Gula Iro language
The Gula Iro language is a Bua language spoken by some 3,500 people north and east of Lake Iro in southern Chad, between the Bola and Salamat rivers. It has four dialects, according to Pairault:
- páṭóól, the northernmost and the least comprehensible to speakers of the other dialects, spoken in and around Badi;
- pòŋààl, by the north shore of the lake, spoken in and around Boum Kabir, Boum Sarher, and Tordjigel;
- tɩ́ààlà, spoken east and south of the lake, including Kouré, Bouni, Tormorhal, and Masidjanga;
- tííṭààl, the easternmost, spoken in various villages west of Tamba;
to which Ethnologue adds a fifth, Korintal, spoken in Tieou.
Gula Iro is very closely related to Zan Gula and Bon Gula, but they are not mutually comprehensible.Phonology
The consonants, along with their orthography, are:
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Apico-dental | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| Plosives | p | | t | ṭ | | k | |
| Fricatives | | f | | | s | | h |
| Liquids | w | | l | | y | | - |
| Nasal | m | | n | | ñ | ŋ | - |
| Trills | | | r | - | - | - | - |
The vowels are: a, e, i, o, u, ɛ, ɩ, ɔ, ʋ. Nasalization and length are both contrastive, and diphthongs can be formed. Tone is phonemic; each vowel must carry high or low tone.Grammar
Typical word order is subject–verb–object. The basic subject pronouns are: ñó I, mó you, á he/she/it, pʋ́ we, én we, í you, ʋ́ they.
