Introduction
Lango alphabet is a Latin alphabet.
Lango alphabet has only 19 letters out of 26 letters.
Lango language does not have all the 26 letters in the latin alphabet because of certain pronunciations that are not found in Lango language.
Lango alphabet doesn't have 7 letters of the Latin alphabet, and these are;-
f, h, q, s, v, x ,z .
Full alphabet of Lango language in lower case letters;-
a, b, c, d, e, g, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, t, u, w, y.
When pronouncing the alphabet letters in Lango language,their sounds change to a two letter pronunciations as seen below;-
aa, ba, ca, da, ee, ga, ii, ja, ka, la, ma, na, oo, pa, ra, ta, uu, wa, ya.
Full alphabet of Lango language upper case letters are;-
A, B, C, D, E, G, I, J, K, L, M, N, O ,P, R, T, U, W, Y.
(1) Vowels of Lango language are five (5), and they are;-
a, e, i, o, u
(2) Consonants of Lango language are fourteen (14), and they are;-
b, c, d, g, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, w, y.
Pronunciations
In Lango language, a person who knows only Lango language or grew up and studied in the village schools in Lango region finds it difficult to pronounce the 7 missing letters in the Lango alphabet.
The 7 letters missing in the Lango alphabet are represented by other letters present in the Lango alphabet.
NB: Letter ‘h' disappears in some Lango sounds or speech such as;- Harry becomes Arry, hotel becomes otel, etc.
And letter 'x' in some words is replaced with letters 'kc' in Lango speech or sound.
For example;-
English | Lango |
Francis | Prancic |
Friend | Priend |
Film | Pilim |
Fine | Pine |
Harriet | Arriet |
Hotel | Otel |
House | Aouse |
Him | im |
Hip | ip |
His | ic |
Quick | Kuick |
Queen | Kueen |
Qoran | Koran |
Question | Kuection |
Sarah | Cara |
Sweet | Cweet |
Susan | Cucan |
Sukari | Cukari |
Vest | Best |
Vicky | Bicky |
Video | Bideo |
Very | Bery |
Village | Billage |
Vice | Bice |
Xylophone | Jylopone |
Exemplary | Ekcemplary |
Extra | Ektra |
Exercise | Ekcercise |
Exactly | Ejactly |
Hexagon | Ekcagon |
Zoo | Joo |
Zip | Jip |
Zebra | Jebra |
Zero | Jero |
Zigzag | Jigjag |
Lango language has no complication in pronouncing the lango alphabet because the words are pronounced the way they are written.
Examples of Lango words pronounced the way they are written;-
Lango | English |
Atin | Child |
Aweno | Guinea fowl |
Abolo | Bananas |
Joo | People |
Golo | Hook |
Tin | Today |
Kec | Hunger |
Obwol | Mushroom |
Emany | Liver |
Yin | You |
Below is how Lango pronounces words;-
Ba | be | bi | bo | bu |
Ca | ce | ci | co | cu |
Da | de | di | do | du |
Ga | ge | gi | go | gu |
Ja | je | ji | jo | ju |
Ka | ke | ki | ko | ku |
La | le | li | lo | lu |
Ma | me | mi | mo | mu |
Na | ne | ni | no | nu |
Nga(ŋ) | nge | ngi | ngo | ngu |
Pa | pe | pi | po | pu |
Ra | re | ri | ro | ru |
Ta | te | ti | to | tu |
Wa | we | wi | wo | wu |
Ya | ye | yi | yo | yu |
Letter ‘ŋ’ is not used nowadays because it is not on many keyboards. We use letters ‘nga’ instead of it because it is easy to type and print.
Phonology - Lwongo okene.
Phonology is the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across languages.
(a) In Lango language, letter ‘r’ is used instead of letter 't' when pronouncing some words such as;-
Written as | Pronounced as | English |
Akite | Akire | Behaved |
Kite | Kire | Character |
Ibuto | Iburo | You slept |
Ngetta | Ngerra | My side |
Dita | Dira | Busket |
Gita | Gira | My thing |
Gite | Gire | His/her thing |
Yite | Yire | Ears |
Yito | Yiro | Smoke |
Oyite | Oyire | Oyite(name of a person) |
Obote | Obore | Obote (name) |
Keto | Kero | Put |
(b) Some words in Lango language use letter ‘u’ instead of letter ‘o’ such as;-
Written as | Pronounced as |
Kuro | Kuru |
Uro | Uru |
Tuko | Tuku |
Uco | Ucu |
Kulo | Kulu |
Buto | Butu |
Buko | Buku |
Bungo | Bungu |
Bito | Bitu |
Bino | Binu |
Letters - Nyukta
In Lango language, the letter 'c' is pronounced as ‘ca’ which sounds like the first three letters of the following words in English;- charming, chaina, challenge, charcoal, charge, e.t.c.
For example;-
Lango | English |
Cai | Tea |
Cak | Milk, start, breast |
Cal | Picture |
Cabun | Soap |
Capwal | Journey |
Can | Poverty |
Cam | Food |
Cado | Diarrhoea |
Caa | That |
Carolok | Proverbs |
Note: Letter ‘C' and 'Q' in English sounds like letter ‘K’ .
For example;-
English | Lango |
Cat | Puc |
Cain | Jwat, pwod, lut |
Cook | Ted, yub |
Quick | Oyoyot |
Question | Apeny |
Quell | Tyeko, gengo, balo. |
Come | Bin |
Cassava | Mogo |
Common | Ngeye |
Call | Lwong |
Capital | Dit / dwong |
Proper noun is a name of a particular person or a place or an organisation or a thing.
In Lango language, most of the male proper nouns start with letter ‘o’ and female start with letter ‘a’,
For example;-
Girl's name | Boy's name |
Atim | Otim |
Akello | Okello |
Akullu | Okullu |
Apio | Opio |
Acen | Ocen |
Abote | Obote |
Among | Omong |
Agwang | Ogwang |
Auma | Ouma |
Amollo | Omollo |
Atoo | Otoo |
Ayugi | Oyugi |
Spellings - Nyukta
Spelling is the process or activity of writing or naming the letters of a word.
In Lango language, words are spelt exactly as they are pronounced.
Plurals are denoted by the words such as;-
i) At the beginning of the word;- a, o, w, g, joo, wun, wu, wan, gin, megwa, megi, etc.
For example;-
Verb(English) | Singular(Lango) | Plural(Lango) |
Worker | Atic | Otic |
Girl | Nyako | Anyira |
Patient | Atwo | Otwo |
Me | An | Wun, gin, wan |
I will come | A bino | O bino |
I brought | A kelo | O kelo |
Primitive | Ayuki | Oyuki |
I went | A woto | O woto |
I passed | A kato | O kato |
I put | A keto | O keto |
Child | Atin | Otino |
I ate | A camo | O camo |
Friend | Awot | Owote |
ii) At the end of the word;- wa, wu, gi, ce, a, e, i, u, etc.
For example;-
Verb(English) | Singular(Lango) | Plural(Lango) |
Mine | Mega | Megwa, megwu |
Make | Yub | Yubu |
You | Yin | Wun |
Bring | Kel | Kelu |
Book | Buk | Buke |
Think | Tam | Tamu |
Road | Yoo | Yoce |
Read | Kwan | Kwanu |
You eat | Cemi | Cemu |
Cup | Kopi | Kope |
Boy | Awobi | Awobe |
Land | Lobo | Lobe |
Youth | Bulu | Buli |
Shop | Duka | Duki |
Cloth | Bongo | Bongi |
Bedsheet | Cuka | Cuki |
A Lango | Lango | Lango |
Exercise
Such for more examples of the plurals in Lango language denoted by the letters;- a, e, i, o, u, wa, wu, wun at the beginning and at the end of a word.
There are common misconceptions by ending words in English like style.
Verb(English) | Singular(Lango) | Plural(Lango) |
Cattle, cows | Dyang | Dok |
Big | Dit | Dongo |
A child | Atin | Otino |
A person | Dano | Joo |
Child | Atin | Otino |
House | Ot | Wudi |
Woman | Dako | Mon |
A man | Icoo | Coo |
House | Ot | Wudi |
A Lango | Lango | Lango |
Water | Pii | Pii |
Plate | Cani | Cani |