Oropom language
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Oropom (Oworopom, Oyoropom, Oropoi) is an
African language The languages of Africa are divided into several major language families: * Niger–Congo or perhaps Atlantic–Congo languages (includes Bantu and non-Bantu, and possibly Mande and others) are spoken in West, Central, Southeast and Southern A ...
, possibly
spurious Spurious may refer to: * Spurious relationship in statistics * Spurious emission or spurious tone in radio engineering * Spurious key in cryptography * Spurious interrupt in computing * Spurious wakeup in computing * ''Spurious'', a 2011 novel ...
and, if real, almost certainly
extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...
. The language was purportedly once spoken by the Oropom people in northeastern
Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...
and northwestern
Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...
between the
Turkwel River The Turkwel River (sometimes spelled Turkwell River) is a river flowing from Mount Elgon on the border of Kenya and Uganda to Lake Turkana. The river is called the Suam River from its source to the border at West Pokot County of Kenya. The name Tu ...
, the Chemorongit Mountains, and
Mount Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.
.


History of research

There is only one article containing any original research on the language, Wilson (1970), which only a handful of other articles discuss. John G. Wilson's article furnishes only a short word list, and was written at a time when the language, if it existed, was nearly extinct. The article was based mainly on the limited memories of two very old women, one "a child of one of the residual Oropom families that had remained after the break-up of the Oropom here ( Matheniko county)" who "remembered a few words of the language", the other an old lady called Akol "descended from the prisoners taken by the
Karimojong The Karamojong or Karimojong are a Nilotic ethnic group. They are agro-pastoral herders living mainly in the north-east of Uganda. Their language is also known as ngaKarimojong and is part of the Nilotic language family. History The Karamojong ...
on the Turkwel" who was "able to furnish many Oropom words". Under the circumstances, only the barest details of Oropom could be ascertained. On this basis, Wilson concluded that it must have had at least two dialects: one spoken around the Turkwel area, containing a significant number of
Luo Luo may refer to: Luo peoples and languages *Luo peoples, an ethno-linguistic group of eastern and central Africa **Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania or Joluo, an ethnic group in western Kenya, eastern Uganda, and northern Tanzania. ***Luoland, the ...
words, and some
Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...
words, and one spoken around Matheniko county with fewer Luo words. Both contain
Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to: * Kalenjin people The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
loanword A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because th ...
s.


Classification

Wilson ascribed it to the
Khoisan Khoisan , or (), according to the contemporary Khoekhoegowab orthography, is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the (formerly "Khoikhoi") and the or ( in t ...
group, seemingly based solely on its physical appearance; but this identification is unreliable;
Harold C. Fleming Harold Crane Fleming (December 23, 1922 – April 29, 2015) was an anthropologist and historical linguist specializing in the cultures and languages of the Horn of Africa. As an adherent of the Four Field School of American anthropology, he ...
describes it as a "ridiculous suggestion". Elderkin (1983) says that "The Oropom data of Wilson (1970) shows some resemblances to
Kuliak The Kuliak languages, also called the Rub languages,Ehret, Christopher (2001) ''A Historical-Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan'' (SUGIA, Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika: Beihefte 12), Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, . are a group of lan ...
, some of which could well be mediated through
Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
, with which it seems to have more resemblances (F. Rottland, personal communication)... There are many fewer resemblances worth noting with Hadza and only a minimal number with Sandawe." He quotes 8 potentially similar words between Oropom and Hadza, and 4 between Oropom and Sandawe. Harold Fleming also notes that "initial inspection suggests some possible commonality" between Oropom and the
Kuliak languages The Kuliak languages, also called the Rub languages,Ehret, Christopher (2001) ''A Historical-Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan'' (SUGIA, Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika: Beihefte 12), Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, . are a group of lan ...
, a probably
Nilo-Saharan The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by some 50–60 million people, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. T ...
relic group found in Northern Uganda among such tribes as the Ik. However, in the absence of further work, Oropom remains an
unclassified language An unclassified language is a language whose genetic affiliation to other languages has not been established. Languages can be unclassified for a variety of reasons, mostly due to a lack of reliable data but sometimes due to the confounding inf ...
.


Skepticism

Bernd Heine Bernd Heine (born 25 May 1939) is a German linguist and specialist in African studies. From 1978 to 2004 Heine held the chair for African Studies at the University of Cologne, Germany, now being a Professor Emeritus. His main focal points in rese ...
, who surveyed the area less than ten years after Wilson and found no trace of the language, expressed skepticism that it existed at all.2004, Mostafa Lameen Souag,
Oropom Etymological Lexicon: Exploring an extinct, unclassified Ugandan language
'
Both
Lionel Bender Marvin Lionel Bender (August 18, 1934 – February 19, 2008) was an American linguist. Life Bender was born August 18, 1934, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He travelled throughout the world, particularly in Northeast Africa, and was an accompli ...
and
Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and works ...
have opined that the language was made up as a joke. Souag (2004) lists several motives Wilson's informants might have had to fabricate the language, and observes that even in his article, Wilson notes that he had to deal with "charlatans" once word got out that he was looking for anyone with knowledge of the language.


Wordlist

This wordlist, taken from the appendix to Wilson (1970), is based on Akol's memories (and thus is considered by Wilson as belonging to the "Turkwell dialect"). He says that he collected words from the other dialect as well, but apparently never published them. The list consists of less than a hundred words, which are likely to be all the vocabulary that will ever be known of the language. * Arrow: ''motit'' * Bad: ''girito'' * Black: ''timu'' * Blue: ''puthia'' * To boil water: ''mak'' * Bow: ''terema'' * To burn: ''mala'' * Breast: ''kisina'' * Brother: ''lukiya'' * Bull: ''losogol'' * Cat: ''ariet'' * Cattle: ''pange'' * Chalcedony: ''atunatun'' * Child: ''muto'' * Clever person: ''woth'' * To cook: ''ipo'' * Cooking pot (black): ''kiriente'' * Cooking pot: ''kodo'' * Cow: ''ngobo'' * Cowrie shell: ''pel'' * Crocodile: ''moro'' * To cut: ''tubo'' * Day: ''awar'' * To dig: ''chege'' * Dog: ''kokuye'' * Dry: ''de-au'' * Ear-ring: ''napiroi'' * Ear: ''ki-ito'' * Egg: ''iken'' * Eland: ''ongor'' * Enemy: ''bu'' * Eye: ''kongiye'' * Fat: ''moda'' * Father: ''mamunyu'' * Fire: ''emaa'' * Fish: ''karu'' * food: ''araukoo'' * Fool: ''bung'' * Foot: ''apaukoo'' * Gazelle: ''tuth'' * To give: ''we'' * Goat: ''ngoror'' * Good: ''pau'' * Grass: ''purung'' * Grooved design on pots: ''nacipa'' * Hair: ''akopito'' * Hand: ''akeleng'' * Hard: ''keter'' * Honey: ''madik'' * House: ''apirgoo'' * Leopard: ''meri'' * To lie down: ''lura'' * Lion: ''ru'' * Man: ''muren'' * Mark on forehead: ''nageran'' * To marry: ''ritha'' * Meat: ''apintoo'' * Milk: ''coko'' * Moon: ''Pele'' * Mother-in-law: ''yo'' * Mother: ''iyoo'' * Neck bangles: ''gorom'' * Night: ''riono'' * Nose: ''torom'' * Oil: ''konoye'' * Old man: ''kuko'' * Old woman: ''kukuye'' * Penis: ''oyaa'' * Rain: ''lat'' * To receive: ''aruka'' * Red: ''kopurat'' * Seer: ''murwe'' * Sheep: ''merek'' * Sister: ''pese'' * To sit: ''paja'' * To sleep: ''sanan'' * Snake: ''kwolta'' * Soft: ''lujuk'' * Soil: ''nyapid'' * To speak: ''dokol'' * Spear: ''ngokit'' * Stone wrist bangle: ''aurare'' * Sun: ''Aca'' * To swim: ''redik'' * Thief: ''mokorat'' * Tooth: ''ne-et'' * Tree: ''telegai'' * Vagina: ''kibunte'' * To walk: ''pauwo'' * Warrior: ''lim'' * Water: ''lata'' * Wet: ''ret'' * White: ''pele'' * Witch: ''ariet'' * Wizard: ''rimirim'' * Woman: ''nakwanta'' * Women's apron: ''ongor''


Bibliography

* J. G. Wilson. "Preliminary Observations on the Oropom People of
Karamoja Karamoja sub-region, commonly known as Karamoja, is a region in Uganda. It covers an area of 27,528km and comprises Kotido District, Kaabong District, Karenga District, Nabilatuk District Abim District, Moroto District, Napak District, Amu ...
, their
Ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
Status, Culture, and Postulated Relation to the Peoples of the Late
Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 4,000 BC and 2,000 BC, with t ...
." ''The Uganda Journal'', 34, 2, 1970. pp. 125–145. * Elderkin, E. D. (1983) 'Tanzanian and Ugandan isolates'. In ''
Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
studies: proceedings of the international symposium on languages and history of the Nilotic peoples'', Cologne, January 4–6, 1982 vol. 2 / Rainer Vossen, Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst (eds ), vol. 2, pp 499–521. * Harold C. Fleming (1983) 'Kuliak External Relations: Step One'. In ''
Nilotic The Nilotic peoples are people indigenous to the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. They inhabit South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Among these are the Burun-sp ...
studies: proceedings of the international symposium on languages and history of the Nilotic peoples'', Cologne, January 4–6, 1982 vol. 2 / Rainer Vossen, Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst (eds ), vol. 2, p. 429. * Blench, Roger M. 1999. "Are the African pygmies an ethnographic fiction?" ''Central African hunter-gatherers in a multidisciplinary perspective: challenging elusiveness'', pp 41–60. Edited by Karen Biesbrouck, Stefan Elders & Gerda Rossel. Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), State University of Leiden. Leiden. * Blench, Roger M. 1993. "Recent Developments in African Language Classification" ''The Archaeology of Africa: Food, Metals and Towns'' (), edited by Thurstan Shaw, page 135.


References


Weblinks


Biography of John G. Wilson
{{portal, Languages, Linguistics, Africa Languages of Uganda Extinct languages of Africa Unclassified languages of Africa Spurious languages Languages extinct in the 1950s