The dozen Luo, Lwo or Lwoian languages are spoken by the Luo peoples in an area ranging from southern

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

to western Ethiopia to southern

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, with

Dholuo The Dholuo dialect (pronounced ) or ''Nilotic Kavirondo'', is a dialect of the Luo group of Nilotic languages, spoken by about 4.2 million Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania, who occupy parts of the eastern shore of Lake Victoria and areas to th ...

extending into northern

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

and Alur into the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. They form one of the two branches of the Western Nilotic family, the other being the

Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out ...

– Nuer. The Southern Luo varieties are

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as a ...

, and apart from ethnic identity they might be considered a single language. The time depth of the division of the Luo languages is moderate, perhaps close to two millennia. The division within the

Southern Luo language Southern Luo is a dialect cluster of Uganda and neighboring countries. Although Southern Luo dialects are mutually intelligible, there are six ethnically and culturally distinct varieties which are considered to be separate languages socially. P ...

dialect cluster is considerably shallower, perhaps five to eight centuries, reflecting migrations due to the impact of the Islamization of the Sudan region. *

Southern Southern may refer to: Businesses * China Southern Airlines, airline based in Guangzhou, China * Southern Airways, defunct US airline * Southern Air, air cargo transportation company based in Norwalk, Connecticut, US * Southern Airways Express, M ...

(Uganda and neighboring countries) ** Adhola (Uganda) ** Luo–Acholi ***

(Kavirondo Luo) (Kenya, Tanzania) *** Alur–Acholi **** Alur (Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo) *****

Acholi Acholi may refer to: * Acholi people, a Luo nation of Uganda, in the Northern part of the country. * Acholi language Acholi (also Leb Acoli, or Leb Lwo) is a Southern Luo dialect spoken by the Acholi people in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum an ...

(Uganda, South Sudan) *Northern ** Shilluk-collo (South Sudan) ** Belanda Bor (South Sudan) ** Thuri (South Sudan) **Jur languagesReh, Mechthild (1996): ''Anywa Language: Description and Internal Reconstructions''. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, p. 5. *** Jur (South Sudan) *** Anuak (South Sudan, Ethiopia) *** Päri (South Sudan)

Bibliography

* Gilley, Leoma G. 2004. "The Lwoian family." ''Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages'', 9, 165–174.

References

{{Eastern Sudanic languages Languages of Ethiopia Languages of South Sudan Languages of Sudan Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Languages of Uganda Languages of Kenya Languages of Tanzania