Nyimang, also known as Ama, is an
Eastern Sudanic language
In most classifications, the Eastern Sudanic languages are a group of nine families of languages that may constitute a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Eastern Sudanic languages are spoken from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania.
N ...
spoken in the
Nuba Mountains 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 ...
by the
Nyimang people
The Nyimang are an ethnic sub-group of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan in Sudan. Their population may exceed 180,000. Most are Muslims.
Culture
Communication
They speak Nyima languages, also known as Ama language of th ...
who are a sub-group of the
Nuba people.
It is spoken in Al Fous, Fuony, Hajar Sultan, Kakara, Kalara, Koromiti, Nitil, Salara, Tundia, and other villages (''Ethnologue'', 22nd edition).
Rilly (2010:182) lists two mutually unintelligible varieties, Ama and Mandal. Blench lists the Mandal dialect separately.
Phonology
Consonants
* /s/ is heard as
ƒwhen before front vowels.
* /l/ can be heard as a retroflex
when before front vowels.
* /f/ can also be heard as bilabial
¸in free variation.
Vowels
* /i, u/ can be heard as
ª, ÊŠin lax position.
* /o/ can have an allophone of
µwhen in the position of /ɽ/.
References
External links
Ama basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
Languages of Sudan
Nyima languages
Northern Eastern Sudanic languages
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