, ua), low rounding (takes i and ɨ to u; e and ia to üo; ə, a, and ua to o), and high rounding (takes i and ɨ to u; e and ia to üa; ə, a, and o to ua). They are transcribed in the suffix section as ↑, ↓, ↗, ↘ respectively. In some verbs, a/ə is "raised" to e rather than, as expected, ə.

In suffixes, ə and o undergo vowel harmony: they become ɨ and u respectively if the preceding vowel is one of {i, ɨ, u}. Likewise, r undergoes consonant harmony, becoming l after words containing l. Suffixes with neutral tone copy the final tone of the word they are suffixed to.

Grammar

Syntax

The typical word order can be summarized as subject - (verbal particle) - verb - object - adverb; preposition - noun; possessed - possessor ; noun - adjective.

Nouns

Nouns have plural and singular forms (the latter are perhaps better viewed as singulative in some cases), with plural formation hard to predict: kò:g "bone" > kuagmi "bones", tuà:r "chicken" > tò:rò "chickens", ɲaw "hunger" > ɲə̀wə́r "hungers". Nouns do not have arbitrary gender; however, as in English, three natural genders (male, female, non-human) are distinguished by the pronouns.

The possessive is expressed in two ways:

• "inalienable ", or direct, possession: by following the possessed with the possessor (and modifying the tone or ending of the possessed in some cases), eg piá:r no "person's leg" ("leg person");
• alienable possession : by putting a connecting word, conjugated according to number and gender, between the possessed and the possessor, eg làgɨˋm má màr-dɨb "blacksmith's horse" ("horse CONN. man+of-forge"). This word is sometimes abbreviated to a simple high tone.

However, if the possessor is a pronoun, it is suffixed with extensive vowel ablaut (in the first case), or prepositional forms with "at", and optionally the connector as well, are used (in the second case): na:ra já ɗe: "my man" ("man CONN. at-me"), mùlù "her eye" ("eye-her", from mɨla "eye").

A noun indicating someone who does, is, or has something can be formed with the prefix màr, meaning roughly "he/she/it who/of": màr yùgòr "landowner", màr ce "farmer" (ce = cultivate), màr pál "fisherman" (pál = to fish), màr pàlà ta: "a fisher of fish".

Some nouns (eg páw- "friend") occur only with bound pronouns, and have no independent form.

Pronouns

Personal

Note the distinction between inclusive and exclusive "we", found in many other languages but not English, and the gender differentiation of "I" in certain forms.

The object paradigm for verbs is quite complex; only two of its several sets of allomorphs are given.

	Simple	Emphatic	Benefactive	At	Possessive	Object (n-type)	Object (r-type)
I (masc.)	já	já	ni	ɗe:	-↑ər	-↑ə́n	-↑ə́r
I (fem.)	jí	jí	ni	ɗe:	-↑ər	-↑ə́n	-↑ə́r
you	ʔò	ʔùáy	na	ɗa:	-↓a	-↘(u)án	-↘á
he	ʔà	ʔàáy	nar	ɗa:r	-↓ar	-↓án	-↓ár
she	ʔɨ̀n	ʔɨ̀ní	nùg	ɗò:g	-↑o(g), -↗o(g)	-↗òn	-↑ò
it	ʔàn	ʔàní	nàná	ɗà:ná	-↓an	-↓àn	-↓àr, -↓àn
we (excl.)	ʔùrú	ʔùrú	nùrú	ɗò:ró	-↑rú	-↗(ˋ)nùrú, -↑(ˋ)nùrú	-↗(ˋ)rùú, -↑(ˋ)rùú
we (incl.)	ʔàáŋ	ʔàáŋ	nàáŋ	ɗàáŋ	-↑ráŋ	-↑(ˋ)nàáŋ	-↑(ˋ)ràáŋ
you (pl.)	ʔùn	ʔùnúŋ	nùúŋ	ɗòóŋ	-↑rúŋ	-↗(ˋ)nùúŋ, -↑(ˋ)nùúŋ	-↗(ˋ)rùúŋ, -↑(ˋ)rùúŋ
they (anim.)	ʔì	ʔìrí	nìrí	ɗè:ri	-↑rí	-↑(ˋ)nìrí	-↑(ˋ)rìí
they (inan.)	ʔuàn	ʔuàní	nuàná	ɗuà:ná	-↘an, -↑uan	-↘àn	-↘àr, -↘àn

Relative and indefinite pronouns

The inanimate plural has in general been dropped in favor of the animate plural.

	Male sg.	Female sg.	Inanimate sg.	Animate pl.	Inanimate pl.
who/of	já	jí	má	yí	yá
some ...	jàn	jìn	màn	yìn	yìn
such a ...	juàŋá	jùŋú	muàŋá	yùŋú	yùŋú

Interrogative

yé "what?", jè "who?", ɗé "where?", sɨ̀g "how much?".

Prepositions

Prepositions preced their objects: gɨ̀ pə:l "in(to) the village", kɨ́ yà:ná "to his body" (="to near him".)

Verbs

The verb does not vary according to the person or gender of the subject, but some verbs (about a quarter of the verbs attested) vary according to its number: no kaw "the person eats", mùáŋ kɨw "the people eat". The plural form of the verb is hard to predict, but is often formed by ablaut (typically raising the vowel height) with or without a suffix -i(ɲ) or -ɨɲ and tonal change.

The verb does, however, change according to the direct object. It takes personal suffixes to indicate a pronominal direct object, and commonly changes when a non-pronominal direct object is added to a transitive form with final low tone (formed similarly to the "centripetal", for which see below); eg ʔà ná ká "he will do"; ʔà ná kàrà mɨ́ná "he will do something"; ʔà kú na:ra "he sees the man"; ʔà kúù:rùúŋ "he sees you (pl.)".

The verb has three basic forms: simple, "centripetal", and "participative" (to calque Boyeldieu's terminology.) The simple form is used in the simple present tense or the imperative, eg ʔà duàg yə́w gə̀m "he goes down the riverbank" (lit. "he descend mouth riverbank.") The "centripetal" indicates action "hither", either spatially - motion towards the speaker - or temporally - action up to the present moment; it is formed mainly by suffixing a vowel (often, but not always, identical to the last vowel in the word), eg ʔà duàgà yə́w gə̀m "he comes down the riverbank (towards me)". The "participative" generally indicates an omitted object or instrument, eg ʔà sá ɗa:g ʔà sɨ̀rɨ́ su "he takes a calabash and drinks water with it" (lit. "he take calabash he drink-participative water".)

Immediately before the verb, a particle may be placed to indicate forms other than a simple present tense; such particles include ná (pl. ní) marking future tense, taá:/teé: (pl. tií:) marking continuous action, wáa: (pl. wíi:) marking motion, náa: (pl. níi:) being apparently a combination of ná and wáa:, mà (pl. mì) meaning "must", mɨ́ marking reported speech (apparently an evidential ), mɨ́nà (pl. mínì) expressing intention, kò marking habitual action, ɓə́l or ga (pl. gi) marking incomplete action, and wó (always accompanied by ʔàle after the verb) meaning "maybe".

Mediopassives (see passive voice, middle voice) can be formed from transitive verbs by adding a suffix -↑ɨ́ɲ: eg no siár sà:b "someone ripped the cloth" > sà:b sérɨ́ɲ "the cloth ripped". For the inverse operation - forming transitive verbs from intransitives - tonal changes, or changes to the plural, sometimes occur.

Verbal nouns can sometimes be formed, mainly from intransitives, by the addition of a suffix -(vowel)l, sometimes with ablaut and tone change; eg wal "fall" > wàlál "a fall", sùbá "lie" > sɨ́blál (pl. súbɨ̀r) "a lie". The l here becomes n near a nasal, and r near r: man "taste good", manan "a good taste".

Adjectives

Adjectives do not seem to constitute an independent category in Laal; to all intents and purposes, they behave just like verbs. Eg gò: ʔì:r "the goat is black". Attributively, they are typically linked as a relative clause : gò: má ʔì:r "the black goat" (literally "goat which black".)

Numbers

The numbers include ɓɨ̀dɨ́l "one", ʔisi "two", ɓisan "four".

Adverbs

Adverbs generally come at the end of the clause. Some important adverbs are:

Adverbs of location:

• "here": ɗágàl, núŋú
• "there": ɗaŋ
• "over there, yonder": ɗàŋá

Temporal adverbs:

• "day before yesterday": tá:r
• "yesterday": ʔiè:n
• "today": cicam, tari-màá
• "recently": bèrè
• "soon": sugo
• "tomorrow": yìlí-kà:rì
• "day after tomorrow": miàlgà

Modals

Among the most important modals are:

• Before the verb: mɨ́ "(say) that", gàná "then"
• After the verb: wó "not", (ʔà)le "maybe", ɓə́l "again", ʔá or gà "already", à interrogative , wá exclamatory , ta "now", cám "again, anew".

Conjunctions

Syntactically, these can be divided into five types:

• only {main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause}: mɨ́ "(say) that", ɓə "because"
• either {main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause} or {conjunction - subordinate clause - main clause}: jò "if", dànngà (possibly from Baguirmian) "when"
• circumposed: either {conjunction - main clause - conjunction - subordinate clause} or {conjunction - subordinate clause - conjunction - main clause}: jò... gàná "if"
• coordinate clause - conjunction - coordinate clause: ní "then afterwards", ku "then", kó "nonetheless", á or ná "and", ɓe: "or", ʔàmá (from Arabic or Baguirmian) "but".
• circumposed: conjunction - coordinate clause - conjunction - coordinate clause: ku... ku "then", yàn... yàn "both... and".

Sample sentences

• mùáŋ lá tií: kìrì yé? "What do the people of Gori do?" (lit. "people Gori progressive-plural do-plural-transitive what?"
• mùáŋ lá tií: pál. "The people of Gori fish." (lit. "people Gori progressive-plural fish.")
• màr-ce ɓɨ́lá mɨ́ "bɨ̀là, ʔò teé: ɗɨ̀grɨ̀r". "The farmer said "No way! You're tricking me." (lit. "man+who-cultivate say that no-way you progressive trick-me".)
• já ná wùsù na pè:rí ní ʔárí ʔò ná kìnì yé? "If/When I take out the snake, what will you give me?" (lit. "I(masc.) will take+out-transitive for-you(sg.) snake then first you give-me-transitive what?")
• yà kàskàr mà mùáŋ lá sə̀ɲə́ be. "It's with swords that the people of Gori fight." (lit. "with swords emphatic(inan.) people Gori fight-participative battle.")

Bibliography

• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1977. "Eléments pour une phonologie du laal de Gori (Moyen-Chari), Etudes phonologiques tchadiennes, Paris, SELAF (Bibliothèque, 63-64), p. 186-198.
• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1982. Deux études laal (Moyen-Chari, Tchad), in Verbindung mit SELAF, Paris. Berlin: Reimer. Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde: Ser. A, Afrika; Bd. 29. ISBN 3-496-00557-2.
• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1982. "Quelques questions portant sur la classification du laal (Tchad)". in JUNGRAITHMAYR, H., The Chad languages in the Hamitosemitic-Nigritic Border Area (Papers of the Marburg Symposium, 1979). Berlin : Reimer, p. 80-93. Coll. Marburger Studien zur Afrika- und Asienkunde, Serie A : Afrika.
• Pascal Boyeldieu. 1987. "Détermination directe/indirecte en laal". in BOYELDIEU, P., La maison du chef et la tête du cabri : des degrés de la détermination nominale dans les langues d'Afrique centrale. Paris : Geuthner, p. 77-87. ISBN 2-7053-0339-1
• David Faris, 19 September 1994. "In-House Summary: Laal/Gori language". SIL/Chad Survey Team. (Unpublished.)

External links

• Laal at LLACAN
• Laal at the Ethnologue