| Language name: | LUA |
| UPSID number: | 4151 |
| Alternate name(s): | NIELLIM |
| Classification: | Niger-Kordofanian, Adamawa |
| This language has | 36 segments |
| Its Frequency index is | 0.392584380 (average percentage of segments; 0.1: many very rare segments; 0.39: average; 0.7: many common segments) |
| The language has these sounds: | p t k ? b d g b< d< nd Ng tS dZ ndZ h s m n r[ l j w i "e a "o u i_ "@ i~ "e~ a~ "o~ u~ "@~ mb |
| Comment: | Lua is spoken along the middle reaches of the Chari river, Chad. Prenasalized stops occur initially in a few words but medially could be allophones of voiced stops after nasalized vowels. Implosives are realized as ? + nasal before nasalized vowels, but oral and nasalized vowels contrast after plosives. Boyeldieu (1985) recognizes complex vowels /wa, ja/ - these are interpreted as vowel sequences /ua,ia/. All vowels except 'barred i' appear long and short. |
| Source(s): | Boyeldieu, P. 1985. La Langue Lua ("Niellim") Groupe Boua - Moyen-Chari, Tchad. For the: Societe d'Etudes Linguistiques et Anthropologiques de France, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. |