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Ik
Icé-tód
RegionUganda
EthnicityIk people
Native speakers
14,000 (2014)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ikx
Glottologikkk1242
ELPIk

Ik (also known as Icetot, Icietot, Ngulak or (derogatory[further explanation needed]) Teuso, Teuth) is one of the Kuliak languages of northeastern Uganda. The Kuliak languages form their own branch of the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. With the other two Kuliak languages being moribund, Ik may soon be the sole remaining language of its family.

A comprehensive dictionary and grammar of Ik has been published in Schrock (2017).[2]

Names[edit]

The Ik refer to their own language as Icé-tód [ītʃé-tôd̥̚].[3]

According to Schrock (2015), as a spurious language, Dorobo does not actually exist as a fourth Kuliak language, and may at most be a dialect of Ik.[4]

Distribution[edit]

Ik speakers have traditionally resided in Kamion Subcounty, Kaabong District, Uganda, with the Kamion Subcounty consisting of the five parishes Kapalu, Timu, Kamion, Lokwakaramoe, and Morungole.[5] Their traditional homeland is a 50 kilometer-long narrow strip of territory along the Kenya-Uganda border, stretching from Mount Morungole and Kidepo National Park in the north to Mount Lopokok and Timu Forest in the south. Some Ik-speaking villages in Kaabong District are Pirre, Morungole, and Oropoi.[6]

Within the past few decades, Ik-speaking communities have also sprouted up in the following locations.[6]

Sociolinguistics[edit]

Today, Ik is a highly vital language, although many speakers are also fluent in the local Teso–Turkana languages (such as the Dodoth dialect of Karimojong), Swahili, and to a lesser extent, English.[3]

The Ik language is still stable, as young children still learn the language and remain monolingual until they go to school, and Ik is spoken in all domains of life. Although the community subtly pressures its children to learn more widely spoken languages like Turkana, they see this multilingualism as good without being detrimental to the vitality of their own language. The community sees the language as vital to maintaining their ethnic identity and wants their children to learn Ik in school.[7]

Phonology[edit]

The Ik phonemic inventory, as documented by Schrock (2014), is given below.

Consonants include ejectives and implosives.

Consonants
Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar
Stop voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
implosive ɓ ɗ ʄ ʝ kʼ~ɠ ƙ
Affricate voiceless t͡s ts t͡ʃ c
ejective t͡sʼ ts'
voiced d͡z dz d͡ʒ j
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ x
voiced z ʒ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Approximant l j y w
Flap ɾ

Ik displays ATR vowel harmony.

Vowels
Front Central Back
+ATR -ATR +ATR -ATR +ATR -ATR
Close i ɪ ɨ u ʊ ʉ
Mid e ɛ ə o ɔ
Open a

Three additional phonemes, /tlʼ, ɬ, ɮ/, were originally in the language but were lost in the early 21st century.[7]

Lexicon[edit]

Some Ik names for native plants and animals (which are also found in Kidepo National Park) are:[8]

Flora[edit]

Ik name English name Scientific name
asʊnán African pencil cedar Juniperus procera
átsʼᵃ Sycamore fig Ficus sycomorus
ɓʊkʊ́lá Gerrard’s acacia Vachellia gerrardii
ɡáʒadᵃ Red-pod terminalia Terminalia brownii
ɪtɪt́ ɪ ́ Flame tree Erythrina abyssinica
mʊs Candelabra Euphorbia candelabrum
tsʊmˊ Desert date Balanites aegyptiaca
tsʊ́ʊ́r White-thorn acacia Acacia hockii

Ik crops include:[9]

Fauna[edit]

Ik name English name Scientific name
borokᵃ Bushpig Potamochoerus porcus
ɡasoˊ Warthog Phacochoerus aethiopicus
kɔtɔ́r Oribi Ourebia ourebi
kʊláɓᵃ Bushbuck Tragelaphus scriptus
ŋamurˊ Common duiker Sylvicapra grimmia
ŋʊrˊ Cane rat Thryonomys swinderianus
ɲól Günther’s dik-dik Madoqua guentheri
róɡᵃ Mountain reedbuck Redunca fulvorufula
tɔrɔmɪɲ Crested porcupine Hystrix cristata
tsɔ́r Baboon Papio cynocephalus
alálá Augur buzzard Buteo augur
fúluƙurú White-crested turaco Tauraco leucolophus
itsókᵃ Amethyst sunbird Chalcomitra amethystina
ƙáraƙár Green wood-hoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus
kíryooró Crested helmet shrike Prionops plumatus
kʊ́rakᵃ Fan-tailed raven Corvus rhipidurus
múɗuɗú Senegal coucal Centropus senegalensis
tsitsᵃ Gabar goshawk Micronisus gabar

Society[edit]

Like the neighboring Nilotic peoples, the Ik people have age-groups (cohorts), each with its own assigned totem. Nowadays, the traditional Ik age-group system is mostly obsolete (Heine 1999).[5]

  • Basaúr ‘Eland’
  • Gasar ‘Buffalo’
  • Gwaɪt́ sʼᵃ ‘Giraffe’
  • Kaɗokóⁱ ‘Vervet monkey’
  • Koɗowᵃ ‘Gazelle’
  • Leweɲ ‘Ostrich’
  • Ráɡwᵃ ‘Ox’

Traditional Ik society also has terms for specific prohibitions and taboos, such as:[3]

  • bɔsɛ́s ‘prohibition against fining children or youth’
  • cuᵉ ‘prohibition against failing to give water to elders first’
  • dɛ ‘prohibition against failing to give leg-meat to elders’
  • ifófóés ‘prohibition against eating the first harvest secretly’
  • imwáŋón ‘prohibition against seeing your mother-in-law’

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Ik at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Schrock (2017)
  3. ^ a b c Schrock (2014:14)
  4. ^ Schrock (2015)
  5. ^ a b Schrock (2014:11)
  6. ^ a b Schrock (2014:2)
  7. ^ a b Schrock (2014)
  8. ^ Schrock (2014:7–8)
  9. ^ Schrock (2014:9)

References[edit]

  • Schrock, Terrill (2014). A grammar of Ik (Icé-tód): Northeast Uganda's last thriving Kuliak language (Doctoral thesis). Utrecht: LOT (Leiden University). hdl:1887/30201. ISBN 9789460931567.
  • Schrock, Terrill (2015). "On whether 'Dorobo' was a fourth Kuliak language" (PDF). Studies in African Linguistics. 44: 47–58. Archived from the original on 2021-09-22.
  • Schrock, Terrill B. (2017). The Ik Language: Dictionary And Grammar Sketch. African Language Grammars and Dictionaries, 1. Berlin: Language Science Press. doi:10.5281/zenodo.344792.

Further reading[edit]

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ik_language

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