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The Dholuo dialect (Tucker 25) or Nilotic Kavirondo, is a dialect of the Luo languages of Nilotic languages, spoken by about 4.2 million Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania, Ethnologue report for Luo who occupy parts of the eastern shore of Nam Lolwe (Lake Victoria) and areas to the south. It is used for broadcasts on Ramogi TV and KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, formerly the Voice of Kenya).
Dholuo is mutually intelligible with Alur dialect, Acholi language, Adhola dialect and Lango dialect of Uganda. Dholuo and the aforementioned Uganda languages are all linguistically related to Luo languages of South Sudan and Anuak language of Ethiopia due to common ethnic origins of the larger Luo peoples who speak Luo languages.
It is estimated that Dholuo has 93% lexical similarity with Adhola dialect (Adhola), 90% with Alur dialect (Alur), 83% with Acholi language (Acholi) and 81% with Lango dialect. However, these are often counted as separate languages despite common ethnic origins due to linguistic shift occasioned by geographical movement.
From 1906 to 1921, Carscallen was superintendent of the Seventh-day Adventist Church's British East Africa Mission, and was charged with establishing missionary stations in eastern Kenya near Lake Victoria and proselytizing among the local population. These stations would include Gendia, Wire Hill, Rusinga Island, Kanyadoto, Karungu, Kisii (Nyanchwa), and Kamagambo. In 1913, he acquired a small press for the Mission and set up a small printing operation at Gendia in order to publish church materials, but also used it to impact education and literacy in the region.
Over a period of about five years administering to largely Jaluo congregations, Carscallen achieved a mastery of the Dholuo language and was credited with being the first to reduce the language to writing, publishing the Elementary grammar of the Nilotic-Kavirondo language (Dhö Lwo), together with some useful phrases, English-Kavirondo and Kavirondo-English vocabulary, and some exercises with key to the same in 1910. Then, a little more than two years later, the mission translated portions of the New Testament from English to Dholuo, which were later published by the British and Foreign Bible Society.Firstbrook, Ibid., p. 126; Arthur Asa Grandville Carscallen, Elementary grammar of the Nilotic-Kavirondo language (Dhö Lwo), together with some useful phrases, English-Kavirondo and Kavirondo-English vocabulary, and some exercises with key to the same. London: St. Joseph's Foreign Missionary Society, 1910.; Dictionary of African Christian Biography — Arthur Asa Grandville Carscallen.
In 2019, Jehovah’s Witnesses released the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in the Luo language. The Bible translation is distributed without charge, both in print and online.
The grammar textbook Carscallen produced was widely used for many years throughout eastern Kenya, but his authorship of it is largely forgotten. It was later retitled to Dho-Luo for Beginners and republished in 1936. In addition to the grammar text, Carscallen compiled an extensive dictionary of "Kavirondo" (Dholuo) and English, which is housed at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK. Neither of these works has been superseded, only updated, with new revised versions of the linguistic foundation that Carscallen established in 1910.Arthur Asa Grandville Carscallen, Kavirondo Dictionary. Mimeographed, n.d. 374p. (SOAS Collections). Luo and English; Melvin K. Hendrix, An International Bibliography of African Lexicons. Scarecrow Press, 1982.
| + −ATR vowels in Dholuo ! ! Front vowel ! Central vowel ! Back vowel |
| + +ATR vowels in Dholuo ! ! Front vowel ! Central vowel ! Back vowel |
| + Phonetic inventory of consonants in Dholuo ! colspan=2 | ! Labial consonant ! Dental consonant ! Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar consonant ! Glottal |
The following is however an example of inalienable possession, the bone being part of the cow:
| hello | misawa (ber) | |
| How are you? | Idhi nade? Intie nade? | |
| I'm fine. | Adhi maber. | |
| What is your name? | Nyingi ng'a? | |
| My name is… | Nyinga en… | |
| I am happy to see you. | Amor neni. | |
| Where do you come from? | In jakanye? | |
| good morning | oyawore | |
| good evening | oimore | |
| God bless you. | Nyasaye ogwedhi. | |
| good job | tich maber | |
| Salvation | resruok | |
| goodbye | oriti | |
| I want water. | Adwaro pi. | |
| I am thirsty. | Riyo deya. / Riyo omaka. / Riyo ohinga. | |
| thank you | erokamano | |
| child | nyathi | |
| student (university student) | nyathi skul, japuonjre (ja mbalariany) | |
| come | bi | |
| go | dhiyo | |
| take | kaw | |
| return | dwok | |
| come back | dwogi | |
| sit | bedi | |
| stand / stop | chung' / wee | |
| hunger | kech | |
| I am starved. | Kech kaya. | |
| father | wuoro Dinka wur | |
| mother | miyo Dinka mor mer | |
| God | Nyasaye, Nyakalaga, Were, Obong'o ( Different names associated with different attributes of God) | |
| Lord (God) | Ruoth (Nyasaye) | |
| God is good | Nyasaye ber | |
| help | kony Dinka ba kony | |
| man | dichuo | |
| woman | dhako | |
| boy | wuoyi (wuowi) | |
| girl | nyako Dinka nya | |
| book | buk, Alego/Seme buge | |
| youth | rawera | |
| pen | randiki | |
| shorts | onyasa | |
| trousers | long' | |
| table | mesa | |
| plate | tao | |
| lock | rarind, ralor | |
| leader | jatelo | |
| bring | kel | |
| Go back there. | Dog kucha. | |
| Come back here. | Duog ka. | |
| ask / query | penj | |
| question | penjo | |
| run | ringi Dinka | |
| walk | wuothi | |
| jump | dum / chikri Alego/Seme | |
| rain | koth | |
| sun | chieng' | |
| moon | dwe / duee | |
| stars | sulwe | |
| work | ti | |
| fish | rech Dinka | |
| cold | koyo | |
| I want to eat. | Adwaro chiemo. | |
| I have something to say | An gi wach | |
| grandfather | kwaro Dinka / kwar | |
| grandmother | dayo Dinka / day | |
| white man | ja rachar / ombogo / ja wagunda | |
| cow / cattle | dwasi / dhiang' | |
| sing | wer Dinka | |
| song | wer | |
| good, beautiful | ber, jaber | |
| bad | rach | |
| marriage | kend Dinka, "keny" is the process, "thiek" is the marriage | |
| marry | kendo | |
| tomorrow | kiny | |
| today | kawuono | |
| here | ka / kae | |
| there (close by) | kacha / kocha | |
| there (far) | kucho | |
| child | nyathi | |
| money | omenda / chung' / oboke / sendi / pesa | |
| gun | bunde | |
| gun fire | maj bunde | |
| start | chaki | |
| dream | leki | |
| stand | chung' | |
| abroad | loka | |
| talk | wuo/los | |
| sit | bedi | |
| praise | pak | |
| eat | chiem | |
| fire | mach | |
| I want ugali. | Adwaro kuon. | |
| maize, corn | oduma, bando | |
| maize and beans | nyoyo | |
| taxi | matatu (Swahili) | |
| farm | puodho (Alego-Ndalo) | |
| plough / dig out | pur / kuny | |
| flying (in the air) | fuyo | |
| fly (insect) | lwang'ni | |
| stream (river) | aora | |
| lake | nam | |
| ocean | ataro | |
| please | asayi |
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