Zande language

Zande is the largest of the Zande languages. It is spoken by the Azande, primarily in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and western South Sudan, but also in the eastern part of the Central African Republic. It is called Pazande in the Zande language and Kizande in Lingala.
Estimates about the number of speakers vary; in 2001 Koen Impens cited studies that put the number between 700,000 and one million.

Phonology

Consonants

Alveolar sounds /d, z, ⁿz, s, t, ⁿd/ have allophones as palato-alveolar sounds when preceding /i/.
The retroflex tap /ɽ/ can be heard as an alveolar trill in free variation.
Vowels

Writing system

Zande spelling rules were established at the 1928 Rejaf Language Conference following the principles of the International African Institute.

Nasalized vowels are indicated using the tilde :.
Consonants with double articulation are represented by digraphs:.
In 1959, Archibald Norman Tucker published a Zande alphabet proposed during the Bangenzi Conference of 1941.

i̧

u̧

’

Nasalized vowels are indicated using the tilde : ã ẽ ĩ ĩ̧ õ ũ ũ̧ r̃.
Consonants with double articulation are represented by digraphs or trigraphs : kp gb ny mb nv nd nz ng ngb mgb
SIL International published a Zande alphabet in 2014.

ngb

Sample text in Zande (Jehovah's Witnesses)

Avunguagudee, oni nangarasa rukutu awironi na gu sosono yo i mangi agu asunge dunduko na ngbarago i afuhe fuyo i mangihe, singia si tii Bambu Kindo yo, watadu ba bakere adunguratise yo?
Translation
Parents, do you encourage your children and teenagers to work cheerfully at any assignment that they are given to do, whether at the Kingdom Hall, at an assembly, or at a convention site?

Morphology

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Animal pronouns

The objective forms of these pronouns are regularly used as suffixes denoting the first or intimate form of the genitive. Those nouns which end in se drop this syllable before the suffixed pronoun. For instance,

boro 'person' > borore 'my body'
ngbaduse 'chest' > ngbadure 'my chest'
kpu 'home' > kpuro 'thy home'
Possessive pronouns

	Plural
its	gau
its	gaa
ours	gaani
yours	gaoni
theirs	gayo
theirs	gaami

Possessive pronouns can be used as reflexive pronouns. For instance,

Mi ye ti gimi. 'I have come myself.'
A ndu ti gani. 'Let us go ourselves.'
Reflexive pronouns

	Plural
ourselves	tirani
yourselves	tironi
themselves	tiyo
themselves	tira

For example, Mi a mangi e ni tire. 'I did it by myself.'

Nouns

Pluralising a noun in Zande is typically done by adding the prefix a before the stem.

boro 'person' > aboro 'people'
nya 'beast' > anya 'beasts'
e 'thing' > ae 'things'
Verbs

Verbs often change tense by adding the corresponding tense marker. For instance:

mi na manga 'I am doing'
mi a manga 'I do' '

The verb does not change with their subject noun. For instance

mi na manga 'I am doing'
mo na manga 'thou art doing'
ko na manga 'he is doing'
ani na manga 'we are doing'
oni na manga 'you are doing'
i na manga 'they are doing'

Verbal negation is expressed by placing nga after the verb and then ending the negative statement with the particle te or ya at the end of the sentence.
Negative auxiliaries are separated to enclose subordinate clauses contained in the main negative statement, so affirmative verbs can usually be surrounded by them.
Verb + nga…te/ya
The indicative 'nga... te
The Imperative 'nga...ya
For example,

Mi a manga a. 'I do it.'
Mi a manga nga a te. 'I do not do it.'
Ka mo ni mangi nga a ya. 'Do not do it.'
Numbers

The traditional Zande numerical system is based on finger and toe counting, which lacks a full set of discrete number words beyond 10 or 20 – such numbers are expressed descriptively, often with additive constructions.

Basic numerals

sa 'one'
ue 'two'
biata 'three'
biama 'four'
bisue 'five'
bawe 'ten'
ira 'fifteen'
Additive constructions

When the number exceeds five, it is transferred to the other hand to continue counting, using additive operations that builds upon basic/core numerals, with the use of the verbial constructions bati for 6–9, bati/yari sende yo for 11–14, and yari ku bani for 16–19.
The standalone numeral 20 is expressed as boro ru e, since a person's hands and feet add up to 20 digits. 30 and 40 are expressed as 20+10 and 20+20, respectively. 20 is expressed as ue bawe if it is part of a larger number.
;6–9

bisue bati sa 'six'
bisue bati ue 'seven'
bisue bati biata 'eight'
bisue bati biama 'nine'

;11–14

bawe bati/yari sende yo sa 'eleven'
bawe bati/yari sende yo ue 'twelve'
bawe bati/yari sende yo biata 'twelve'
bawe bati/yari sende yo biama 'twelve'

;16–19

ira yari ku bani sa 'sixteen'
ira yari ku bani ue 'seventeen'
ira yari ku bani biata 'eighteen'
ira yari ku bani biama 'nineteen'

;21–29
For numerals 21–29, the verbial constructions zi be or yari ku bani are used.
For instance, boro ru e zi be sa and
boro ru e yari ku bani sa both mean 'twenty-one'.
;Larger numbers

100 – kama
120 – kama na ue bawe
200 – ue kama
1,000 – kuti
2,000 – ue kuti
1,000,000 – ''mirioni''
Morphosyntax

Word Order

S + V + O
Mi nga gude -> 'I am a boy'
mi -> 'I', nga -> 'am',, gude -> 'boy'

The order of possessor noun-possessed noun in relation

bami -> 'my father'
possessed noun needs to add a suffix to express what it is belonged to whom.
kporo -> 'a village'
kpure -> 'my home', kpuro -> 'thy home', kpuko -> 'his home'
before a noun is becomes KU
ku kuma ->'a man’s home'
ku Gangura -> 'Gangura’s home'

The order of demonstrative-noun in relation

Demonstrative Adjectives
gere -> 'this', gi…re agi…re -> 'these'
gure -> 'that', gu…re. agu…re -> 'those'
Mo fu gere fe re -> 'give me this'
Mo di gure -> 'take this'
When they are used with noun pronouns, the syllables need to be separated so that they surround the noun pronoun and sometimes include the entire clause that modifies the noun pronoun.
gi boro re -> 'this person'
gi ko re -> 'this man'
agi aboro re -> 'these people'
agi yo re -> 'these people'
agu bambu re -> 'those house'

The order of numeral-noun in relation

the number add always behind the noun and the noun usually uses its singular form
For instance,
sape bisue -> 'five knives'

The serial verb constructions with "ki"

Eg1. Yesu ki bi yo i ni pe ko -> 'Jesus saw them following him.'
Eg2. Mi a ndu ki bo ko -> 'I went and saw him.'
Eg3. Ko a ndu ki mangi e ki yega -> 'He went and did it and came home.'

Forming a comparative construction

wa -> 'like' it is usually put before the adjective

* eg. Ga ango ni kikii ru wa kina gimi ru -> 'Your dog is a big one just like mine.'

ti -> 'than' it is usually put after the adjective

* eg. Ga gu kuma bambu re ngba ti gamo -> 'That man’s house is better that yours.'

susa -> to surpass

* Ga roko bakere susi gimi? -> 'Is your cloth bigger than mine?'