Kadugli, also Katcha-Kadugli-Miri or Central Kadu, is a
Kadu language or
dialect cluster
A dialect is a variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standardized varieties as well as vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardized varieties, such as those used in developing countries or iso ...
of the
Nilo-Saharan
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of around 210 African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributari ...
language family spoken in
South Kordofan
South Kordofan ( ') is one of the 18 States of Sudan, wilayat or states of Sudan. It has an area of 158,355 km2 and an estimated population of approximately 2,107,623 people (2018 est). Kaduqli is the capital of the state. It is centered on t ...
,
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 ...
. Stevenson treats the varieties as dialects of one language, and they share a single ISO code, though Schadeberg (1989) treats them as separate languages.
Dialects
There are five commonly cited varieties. Three of them are rather divergent, on the verge of being distinct languages:
*Katcha ''(Tolubi, Dholubi)''
*Kadugli proper ''(Dakalla, Talla, Dhalla, Toma Ma Dalla, Kudugli, Morta)''
*Miri
However, they share a single orthography and use the same literacy materials (''Ethnologue'').
Of the two other commonly cited varieties, ''Damba'' is somewhat closer to Kadugli, while ''Tumma'' appears to be a (sub)dialect of Katcha.
Villages in which the dialects are spoken according to the 22nd edition of ''Ethnologue'':
*''Katcha'' dialect: Belanya, Dabakaya, Farouq, Kafina, Katcha, and Tuna villages
*''Kadugli'' dialect: ’Daalimo, Kadugli, Kulba, Murta, Takko, and Thappare villages
*''Miri'' dialect: Hayar al-Nimr, Kadoda, Kasari, Kuduru, Kya, Luba, Miri Bara, Miri Guwa, Nyimodu, Sogolle, Tulluk, and Umduiu villages
Phonology
Consonants
*
is heard as an allophone of /p/.
Vowels
External links
Katcha-English Dictionary(one of the
Kadu languages
The Kadu languages, also known as Kadugli–Krongo or Tumtum, are a small language family of the Kordofanian languages, Kordofanian geographic grouping, once included in Niger–Congo. However, since Thilo C. Schadeberg, Thilo Schadeberg (1981), ...
)
Katcha, Kadugli, and Miri basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
References
Languages of Sudan
Kadu languages
{{ns-lang-stub