The Nilotic languages are a group of related languages spoken across a wide area between

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

and

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

by the Nilotic peoples.

Etymology

The word Nilotic means of or relating to the

Nile River The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

or to the Nile region of Africa.

Demographics

Nilotic peoples, who are the native speakers of the languages, originally migrated from the Gezira area in Sudan. Nilotic language speakers live in parts of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

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 ...

and

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Subdivisions

According to linguist

Joseph Greenberg Joseph Harold Greenberg (May 28, 1915 – May 7, 2001) was an American linguist, known mainly for his work concerning linguistic typology and the genetic classification of languages. Life Early life and education Joseph Greenberg was born on M ...

, the language family is divided up into three subgroups: * Eastern Nilotic languages such as Turkana and Maasai * Southern Nilotic languages such as Kalenjin and Datooga * Western Nilotic languages such as Luo, Nuer and Dinka Before Greenberg's reclassification, Nilotic was used to refer to Western Nilotic alone, with the other two being grouped as related " Nilo-Hamitic" languages. Blench (2012) treats the

Burun languages Burun may refer to: * Burun people, of Sudan * Burun language, spoken by the Burun people * Burun, Iran, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran {{dab ...

as a fourth subgroup of Nilotic. In previous classifications, the languages were included within the

Luo languages The dozen Luo, Lwo or Lwoian languages are spoken by the Luo peoples in an area ranging from southern Sudan to western Ethiopia to southern Kenya, with Dholuo extending into northern Tanzania and Alur into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ...

. Starostin (2015) treats the Mabaan-Burun languages as "West Nilotic" but outside the Luo level.

Reconstruction

Over 200 Proto-Nilotic lexical roots have been reconstructed by Dimmendaal (1988).Dimmendaal, Gerrit Jan. 1988. "The lexical reconstruction of proto-Nilotic: a first reconnaissance." ''Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere'' (AAP) 16: 5-67. Dimmendaal reconstructs the proto Nilotic consonants as follows:

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

References

External links

Nilotic
Michael Cysouw

Doris Payne {{Authority control Language families Southern Eastern Sudanic languages Languages of Ethiopia Languages of Sudan Languages of South Sudan Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Languages of Uganda Languages of Kenya Languages of Tanzania