// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Gungu language say to its student? "Gunna learn me.

Gungu
Rugungu
Native to	Uganda
Region	Buliisa District
Ethnicity	Gungu people
Native speakers	49,000 (2002 census)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Gungu
Early form	Pre-Rugungu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	rub
Glottolog	gung1250
Guthrie code	JE.101

Gungu is a Bantu language spoken by the Gungu (or Bagungu) people in western Uganda.

Phonology

Consonants

Casali and Diprose tentatively argue that the labialized (Cʷ) and palatalized (Cʲ) sequences may be sequences of CuV and CiV, respectively.

Gungu consonants

			Bilabial			Labio-dental	Alveolar			Palatal			Velar			Glottal
			plain	lab.	pal.		plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	pal.
Nasal		-nas	m ⟨m⟩	mʷ ⟨mw⟩	mʲ ⟨my⟩		n ⟨n⟩	nʷ ⟨nw⟩	nʲ ⟨ni̱⟩	ɲ ⟨ny⟩		ɲʲ ⟨nyi̱⟩	ŋ ⟨ngh⟩		ŋʲ ⟨nghy⟩
		+nas	m̩m ⟨mm⟩	m̩mʷ ⟨mmw⟩	m̩mʲ ⟨mmy⟩		n̩n ⟨nn⟩	n̩nʷ ⟨nnw⟩	n̩nʲ ⟨nni⟩	ɲ̩ɲ ⟨nny⟩	ɲ̩ɲʷ ⟨nnyw⟩
Stop/ Affricate	-voice	-nas	p ⟨p⟩	pʷ ⟨pw⟩	pʲ ⟨py⟩	f ⟨f⟩	t ⟨t⟩	tʷ ⟨tw⟩	tʲ ⟨ty⟩	c ⟨t͡ʃ⟩	t͡ʃʷ ⟨cw⟩	t͡ʃʲ ⟨cy⟩	k ⟨k⟩	kʷ ⟨kw⟩	kʲ ⟨ky⟩
		+nas	mp ⟨mp⟩	m̩pʷ ⟨mpw⟩	m̩pʲ ⟨mpy⟩	n̩f ⟨nf⟩	n̩t ⟨nt⟩	ⁿtʷ ⟨ntw⟩	ⁿtʲ ⟨nty⟩	ⁿt͡ʃ ⟨nc⟩	n̩t͡ʃʷ ⟨ncw⟩		ŋk ⟨nk⟩	ŋkʷ ⟨nkw⟩	ŋkʲ ⟨nky⟩
	+voice	-nas	b ⟨bb⟩	bʷ ⟨bbw⟩	bʲ ⟨bby⟩	v ⟨v⟩	d ⟨d⟩	dʷ ⟨dw⟩	dʲ ⟨dy⟩	d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩	d͡ʒʷ ⟨jw⟩	d͡ʒʲ ⟨jy⟩	g ⟨g⟩	gʷ ⟨gw⟩	gʲ ⟨gy⟩
		+nas	mb ⟨mb⟩	m̩bʷ ⟨mbw⟩	m̩bʲ ⟨mby⟩	ⁿv ⟨nv⟩	n̩d ⟨nd⟩	ⁿdʷ ⟨ndw⟩	ⁿdʲ ⟨ndy⟩	ⁿd͡ʒ ⟨nj⟩	n̩d͡ʒʷ ⟨njw⟩		ŋg ⟨ng⟩	ŋ̩gʷ ⟨ngw⟩	ŋ̩gʲ ⟨ngy⟩
Fricative	-voice	-nas					s ⟨s⟩	sʷ ⟨sw⟩	sʲ ⟨sy⟩							h ⟨h⟩	hʷ ⟨hw⟩	hʲ ⟨hy⟩
		+nas					ⁿs ⟨ns⟩	n̩sʷ ⟨nsw⟩	n̩sʲ ⟨nsy⟩
	+voice	-nas	β ⟨b⟩		βʲ ⟨by⟩		z ⟨z⟩	zʷ ⟨zw⟩	zʲ ⟨zy⟩
		+nas					n̩z ⟨nz⟩	ⁿzʷ ⟨nzw⟩	ⁿzʲ ⟨nzy⟩
Tap							ɾ ⟨r⟩	ɾʷ ⟨rw⟩	ɾʲ ⟨ry⟩
Approximant			ʋ ⟨b̯⟩	ʋʷ ⟨b̯w⟩			l ⟨l⟩	lʷ ⟨lw⟩	lʲ ⟨ly⟩	j ⟨y⟩	jʷ ⟨yw⟩			w ⟨w⟩

Vowels

Gungu has 14 vowel phonemes. The mid vowels are variants of the open-mid vowels. Vowels before prenasalized consonants and after labialized and palatalized consonants are always long but are written short. The close and mid vowels are considered "hard", and the others are considered "soft." Gungu has a form of vowel harmony, in which the mid vowels generally only appear in words with the "hard" close vowels.

Monophthongs

Gungu vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	Short	Long	Short	Long	Short	Long
Close	i ⟨i̱⟩	iː ⟨i̱i̱⟩			u ⟨u̱⟩	uː ⟨u̱u̱⟩
Near-close	ɪ ⟨i⟩	ɪː ⟨ii⟩			ʊ ⟨u⟩	ʊː ⟨u⟩
Mid	(e ⟨e⟩)	(eː ⟨ee⟩)			(o ⟨o⟩)	(oː ⟨oo⟩)
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩	ɛː ⟨ee⟩			ɔ ⟨o⟩	ɔː ⟨oo⟩
Open			ä ⟨a⟩	äː ⟨aa⟩

Diphthongs

Gungu has eight diphthongs.

Gungu diphthongs

	Front Hard	Front Soft	Back Hard	Back Soft
Mid	ei̯ ⟨ei̱⟩	ɛɪ̯ ⟨ei⟩	oi̯ ⟨oi̱⟩	ɔɪ̯ ⟨oi⟩
Open	äi̯ ⟨ai̱⟩	äɪ̯ ⟨ai⟩	äu̯ ⟨au̱⟩	äʊ̯ ⟨au⟩

Tone

Tone is only marked on Gungu verbs indicating the recent past. This tense is marked with a plus symbol (+).

Orthography

Gungu alphabet

Capital	Lowercase	IPA
A	a	/ä/
Aa	aa	/äː/
B	b	/β/
B̯	b̯	/ʋ/
Bb	bb	/b/
C	c	/t͡ʃ/
D	d	/d/
E	e	/e/, /ɛ/
Ee	ee	/eː/, /ɛː/
F	f	/f/
G	g	/g/
H	h	/h/
I	i	/ɪ/
II	ii	/ɪː/
I̱	i̱	/i/
I̱I̱	i̱i̱	/iː/
J	j	/d͡ʒ/
K	k	/k/
L	l	/l/
M	m	/m/
N	n	/n/
Ngh	ngh	/ŋ/
Ny	ny	/ɲ/
O	o	/o/, /ɔ/
Oo	oo	/oː/, /ɔː/
P	p	/p/
R	r	/ɾ/
S	s	/s/
T	t	/t/
U	u	/ʊ/
Uu	uu	/ʊ/
U̱	u̱	/u/
U̱U̱	u̱u̱	/uː/
V	v	/v/
W	w	/w/
Y	y	/j/
Z	z	/z/

References

Works cited

• Casali, Rod; Diprose, Martin (2007). Lugungu Phonology Statement (PDF). SIL International. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-01-21.
• Moe, Ronald; Mbabazi, James (May 2008). Lugungu orthography guide (2nd ed.). SIL. OCLC 555770294.
• Robert, Businge Makolome; Diprose, Martin (2016). "The Lugungu Alphabet". Lugungu Dictionary.