The Tagoi language is a Kordofanian language, closely related to Tegali, spoken near the town of Rashad in southern Kordofan in Sudan, about 12 N, 31 E. Unlike Tegali, it has a complex noun class system, which appears to have been borrowed from more typical Niger–Congo languages. It has several dialects, including Umali, Goy, Moreb, and Orig. Villages are Moreb, Tagoi, Tukum, Tuling, Tumale, Turjok, and Turum. The following describes the Orig dialect.
Sounds
The consonants are:
Bilabial
Alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Stop
p
t
c
k
Fricative
f
s
Nasal
m
n
ɲ
Approximant
l
j
w
Trill
r
Stops are automatically voiced between two non-obstruents Stops and sonorants may occur geminate. Some consonant clusters are allowed, most involving sonorants; prenasalised ones are particularly common. are found in some Arabic loanwords. The vowel system is unclear; phonetically, it seems to be basically:. There seem to be three phonemic tones: high, low, and occasionally falling.
Grammar
Nouns
Each noun consists of a prefix plus a stem; the prefix identifies its noun class. It changes according to number. The genders include:
w-, pl. y-: this gender seems to consist mainly of persons and animals. E.g.: wùttar "chief" > yáttar "chiefs"; wín "snake" > yínét "snakes".
bilabial-, pl. yi-, including several trees; e.g. wòr "um-kaddaqi tree" > yíwóórèn, púrn "upper arm" > yìbúrn.
pl. with no initial change, including a number of kinship terms; e.g. màrá "road" > màrnát, àppá "father" > àppánàt
t-, pl. y-: mostly body parts; e.g. tárák "skin" > yárák, téŋlàk "tongue" > yáŋùlàk.
t-, pl. ŋ-: almost exclusively body parts; e.g. téŋlàk "tongue" > ŋéŋlàk, tìɲèn "tooth" > ŋìɲèn.
y-, pl. ŋ-: notably fruits and body parts, but also a wide variety of others. E.g. yé "egg" > ŋíye; yìmbó "knee" > ŋìmbó.
ŋ- with no plural: languages, liquids, possibly verbal nouns; e.g. ŋə̹́gdìráá "Arabic", ŋàì "water".
k-, pl. s-: seems to be the commonest gender, includes all sorts of semantic fields; e.g. kábà "hut" > sábà, kám "hair" > sám, kàdìrú "pig" > sàdìrú.
c-, pl. ɲ-: includes a wide variety of semantic fields; derives diminutives; e.g.: cíŋ "child, boy" > ɲín; cúdén "bird" > ɲúdén.
In genitive constructions, the head noun is followed by a linking element which agrees with it in class, followed by the possessor noun; e.g. ɲín ɲi-adam "children of Adam"; kʊs ki-gai "skull ".
Adjectives
Adjectives follow the noun, and agree in noun class, i.e. in gender and number; e.g. kús kàlló "a thin bone" > sús sàlló "thin bones".
Demonstratives
Demonstratives too follow the noun, and agree in class. There are:
three short : -i- "this", -ur, -un "that". E.g.: gálám kɛ́k "this pencil" > sálmát sɛ́s "these pencils"; gálám kur "that pencil".
three long, formed by adding -an to the previous; e.g. wùskén wèwán "this knife", gálám kurkan "that pencil".
Numbers
The numbers one to four are normal adjectives; e.g. yʊ́r yùkók "two hands". Other numbers' behavior is unknown. When used without a head noun, they appear as follows, with the prefix w- for numbers 1-5:
wàttá, ùttá
wùkkók
wìttá
wàrʊ̀m
wʊ̹̀ràm
ɲérér
ʊ̀mʊ̀rgʊ́
tùppá
kʊ́mnàsá
kʊ́mán
Pronouns
The pronouns are as follows: Examples of verbal personal inflection: Musa àdúbìr "Musa beat me"; yàyá "I drink". Interrogative pronouns include agn "what?", tá̹jí̹n "who?", nɛ́gán "where?", cínàcɛ̀n "which ?"
Verbs
There appear to be at least four basic forms: present, past , imperative, and negative imperative . The difference between present and past is typically marked by tone: LH or occasionally LL in the present, HL in the past. Sometimes vowel changes are also observed. In the imperative, some verbs take a k- prefix, others do not; this may depend on whether or not the verb begins with a vowel. The verb "to be" has different roots according to tense: -ɛ́n in the present tense, -ɪ́rɪ̀n in the past tense. Negation of the verb is expressed by a prefix k-, followed by the verb "to be", inflected for person; negation of the verb "to be", by k-àrà in the present tense, k-ɪ̀rá in the past. Verbal nouns include agent nouns in t- , gerunds in t- , and action nouns
Syntax
The basic word order is subject–object–verb, including in the imperative. Locative complements also precede the verb. Nominal sentences use the verb "to be". Modifiers consistently follow their head nouns.
