Loma language

Loma (Loghoma, Looma, Lorma) is a Mande language spoken by the Loma people of Liberia and Guinea.

Not to be confused with Lomakka language.
Loma
Looma
Löömàgòòi / Löghömàgòòi
Pronunciation[lɔːmàɡòːi]
[lɔɣɔmàɡòːi]
Native toLiberia, Guinea
EthnicityLoma
Native speakers
420,000 (2012)[1]
Niger–Congo
Dialects
  • Toma
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
lom – Liberian Loma
tod – Toma
Glottologloma1259[2]
PeopleLöömàgìtì [lɔːmàɡìtì] in Liberia
Löghömagiti [lɔɣɔmaɡiti] in Guinea
LanguageLöömàgòòi [lɔːmàɡòːi]
Löghömàgòòi [lɔɣɔmàɡòːi]

Dialects of Loma proper in Liberia are Gizima, Wubomei, Ziema, Bunde, Buluyiema. The dialect of Guinea, Toma (Toa, Toale, Toali, or Tooma, the Malinke name for Loma), is an official regional language.

In Liberia, the people and language are also known as "Bouze" (Busy, Buzi), which is considered offensive.

Writing systems

Today, Loma uses a Latin-based alphabet which is written from left to right. A syllabary saw limited use in the 1930s and 1940s in correspondence between Loma-speakers, but today has fallen into disuse.[3][4][5]

Sample

The Lord's Prayer in Loma:[6]

Yài è ga gé ɣeeai è gee-zuvɛ,
ɓaa ɣa la yà laa-zeigi ma,
yà masadai va,
è yii-mai ɣɛ zui zu è ɣɛ velei é ɣɛɛzu la è wɔ vɛ,
è zaa mii ŋenigi ʋe gé ya,
è gé vaa ʋaitiɛ zu ʋaa yɛ,
è ɣɛ velei gá ɓalaa gé zɔitiɛ zu ʋaa yɛga la gá ʋaa yega te va.
Mɛ lɛ kɛ tɛ-ga ɔ́ wo ga gíɛ,
kɛ̀ è gé wulo tuɓo-vele-yowũ nui ya.

References
  1. Liberian Loma at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Toma at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Loma". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Everson, Michael (2010-01-21). "N3756: Preliminary proposal for encoding the Loma script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  4. Everson, Michael (2016-07-22). "N4735: Update on encoding the Loma script in the SMP of the UCS" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  5. "Loma syllabary".
  6. Matthew 6:9-13 in Deʋe niinɛ [New Testament in Loma]. Monrovia: Bible Society in Liberia, 1971. This excerpt was visible at http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-loma.html, see archived version at https://web.archive.org/web/20160306074512/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/pater/JPN-loma.html.

Bibliography
  • Rude, Noel. 1983. Ergativity and the active-stative typology in Loma. Studies in African Linguistics, 14:265–283.
  • Sadler, Wesley. 1951. Untangled Loma: a course of study of the Looma language of the Western Province, Liberia, West Africa. Published by Board of Foreign Missions of the United Lutheran Church in America for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Liberia.


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