Lokoya is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken by an estimated 85,000 people in South Sudan.
It is also referred to by various other names, including Okoya, Horiok, Ellyria, Koyo, Loirya, Ohoromok, Lokoiya, Lokoja, Loquia, Lowoi, Oirya, Owoi, and Oxoriok.
The Lokoya areas involves many number of different villages; in the west, these include Ngulere, Liria, Langabu, Ngangala, and Ilyangari, and in the east, the Lokoya villages are Lobuhi, Pura, Losok, Lohira, Lohilo, Ohwa, Hojobi, Oyata.
[7] There has been very little research on Lokoya, but some tentative phonological and morphological observations can be found in Vossen (1982), based on wordlist data collected in the 1970s.
According to Vossen, Lokoya has two sets of five vowels, distinguished by the phonological feature Advanced Tongue Root ([ATR]).
He observes that vowel harmony plays an important role, but does not describe the process.
[10] Vossen observes that on the surface there are four tones in Lokoya: High, Low, Mid, and High-Falling.
[11] Word order in Lokoya is generally Verb-Subject-Object, as is typical for most Eastern Nilotic languages.