Lendu language

The Lendu language is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Balendru, an ethno-linguistic agriculturalist group residing in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the area west and northwest of Lake Albert, specifically the Ituri Province. It is one of the most populous of the Central Sudanic languages. There are three-quarters of a million Lendu speakers in the DRC. A conflict between the Lendu and the Hema was the basis of the Ituri conflict.

Besides the Balendru, Lendu is spoken as a native language by a portion of the Hema, Alur, and Okebu. In Uganda, the Lendu tribe live in the districts of Nebbi and Zombo districts, northwest of Lake Albert.

Names Ethnologue gives Bbadha as an alternate name of Lendu, but Blench (2000) lists Badha as a distinct language. A draft listing of Nilo-Saharan languages, available from his website and dated 2012, lists Lendu/Badha.

Phonology

Vowels FrontCentralBackClose Near-close Mid Open

Consonants LabialDental/AlveolarPost-alveolarPalatalVelarLabial-velarGlottalNasal ()Stop/Affricate Fricative Rhotic Approximant

is mainly heard as an allophone of when preceding velar consonants.

Implosives Demolin (1995)Demolin, Didier. 1995. The phonetics and phonology of glottalized consonants in Lendu. In Connell, Bruce and Arvaniti, Amalia (eds.), Phonology and Phonetic Evidence. Papers in Laboratory Phonology IV, 368-385. Cambridge Univ. Press. posits that Lendu has voiceless implosives, (). However, Goyvaerts (1988)Goyvaerts, Didier L. 1988. Glottalized Consonants a New Dimension. Belgian Journal of Linguistics 3. 97-102. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company. had described these as creaky-voiced implosives , as in Hausa, contrasting with a series of modally voiced implosives as in Kalabari, and Ladefoged judges that this seems to be a more accurate description.

Grammar Like many Central Sudanic languages, Lendu:

Uses tone distinctions Has noun class-like system Uses agglutinative morphology Follows Subject- Verb- Object word order

Writing system Lendu is primarily an oral language, though:

latin- based orthographies have been developed Religious and educational materials exist Bible translations have been produced

Sociolinguistic status

Language vitality: Vigorous Main usage: Rural communities Written materials: Limited but growing Education use: Minimal

Lendu language

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