Kenzi, also known as Kenuzi, Kunuz, or Mattokki, is a Nubian language of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. It is spoken north of

Mahas The Mahas () are a sub-group of the Nubian people located in Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan along the banks of the Nile. For millennia, the Mahas tribe had resided in the region that constitutes present day north Sudan. Little arable land and ...

in Egypt, and is closely related to Dongolawi or Andaandi, a Nubian language of

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 ...

. The two have historically been considered two varieties of one language. More recent research recognizes them as distinct languages without a "particularly close genetic relationship." With population displacement due to the

Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. When it was completed, it was the tallest earthen dam in the world, surpassing the Chatug ...

there are communities of speakers in

Lower Egypt Lower Egypt ( ') is the northernmost region of Egypt, which consists of the fertile Nile Delta between Upper Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea, from El Aiyat, south of modern-day Cairo, and Dahshur. Historically, the Nile River split into sev ...

. Recent linguistic research on the Kenzi language has been conducted by Ahmed Sokarno Abdel-Hafiz. Kenzi is currently a threatened language that has about 35,000 native speakers worldwide.

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

reports that the use of Kenzi is decreasing as the language is spoken by adults only and that all speakers are shifting to

Egyptian Arabic Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian, or simply as Masri, is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic variety in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and originated in the Nile Delta in Lower Egypt. The esti ...

. Most speakers of Kenzi live in the city of

Kom Ombo Kom Ombo (; Coptic: or ; Ancient Greek: or ; or and ) is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the city north of ...

in the

Aswan Governorate Aswān (Arabic: محافظة أسوان) is one of the governorates of Egypt. The southernmost governorate in Upper Egypt, covering most of Lake Nasser. The Governorate's capital is Aswan. The Aswan Governorate borders Qena Governorate to the no ...

of Egypt.

Phonology

Consonants

* /s/ can be heard as voiced when preceding voiced stops. * /n/ is heard as velar �when before velar stops. /l/ is heard as velarized �when in the same position.

Vowels

External links

Learning the Nubian Language (Mattokki) Series on Youtube – Lesson 1 (in Arabic).

References

Nubian languages Languages of Egypt {{Egypt-stub