Kenzi, also known as Kenuzi, Kunuz, or Mattokki, is a
Nubian language
The Nubian languages ( ar, لُغَات نُوبِيّة, lughāt nūbiyyah) are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. They form a branch of the Eastern Sudanic languages, which is part of the wider Nilo-Saharan phylum. Initially, ...
of
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...
. It is spoken north of
Mahas
The Mahas are a sub-group of the Nubian people located in Sudan along the banks of the Nile. They are further split into the Mahas of the North and Mahas of the Center. Some Mahas villages are intermixed with remnants of the largely extinct Qamh ...
in Egypt.
It is closely related to
Dongolawi or Andaandi, a Nubian Language of
Sudan. 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 more specifically since the 1960s, the 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. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan ...
there are communities of speakers in
Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt ( ar, مصر السفلى '; ) 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 ...
. Recent linguistic research on the Kenzi language has been conducted by Ahmed Sokarno Abdel-Hafiz.
Kenzi is currently a threatened language that has about 50,000 native speakers worldwide.
Most of the Kenzi speaking people live in the city of Kom Ombo in the Aswan Governorate 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