HOME





Central Sudanic Languages
Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ... and Cameroon. They include the pygmy languages Efé and Asoa. Blench (2011) suggests that Central Sudanic influenced the development of the noun-class system characteristic of the Atlantic–Congo languages. Classification Half a dozen groups of Central Sudanic languages are generally accepted as valid. They are customarily divided into East and West branches. Blench (2023) Blench cites the following classification: Sinyar–Formona is sparsely documented and its plac ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Central African Republic
The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central African Republic–South Sudan border, the east, the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Central African Republic–Democratic Republic of the Congo border, the south, the Republic of the Congo to Central African Republic–Republic of the Congo border, the southwest, and Cameroon to Cameroon–Central African Republic border, the west. Bangui is the country's capital and largest city, bordering the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Central African Republic covers a land area of about . As of 2024, it has a population of 5,357,744, consisting of about 80 ethnic groups, and is in the scene of a Central African Republic Civil War, civil war, which has been ongoing since 2012. Having been a Ubangi-Shari, French colony under the name Ubangi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Lau Laka Language
Laka or Lau is a Central Sudanic language spoken in Nigeria. It is most closely related to Kabba Laka of Chad. The Hausa refer to the Laka people of Lau as . The language was only recently documented in the mid-2010s, and had been previously misclassified as a Mbum language along with Lau. Distribution Laka speakers live in Laka ward of Lau LGA (Hausa: ; formerly 'Laka town'), Taraba State, eastern Nigeria.Idiatov, Dmitry, Mark Van de Velde, Tope Olagunju and Bitrus Andrew. 2017. Results of the first AdaGram survey in Adamawa and Taraba States, Nigeria'. 47th Colloquium on African Languages and Linguistics (CALL) (Leiden, Netherlands). They live alongside the Win Lau (or ''Lau proper''; formerly ''Lau Habe''), who are Jukunoid speakers. Lexical comparison The following table compares Laka (Lau) and Laka (Chad), both of which are Central Sudanic languages Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Mimi Of Decorse
Mimi of Decorse, also known as Mimi of Gaudefroy-Demombynes and Mimi-D, is a language of Chad that is attested only in a word list labelled " Mimi" that was collected by G. J. Decorse and published by Maurice Gaudefroy-Demombynes. Joseph Greenberg (1960) classified it as a Maban language, like the rather remote Maban relative Mimi of Nachtigal. However, George Starostin (2011) rejects this classification, arguing that similarities to Maban are due to contact with locally dominant Maba (the similarities are with that language specifically, not with the entire Maban family), and provisionally regards it as a language isolate, though it is suggestive of Central Sudanic Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nige ....Starostin, GeorgeOn Mimi Journal of Language Relationship, v. 6 ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Kresh Language
Kresh, also known ambiguously as Gbaya, is a Central Sudanic language of South Sudan. Naomi Baki, a native Kresh speaker who became a French citizen in 2015, has released an autobiography in 2013 in which she describes her Kresh Gbaya environment in Raga County. Naomi Baki,''Je suis encore vivante''(Paris, Le Cerf, 2013). The title's meaning in English is "Still Alive". Dialects The Kresh varieties have varying mutual intelligibility, with northernmost Dongo being most distinct and southernmost Woro being next, though mutually intelligible with Kresh proper. 'Kresh' is what the people are called by their neighbors; they call themselves ''Gbaya'', an ambiguous name in English, shared with many of the unrelated Gbaya languages. * Ndogo (Gbaya) * Naka (Boro, Kpara) * Kresh-Hofra (Gbaya-Ngbongbo) * Woro (Orlo) Ndogo is the prestige dialect, and Naka the most populous. Locations A 2013 survey reported that ethnic Kresh reside in Dar Seid Bandas and Kata Bomas, Ringi Payam, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Lugbara Language
Lugbara, or Lugbarati, is the language of the Lugbara people. It is spoken in the West Nile region in northwestern Uganda, as well as the Democratic Republic of the Congo's Orientale Province with a little extension to the South Sudan as the Zande or Azande people. Classification and dialects The Aringa language, also known as Low Lugbara, is closely related, and sometimes considered a dialect of Lugbara. In fact, among the Lugbara of Uganda, it is one of the five clans (Ayivu clan, Vurra clan, Terego clan, Maracha clan, and Aringa clan). Some scholars classify the Lugbara language itself as a dialect of the Maʼdi language, though this is not generally accepted. An SIL survey report concluded that the Okollo, Ogoko, and Rigbo dialects, called "Southern Maʼdi", should be classified as dialects of Lugbara. Phonology Vowels * /ɛ, ɔ/ can also be heard as , oas a result of vowel harmony. * /a/ can have an allophone of �when after sounds /k, ɡ/. Consonants * /l/ ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Mangbetu Language
Mangbetu, or , is one of the most populous of the Central Sudanic languages. It is spoken by the Mangbetu people of northeastern Congo. It, or its speakers, are also known as . The most populous dialect, and the one most widely understood, is called Medje. Others are Aberu (Nabulu), Makere, Malele, Popoi (Mapopoi). The most divergent is Lombi; ''Ethnologue'' treats it as a distinct language. About half of the population speaks Bangala, a trade language similar to Lingala, and in southern areas some speak Swahili. The Mangbetu live in association with the Asua, and their languages are closely related. Dialects Mangbetu dialects and locations as listed by Demolin (1992): *''Mangbetu proper'' is spoken north of Isiro, in the subregion of Haut-Uele and north of the Bomokandi River. It is found in Nangazizi and Rungu in the collectivité of Azanga, Ganga in the collectivité of Okondo, Tapili in the collectivité of Mangbetu, Medanoma in the collectivité of Mangbele, in Nd ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Lendu Language
The Lendu language is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Balendru, an ethno-linguistic agriculturalist group residing in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the area west and northwest of Lake Albert, specifically the Ituri Province. It is one of the most populous of the Central Sudanic languages. There are three-quarters of a million Lendu speakers in the DRC. A conflict between the Lendu and the Hema was the basis of the Ituri conflict. Besides the Balendru, Lendu is spoken as a native language by a portion of the Hema, Alur, and Okebu. In Uganda, the Lendu tribe live in the districts of Nebbi and Zombo districts, northwest of Lake Albert. Names ''Ethnologue'' gives ''Bbadha'' as an alternate name of Lendu, but Blench (2000) lists ''Badha'' as a distinct language. A draft listing of Nilo-Saharan languagesavailable from his websiteand dated 2012, lists ''Lendu/Badha''. Phonology Vowels Consonants * is mainly heard as an allophone of when precedi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Formona Language
Fongoro, or Gele, is a nearly extinct Central Sudanic language of uncertain classification spoken in Chad and formerly in Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi .... References *Roger Blench (2012Nilo-Saharan language listing Bongo–Bagirmi languages {{ns-lang-stub ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Sinyar Language
Shemya (''tàar ʃàmɲà'') is the language of the Sinyar people. It is a Central Sudanic language spoken in Chad and formerly in Darfur, Sudan. It is variously spelled ''Shamya, Shamyan, Shemya, Sinya,'' and known as ''Symiarta, Taar Shamyan, Zimirra.'' The language is spoken in Goz Beïda, Chad and Foro Boranga, Sudan. There are two level tones and downstepped low tones. Word order is SVO. Dimmendaal leaves it as a language isolate, whereas Blench groups it with Formona. Doornbos records 18 Sinyar clans. The ''Kijaar'' clan, located close to the Kujargé, likely intermarried with the Kujargé. Lexicon Sinyar numerals from Boyeldieu (2013):Boyeldieu, Pascal. 2013Sinyar numerals ;Numerals Sinyar appears to have a Bongo–Bagirmi superstratum and a non-Bongo–Bagirmi substratum. Some lexical items in Sinyar have cognates in Bongo–Bagirmi languages The Bongo–Bagirmi or Sara–Bongo–Bagirmi (SBB) languages are the major branch of the Central Sudanic language fa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Mangbetu Languages
The Mangbetu–Asoa or Mangbetu languages of the Central Sudanic language family are a cluster of closely related languages spoken in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The languages are Mangbetu, spoken by perhaps a million people, and the smaller Lombi and Asoa. Blench (2000) considers Lombi to be part of the Mangbetu dialect continuum. Asoa is spoken by Pygmies. Proto-Mangbetu has been reconstructed by Demolin (1992).Demolin, Didier. 1992. ''Le Mangbetu: etude phonétique et phonologique'', 2 vols. Brussels: Faculté de Philosophie et Lettres, Université libre de Bruxelles dissertation. Comparative vocabulary Mangbetu-Asua languages comparative lexicon:Demolin, Didier. 2021. The languages of the Ituri forest Pygmies: contact and historical perspectives'Diedrich Westermann-Workshop(West-central African linguistic history between Macro-Sudan Belt and Niger-Congo: commemorating Diedrich Westermann’s legacy and the 100th anniversary of the Berlin professorship for African l ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Atlantic–Congo Languages
The Atlantic–Congo languages make up the largest demonstrated family of languages in Africa. They have characteristic noun class systems and form the core of the Niger–Congo family hypothesis. They comprise all of Niger–Congo apart from Mande, Dogon, Ijoid, Siamou, Kru, the Katla and Rashad languages (previously classified as Kordofanian), and perhaps some or all of the Ubangian languages. Hans Gunther Mukanovsky's "Western Nigritic" corresponded roughly to modern Atlantic–Congo. In the infobox, the languages which appear to be the most divergent are placed at the top. The Atlantic branch is defined in the narrow sense (as Senegambian), while the former Atlantic branches Mel and the isolates Sua, Gola and Limba are split out as primary branches; they are mentioned next to each other because there is no published evidence to move them; Volta–Congo is intact apart from Senufo and Kru. ''Glottolog'', based primarily on Güldemann (2018), has a more limi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Noun-class
In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some authors use the term "grammatical gender" as a synonym of "noun class", but others consider these different concepts. Noun classes should not be confused with noun classifiers. Notion There are three main ways by which natural languages categorize nouns into noun classes: * according to similarities in their meaning (semantic criterion); * by grouping them with other nouns that have similar form (morphology); * through an arbitrary convention. Usually, a combination of the three types of criteria is used, though one is more prevalent. Noun classes form a system of grammatical agreement. A noun in a given class may require: * agreement affixes on adjectives, pronouns, numerals, etc. in the same noun phrase, * agreement affixes on the ver ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]