Nilo-Saharan languages
Nilo-Saharan | |
---|---|
(disputed) | |
Geographic distribution | Central Africa, north-central Africa and East Africa |
Native speakers | ca. 70 million for all branches listed below.[1] |
Linguistic classification | Proposed language family |
Subdivisions | |
ISO 639-2 / 5 | ssa |
Glottolog | None |
Distribution of Nilo-Saharan languages (in yellow) |
The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of
As indicated by its hyphenated name, Nilo-Saharan is a family of the African interior, including the greater Nile Basin and the Central
In his book
Some of the constituent groups of Nilo-Saharan are estimated to predate the
This larger classification system is not accepted by all linguists, however.
Characteristics
The constituent families of Nilo-Saharan are quite diverse. One characteristic feature is a tripartite
Major languages
Within the Nilo-Saharan languages are a number of languages with at least a million speakers (most data from SIL's Ethnologue 16 (2009)). In descending order:
- is also used for a wider group of languages which includes Dholuo.)
- Kanuri (4.0 million, all dialects; 4.7 million if Kanembu is included). The major ethnicity around Lake Chad.
- Songhay (3.2 million all dialects, mostly Zarma). Spread along the Niger River in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, throughout the historic Songhai Empire, including its former capital Gao and the well-known cities of Timbuktu and Djenné.
- Teso (1.9 million). Related to Karamojong, Turkana, Toposa and Nyangatom
- Nubian (1.7 million, all dialects). The language of Nubia, extending today from southern Egypt into northern Sudan. Many Nubians have also migrated northwards to Cairo since the building of the Aswan Dam.
- Lugbara (1.7 million, 2.2 if Aringa (Low Lugbara) is included). The major Central Sudanic language; Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Nandi–Markweta languages (Kalenjin, 1.6 million). Kenyan Rift Valley, Kapchorua Uganda.
- Lango (1.5 million). A Luo language, one of the major languages of Uganda.
- Dinka (1.4 million). The major ethnicity of South Sudan.
- Acholi (1.2 million). Another Luo language of Uganda.
- Nuer (1.1 million in 2011, significantly more today). The language of the Nuer, another numerous people from South Sudan and Ethiopia.
- Maasai (1.0 million). Spoken by the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania, one of the most well-known African peoples internationally.[11]
- Ngambay (1.0 million with Laka). Central Sudanic, the principal language of southern Chad.
Some other important Nilo-Saharan languages under 1 million speakers:
- Fur (500,000 in 1983, significantly more today). The eponymous language of Darfur Province in western Sudan.
- Tubu (350,000 to 400,000) One of the northernmost Nilo-Saharan languages, extending from Nigeria, Niger, and Chad into Libya. Most Tubu speakers live in Northern Chad close to the Tibesti Mountains. Tubu has two main varieties: the Daza language and the Teda language.
The total for all speakers of Nilo-Saharan languages according to Ethnologue 16 is 38–39 million people. However, the data spans a range from ca. 1980 to 2005, with a weighted median at ca. 1990. Given population growth rates, the figure in 2010 might be half again higher, or about 60 million.
History of the proposal
The Saharan family (which includes
In 1920 G. W. Murray fleshed out the Eastern Sudanic languages when he grouped Nilotic, Nubian, Nera, Gaam, and Kunama. Carlo Conti Rossini made similar proposals in 1926, and in 1935 Westermann added Murle. In 1940 A. N. Tucker published evidence linking five of the six branches of Central Sudanic alongside his more explicit proposal for East Sudanic. In 1950 Greenberg retained Eastern Sudanic and Central Sudanic as separate families, but accepted Westermann's conclusions of four decades earlier in 1954 when he linked them together as Macro-Sudanic (later Chari–Nile, from the Chari and Nile Watersheds).
Greenberg's later contribution came in 1963, when he tied Chari–Nile to Songhai, Saharan, Maban, Fur, and Koman-Gumuz and coined the current name Nilo-Saharan for the resulting family.
Progress has been made since Greenberg established the plausibility of the family.
Internal relationships
Dimmendaal (2008) notes that Greenberg (1963) based his conclusion on strong evidence and that the proposal as a whole has become more convincing in the decades since. Mikkola (1999) reviewed Greenberg's evidence and found it convincing. Roger Blench notes morphological similarities in all putative branches, which leads him to believe that the family is likely to be valid.
Anbessa Tefera and Peter Unseth consider the poorly attested Shabo language to be Nilo-Saharan, though unclassified within the family due to lack of data; Dimmendaal and Blench, based on a more complete description, consider it to be a language isolate on current evidence. Proposals have sometimes been made to add Mande (usually included in Niger–Congo), largely due to its many noteworthy similarities with Songhay rather than with Nilo-Saharan as a whole, however this relationship is more likely due to a close relationship between Songhay and Mande many thousands of years ago in the early days of Nilo-Saharan, so the relationship is probably more one of ancient contact than a genetic link.[4]
The extinct Meroitic language of ancient Kush has been accepted by linguists such as Rille, Dimmendaal, and Blench as Nilo-Saharan, though others argue for an Afroasiatic affiliation. It is poorly attested.
There is little doubt that the constituent families of Nilo-Saharan—of which only Eastern Sudanic and Central Sudanic show much internal diversity—are valid groups. However, there have been several conflicting classifications in grouping them together. Each of the proposed higher-order groups has been rejected by other researchers: Greenberg's Chari–Nile by Bender and Blench, and Bender's Core Nilo-Saharan by Dimmendaal and Blench. What remains are eight (Dimmendaal) to twelve (Bender) constituent families of no consensus arrangement.
Greenberg 1963
Joseph Greenberg, in The Languages of Africa, set up the family with the following branches. The Chari–Nile core are the connections that had been suggested by previous researchers.
Nilo‑Saharan |
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Bender 1989, 1991
Lionel Bender came up with a classification which expanded upon and revised that of Greenberg. He considered Fur and Maban to constitute a Fur–Maban branch, added Kadu to Nilo-Saharan, removed Kuliak from Eastern Sudanic, removed Gumuz from Koman (but left it as a sister node), and chose to posit Kunama as an independent branch of the family. By 1991 he had added more detail to the tree, dividing Chari–Nile into nested clades, including a Core group in which Berta was considered divergent, and coordinating Fur–Maban as a sister clade to Chari–Nile.[13][14]
Nilo-Saharan
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Bender revised his model of Nilo-Saharan again in 1996, at which point he split Koman and Gumuz into completely separate branches of Core Nilo-Saharan.[15]
Ehret 1989
Christopher Ehret came up with a novel classification of Nilo-Saharan as a preliminary part of his then-ongoing research into the macrofamily. His evidence for the classification was not fully published until much later (see Ehret 2001 below), and so it did not attain the same level of acclaim as competing proposals, namely those of Bender and Blench.[14]
Bender 2000
By 2000 Bender had entirely abandoned the Chari–Nile and Komuz branches. He also added Kunama back to the "Satellite–Core" group and simplified the subdivisions therein. He retracted the inclusion of Shabo, stating that it could not yet be adequately classified but might prove to be Nilo-Saharan once sufficient research has been done. This tentative and somewhat conservative classification held as a sort of standard for the next decade.[16]
Nilo-Saharan
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Ehret 2001
Ehret's updated classification was published in his book A Historical–Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan (2001).[17] This model is notable in that it consists of two primary branches: Gumuz–Koman, and a Sudanic group containing the rest of the families (see Sudanic languages § Nilo-Saharan for more detail). Also, unusually, Songhay is well-nested within a core group and coordinate with Maban in a "Western Sahelian" clade, and Kadu is not included in Nilo-Saharan. Note that "Koman" in this classification is equivalent to Komuz, i.e. a family with Gumuz and Koman as primary branches, and Ehret renames the traditional Koman group as "Western Koman".
Nilo-Saharan
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Blench 2006
Niger-Saharan, a language macrofamily linking the Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan phyla, was proposed by Blench (2006).[18] It was not accepted by other linguists. Blench's (2006) internal classification of the Niger-Saharan macrophylum is as follows:
According to Blench (2006), typological features common to both Niger-Congo and Nilo-Saharan include:
- Phonology: ATR vowel harmony and the labial-velars /kp/ and /gb/
- Noun-class affixes: e.g., ma- affix for mass nouns in Nilo-Saharan
- Verbal extensions and plural verbs
Blench 2010
With a better understanding of Nilo-Saharan classifiers, and the affixes or number marking they have developed into in various branches, Blench believes that all of the families postulated as Nilo-Saharan belong together. He proposes the following tentative internal classification, with Songhai closest to Saharan, a relationship that had not previously been suggested:
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Blench 2015
By 2015,[19] and again in 2017,[20] Blench had refined the subclassification of this model, linking Maban with Fur, Kadu with Eastern Sudanic, and Kuliak with the node that contained them, and added a tentative, extinct branch he names "Plateau" as to explain a possible Nilo-Saharan substrate in the Malian Dogon and Bangime languages, for the following structure:
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Blench (2021) concludes that Maban may be close to Eastern Sudanic.
Starostin (2016)
Georgiy Starostin (2016),[21] using lexicostatistics based on Swadesh lists, is more inclusive than Glottolog, and in addition finds probable and possible links between the families that will require reconstruction of the proto-languages for confirmation. Starostin also does not consider Greenberg's Nilo-Saharan to be a valid, coherent clade.
In addition to the families listed in Glottolog (previous section), Starostin considers the following to be established:
- Northern "K" Eastern Sudanic or "NNT" (Nubian, Nara, and Tama; see below for Nyima)
- Southern "N" Eastern Sudanic (Surmic, Temein, Jebel, Daju, Nilotic), though their exact relationships to each other remain obscure
- Central Sudanic (including Birri and Kresh–Aja, which may prove to be closest to each other)
- Koman (including Gule)
A relationship of Nyima with Nubian, Nara, and Tama (NNT) is considered "highly likely" and close enough that proper comparative work should be able to demonstrate the connection if it's valid, though it would fall outside NNT proper (see Eastern Sudanic languages).
Other units that are "highly likely" to eventually prove to be valid families are:
- East Sudanicas a whole
- Central Sudanic – Kadu (Central Sudanic + Kadugli–Krongo)
- Maba–Kunama (Maban + Kunama)
- Komuz (Koman + Gumuz)
In summary, at this level of certainty, "Nilo-Saharan" constitutes ten distinct and separate language families: Eastern Sudanic, Central Sudanic – Kadu, Maba–Kunama, Komuz, Saharan, Songhai, Kuliak, Fur, Berta, and Shabo.
Possible further "deep" connections, which cannot be evaluated until the proper comparative work on the constituent branches has been completed, are:
- Eastern Sudanic + Fur + Berta
- Central Sudanic – Kadu + Maba–Kunama
There are faint suggestions that Eastern and Central Sudanic may be related (essentially the old Chari–Nile clade), though that possibility is "unexplorable under current conditions" and could be complicated if Niger–Congo were added to the comparison. Starostin finds no evidence that the Komuz, Kuliak, Saharan, Songhai, or Shabo languages are related to any of the other Nilo-Saharan languages.
In a follow-up study published in 2017, Starostin reiterated his previous points as well as explicitly accepting a genetic relationship between Macro-East Sudanic and Macro-Central Sudanic. Starostin names this proposal "Macro-Sudanic". The classification is as follows.[22]
- Macro-Sudanic
- Macro-Sudanic macrofamily
- Macro-Central Sudanic family
- Central Sudanic family
- Krongo-Kadugli(Kadu) group
- Maba group
- Macro-Eastern Sudanic family
- Eastern Sudanicfamily
- Northeast Sudanicfamily
- Nubian group
- Tama group
- Nara language
- Nyimang-Afitti Group
- Southeast Sudanicfamily
- Surmic languages (Southern Surmic + Northern Surmic / Majang branches)
- Nilotic languages (Western, Eastern, Southern branches)
- Jebel group
- Temein group
- Daju group
- Berta group
- Fur-Amdang group
- Kunama-Ilit group
- Macro-Central Sudanic family
- Koman-Gumuz ("Komuz") family
- Saharan family
- Western Saharan group (Kanuri-Kanembu + Teda-Dazaga)
- Eastern Saharan group (Zaghawa + Berti)
- Kuliak group
- Songhay group
- Shabo language (Mikeyir)
- Macro-Sudanic macrofamily
Starostin (2017) finds significant lexical similarities between Kadu and Central Sudanic, while some lexical similarities also shared by Central Sudanic with Fur-Amdang, Berta, and Eastern Sudanic to a lesser extent.
Dimmendaal 2016, 2019
suggests the following subclassification of Nilo-Saharan:Nilo‑Saharan |
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Dimmendaal et al. consider the evidence for the inclusion of
The large Northeastern division is based on several typological markers:
- tolerance of complex syllable structure
- higher amount of both inflectional and derivational morphology, including the presence of cases
- verb-final (SOV or OSV) word order
- coverb + light verb constructions
- converbs
Blench 2023
By 2023,
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Beyond the work of Colleen Ahland, Blench notes that the inclusion of Koman is buttressed by the work of Manuel Otero.[27] The argument for Songhay is mostly lexical, especially the pronouns. Blench gives Greenberg credit for both East and Central Sudanic. Saharan and Songhay have some "striking" similarities in their lexicon, which Blench argues is genetic, though the absence of reliable proto-Sarahan and proto-Songhay reconstructions makes evaluation difficult.
Glottolog 4.0 (2019)
In summarizing the literature to date, Hammarström et al. in Glottolog do not accept that the following families are demonstrably related with current research:
- Berta
- Kresh–Aja; Birriis also questionable as Central Sudanic)
- Daju (putatively East Sudanic)
- Eastern Jebel (putatively East Sudanic)
- Furan
- Gule
- Gumuz
- Kadugli–Krongo
- Koman (excluding Gule)
- Kresh–Aja(putatively Central Sudanic)
- Kuliak
- Kunama
- Maban (including Mimi-N)
- Mimi-Gaudefroy(Mimi-D)
- Nara (putatively East Sudanic)
- Nilotic (putatively East Sudanic)
- Nubian (putatively East Sudanic)
- Nyimang(putatively East Sudanic)
- Saharan
- Shabo
- Songhai
- Surmic (putatively East Sudanic)
- Tama (putatively East Sudanic)
- Temein (putatively East Sudanic)
External relations
Proposals for the external relationships of Nilo-Saharan typically center on
Phonology
Nilo-Saharan languages present great differences, being a highly diversified group. It has proven difficult to reconstruct many aspects of Proto-Nilo-Saharan. Two very different reconstructions of the proto-language have been proposed by
Bender's reconstruction
The consonant system reconstructed by Bender for Proto-Nilo-Saharan is:
Labial | Coronal | Palatal | Velar | ||||||
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plosive
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voiceless | *t, *t₂ | *k, *kʰ | ||||||
voiced | *b | *d, *d₂ | *ɟ | *g | |||||
fricative
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*f | *s | |||||||
liquid | *r, *l | *r₂ | |||||||
nasal | *m | *n | *ŋ | ||||||
semivowel | *w | *j |
The phonemes /*d₂, *t₂/ correspond to coronal plosives, the phonetic details are difficult to specify, but clearly, they remain distinct from /*d, *t/ and supported by many phonetic correspondences (another author, C. Ehret, reconstructs for the coronal area the sound [d̪], [ḍ] and [t̪], [ṭ] which perhaps are closer to the phonetic detail of /*d₂, *t₂/, see infra)
Bender gave a list of about 350 cognates and discussed in depth the grouping and the phonological system proposed by Ch. Ehret. Blench (2000) compares both systems (Bender's and Ehret's) and prefers the former because it is more secure and is based in more reliable data.[28] For example, Bender points out that there is a set of phonemes including implosives /*ɓ, *ɗ, *ʄ, *ɠ/, ejectives /*pʼ, *tʼ, (*sʼ), *cʼ, *kʼ/ and prenasal constants /*ᵐb, *ⁿd, (*ⁿt), *ⁿɟ, *ᵑg/, but it seems that they can be reconstructed only for core groups (E, I, J, L) and the collateral group (C, D, F, G, H), but not for Proto-Nilo-Saharan.
Ehret's reconstruction
Christopher Ehret used a less clear methodology and proposed a maximalist phonemic system:
Labial | Dental | Alveol. | Retrof. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
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plosive | implosive | *ɓ | *ɗ | *ɗ̣ | *ɠ | |||
voiced | *b | *d̪ | *d | *ḍ | *g | |||
voiceless | *p | *t̪ | *t | *ṭ | *k | |||
aspirate
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*pʰ | *t̪ʰ | *tʰ | *ṭʰ | *kʰ | |||
ejective | *pʼ | *t̪ʼ | *tʼ | *ṭʼ | *kʼ | |||
fricative | *θ | *s, *z | *ṣ | |||||
nasal | simple | *m | *n | *ɲ | *ŋ | |||
prenasal | *ⁿb | *ⁿð | *ⁿd | *ⁿḍ | *ⁿg | |||
liquid | *l̪ | *r, *l | ||||||
approximant | plain | *w | *j | |||||
complex | *ʼw | *ʼj | *h |
Ehret's maximalist system has been criticized by Bender and Blench. These authors state that the correspondences used by Ehret are not very clear and because of this many of the sounds in the table may only be allophonic variations.[29]
Morphology
Dimmendaal (2016)[23] cites the following morphological elements as stable across Nilo-Saharan:
- Causative prefix: *ɪ- or *i-
- Deverbal noun (abstract / participial / agent) prefix: *a-
- Number suffixes: *-i, *-in, *-k
- Reflexive marker: *rʊ
- Personal pronouns: first person singular *qa, second person singular *yi
- Logophoric pronoun: *(y)ɛ
- Deicticmarkers: singular *n, plural *k
- locative*ta
- Preposition: *kɪ
- Negative verb: *kʊ
Comparative vocabulary
Sample basic vocabulary in different Nilo-Saharan branches:
Note: In table cells with slashes, the singular form is given before the slash, while the plural form follows the slash.
Language | eye | ear | nose | tooth | tongue | mouth | blood | bone | tree | water | eat | name |
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Proto-Nilotic[30] | *(k)ɔŋ, pl. *(k)ɔɲ | *yit̪ | *(q)ume | *kɛ-la(-c) | *ŋa-lyɛp | *(k)ʊt̪ʊk | *käw | *kɛ-ɛt, *kɪ-yat | *pi(-ʀ) | *ɲam | *ka-ʀin | |
Proto-Jebel[31] | **ed ~ *er | **si(di ~ gi) | **ɲi-di | **kala-d | **udu | **k-afa-d | **(g-)am- | **kaca | **cii ~ *kii | **ɲam | (siigə, saag) | |
Temein[32] | nɪ́ŋɪ̀nàʈ / kɛ̀ɛ́n | wénàʈ / kwèén | kɪ́mɪ́nʈɪ̀n / kɪkɪ́mɪ́nʈɪ́nɪ̀ | awɪ̀s / kɛ́ɛ̀ʔ | mɛ́nɖɪnyàʈ | íʈùk / k(w)úʈɪ̀n | mónɪ̀ʈ | àmɪ̀s / kɔ́maʔ | mɛ́rɛŋɪ̀s / mɛ́rɛŋ | múŋ | láma | kàlɪ́n, kàlɪ́ŋ |
Proto-Daju[33] | *aŋune / *aŋwe ~ *aŋun | *wunute / *wunuge | *mu-ne | *ɲiɣte / *ɲiɣke | *ɲabire / *ɲabirta | *ikke / *ikku | *tamuke | *ŋai / *ŋayu | *ewete / *ewe | *ma- | *si- | *ange / *angu |
Kadugli (Talla dialect)[34] | ayyɛ / iyyɛ | naasɔ / isinɛ́ | ámb-/nigáŋg-árɔk | t̪- / iŋŋini | áŋdáɗuk / ni- | niinɔ / niginíínɔ | ariid̪ʊ | t̪iŋguba / kuba | ffa / nááfa | ɓiid̪i | oori | ɛɛrɛ / nigirɛɛnɛ |
Proto-Northern Eastern Sudanic[35] | *maɲ | *ɲog-ul | *em-u | *ŋes-il | *ŋal | *ag-il ~ *ag-ul | *ug-er | *kɛs-ɛr | *koɲ-er- | *mban | *kal- / *kamb- | *(ŋ)ɛr-i |
Nara[35] | no, nòò / no-ta, nóó-ta | tús / túsá | demmo, dəmmo, dàm̀mò, dòmmò | nɪ̀hɪ̀ / nɪ̀hɪ̀t-tá; nèʃɪ̀ / nèʃá | hàggà, àggà, ààdà, hàdà | aùlò / aùl-lá; àgúrá / àgúr-tà | kitto, kɪ̀tò | ketti, kəti, kátɪ́ / ketta, kátá | tüm, tûm; kè́l | emba, mbàà | kal, kál, kár | ade, ààdà |
Proto-Nubian[35] | *maaɲ, sg. *miɲ-di | *ugul(-e), sg. *ugul-di | ? | *ŋil, sg. *ŋíl-di | *ŋal, sg. ŋal-di | *agil | *ùg-er | *kiser, sg. *kisir-ti | *koor, sg. *koor-ti | *es-ti | *kal- | *er-i |
Proto-Taman[35] | *me-ti, pl. *mVŋ | *(ŋ)usu-ti (sg) | *eme, sg. emi-ti (sg.) | *ŋesi-t(i), pl. *ŋes-oŋ | *laat | *auli | *agi | *kei-ti, pl. *kei-ŋ | *gaan; *kiɲe(-ti) (?) | *kal /*kaal | *ŋan- | *(ŋ)aat, pl. *(ŋ)ari-g |
Proto- Nyima[35] |
*a̍ŋV | *ɲɔgɔr- | *(o)mud̪- (?) | *ŋil- | ? | *ŋàl- | *wule | *amV | *t̪uma | *bɔ́ŋ | *t̪a̍l- / *ta̍m- | |
Proto-SW Surmic[36] | *kɛɓɛrɛ (pl.) | *it̪t̪at | *ʊŋɛtʃ (?) | *ɲiggɪtta | *ʌgʌʌt | *(k)-ʊt̪t̪ʊk | *ɓɪj- | *ɛmmɛ | *kɛɛt̪ | *maam | *ɗak- | *ðara |
Proto-SE Surmic[36] | *kabari | *ɲabi (?) | *giroŋ | *ɲigidda (?) | *kat | *tuk- | *ɲaɓa | *giga (?) | *kɛdo (?) | *ma | *sara | |
Proto-Kuliak[37] | *ekw, pl. *ekw=ẹk | *beos, pl. *beosẹk | *nyab, pl. *nyabẹk | *ɛd-eɓ | *ak, pl. *akẹk | *seh | *ɔk | *ad, pl. *ad=is | *kywɛh | *yed, pl. *yedẹk | ||
Shabo[38] | sɛ | k’iti | sonɑ | k’ɑu | hɑndɑ | kɑusɛ | dɑmo | emɑhɑ; egege | k’ɔnɑ | wɔː | woŋgɑse | |
Ongota[39] | ˈʔaːfa | ˈwoːwa | ˈsiːna (loan?) | ʔitiˈma | ʔɑdabo (loan?) | ˈʔiːfa | ˈmitʃa (loan?) | ˈhɑntʃa | ˈtʃaːhawa | ʔeˈdʒak | ˈmiʃa | |
Proto- Sara-Bongo-Bagirmi[40] |
*kamɔ; *kamu; *kama | *imbi; *EmbE; *mbili; *mbElE; *imbil-; *EmbEl- | *Samɔ; *Samu; *Somu; *kanu; *kunu; *kVnV | *kanga; *nganga | *unɖɛ(C-) | *tara | *manga; *masu; *mVsV; *nɖuma | *Kinga; *Kunga; *Kingo | *kaga | *mEnE; *mAnɛ; *mani | *OɲO; *ɔɲɔ; *VɲV | *iɭi; *ʈV |
Proto-Mangbetu[41] | *mʷɔ̀ | *bɪ́ | *amɔ̀ | *kɪ́ | *kàɖrà | *tí(kpɔ̀) | *álí | *kpɔ̀ | *kɪ́rɪ́ɛ̀ | *gʷò | *láɲɔ̀ | *kɛ̀lʊ̀ |
Mangbutu[42] | owékékí | ubí | tongi | usɛ́ | kedrú | utí | koto | ikpi | okpá | uwɛ | ano | aɓé |
Bale[42] | ɲɔ̌ | bí | ndǔ̱tú̱ | kú | da | tso | zú | kpa | tsú | cû | wyɔ | ngbá / nzú |
Ndru[42] | nikpɔ́ | ɓi(na) | ondǐ̹tsǔ̹ | ku | da | tsu | âzû | kpá | ítsú | ǐɗá | ɲú | óvôná |
Ma'di (Uganda)[43] | mī | bí | ɔ̀mvɔ̄ | sí | lɛ̀ɖá | ti | àrɪ́ | hʷa | kʷɛ | èyí | ɲā | rú |
Birri[44] | mɛ́; mʊ́ | nvö; nvu | ímɔ̀; ámɔ̀ | sì | ìnɖrɔ́; ìnɖrá | tyi(di) | ɔ́tɔ́ | kpɔ | kpi; kpɪ | wu | ɔnyo | iri |
Kresh[45] | mumu | mbímbi | uŋú | ʃɛ́ʃɛ̀ | ndjindja | – | srama | kpɔkpɔ́ | kpikpi | ùyù | ɔ́ʃɔ́ | díri |
Dongo[45] | mómu | mbimbi | ʔɔŋu | cẹ̀cẹ̀ | ndjándja | – | ọọs | kpọkpŏ | kpikpi | ùyù | l-ọc(ic) | díri |
Aja[45] | iɲi | mimbi | múmú | uku | ndindyi | – | usa | gbäbí | cící | ɓaɓa | aɲ | kiri |
Kunama[46] | wà | ùkùˈnà | bòbòˈnà | mà | ŋèeˈlà | ùˈdà | kòkòˈbà | sàŋˈgà | èˈlà | bìˈà | ˈìŋ(à) | ˈkíidà |
Berta[47] | aře | iile | amúŋ | ndu-fuudí | hala | n'du | k’aβa | k’aara | s’ís’ía | fɪ'ri | θɪ́ŋa | huu (= foot) |
Gumuz, Northern[48] | kʼwácá | tsʼéa | ííta | kʼósa | kʼótʼá | sa | maχá | ʒákwá | ɟá | aja | sá | tsʼéa |
Proto-Koman[27] | *D̪E | *cʼɛ | *ʃʊnʃ | *ʃE | *lEtʼ̪a | *tʼ̪wa | *sʼámá; *bàs | *ʃUImakʼ | *cwálá | *jiɗE | *ʃa; *kʼama | *D̪uga |
Gule[49] | yan | ĭgŭn | fufŭn | ŏdāīān | wāīdjo | wŏt | āī | |||||
Gule[50] | yan | igă̄n | fufan | adad ayan | ĭten | ai | ||||||
Amdang (Kouchane)[51] | ni | dili, kiliŋgɛ | gʊrnɑ | kɑlkɑ | dɔlː | sɪˈmi | tʃoː | dʊrtu | sɔŋ | sunu | zɑm | tʃuluk |
Proto-Maba[52] | *kàSì-k | *dúrmì | *sati-k; *sàdí-k / *sadi-ɲi | *delemi-k | *fàrí-ŋ | *ta-k / *ta-si | *-aɲɔ- | *mílí-ik | ||||
Maba[53] | kàʃì-k/-ñi | koi-k | boiñ | sati-k | delmi-k | kan-a/-tu | àríi | kàñjí-k | soŋgo-k | inji | añ | mílí-i/-síi |
Mimi of Decorse[54] | dyo | feɾ | fir | ɲain | ɲyo | su | engi | ɲyam | ||||
Kanuri[55] | shîm | sə́mò | kə́nzà | tímì; shélì | tə́làm | cî | bû | shíllà | kə̀ská | njî | bù | cû |
Zaghawa[56][57] | í | kέbέ | síná | màrgiː | tàmsiː | áá | ógú | úrú | bɛ̀gìdiː | bí | sε:gì | tír |
Dendi[58] | mò | háŋŋá | nínè | hínydyè | dɛ́llɛ̀ | méè | kpííʀì | bíʀí | túúʀì | hàʀí | ŋwáà | máà |
Tadaksahak[59] | mó | haŋgá | t-í-nʒar | ée-ʃan | íilǝs | míya | kud-én | biidí | tugúdu | aryén | ŋá | mân |
Population History
In the
]The
See also
- Languages of Sudan
- Nilo-Saharan word lists (Wiktionary)
References
- ^ a b "Nilo-Saharan; Ethnologue".
- ISBN 978-0-87480-892-6.
- ISBN 978-0-19-920272-0.),
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ a b c Blench, Roger & Lameen Souag. m.s. Saharan and Songhay form a branch of Nilo-Saharan.
- ISBN 0-19-505196-3.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ISBN 0-521-66178-1.
- ^ Blench, Roger; Ahland, Colleen (2010). The Classification of Gumuz and Koman Languages. Language Isolates in Africa workshop, Lyons, December 4. Archived from the original on March 16, 2012.
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- ^ Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009). "Maasai: A language of Kenya". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (Sixteenth ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International..
- ^ Diedrich Westermann, 1912. The Shilluk people, their language and folklore
- ^ Bender, M. Lionel (1991) "Subclassification of Nilo-Saharan". In Bender, M. Lionel, ed. (1991) Proceedings of the Fourth Nilo-Saharan Conference, Bayreuth, Aug. 30–Sep. 2, 1989. Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag. NISA 7, 1–36
- ^ a b Roger Blench (2006). The Niger-Saharan Macrophylum (PDF). Cambridge: Mallam Dendo. p. 5.
- Bender, Lionel(1996). The Nilo-Saharan languages: a comparative essay. Munich: Lincom Europa.
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- ^ Ehret (2001)
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2006. The Niger-Saharan Macrophylum.
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2015. Was there a now-vanished branch of Nilo-Saharan on the Dogon Plateau? Evidence from substrate vocabulary in Bangime and Dogon. Available in: http://www.rogerblench.info/Language/Isolates/MT%20XX%20Blench%20off%20print.pdf
- ^ Blench, Roger. "Africa over the last 12,000 years".
- ^ George Starostin (2016) The Nilo-Saharan hypothesis tested through lexicostatistics: current state of affairs
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- ^ a b Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2016). "On stable and unstable features in Nilo-Saharan". The University of Nairobi Journal of Language and Linguistics.
- ^ Gerrit Dimmendaal, Colleen Ahland, Angelika Jakobi & Constance Kutsch-Lojenga (2019) "Linguistic features and typologies in languages commonly referred to as 'Nilo-Saharan'", in Wolff, Ekkehard (ed.) Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics, p.326-381.
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- ^ Blench, Roger. 2023. In defence of Nilo-Saharan.
- ^ a b Otero, Manuel Alejandro. 2019. A Historical Reconstruction of the Koman Language Family. Doctoral thesis. Department of Linguistics, University of Oregon.
- ^ Blench, Roger M. (2000) "The classification of Nilo-Saharan" (Afrika und Übersee 83). p. 299.[dead link]
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- ^ Schadeberg, Thilo. 1994. Comparative Kadu Wordlists. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 40:11–48. University of Cologne.
- ^ a b c d e Rilly, Claude. 2010. Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique. Leuven: Peeters Publishers.
- ^ a b Yigezu, Moges. 2001. A comparative study of the phonetics and phonology of Surmic languages. Bruxelles: Université libre de Bruxelles. Doctoral dissertation, University of Bruxelles.
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- ^ Boyeldieu, Pascal, Pierre Nougayrol, and Pierre Palayer. 2006. Lexique comparatif historique des langues Sara-Bongo-Baguirmiennes Archived 2021-01-24 at the Wayback Machine. Online version.
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- ^ a b c Bokula, Moiso & Agozia-Kario Irumu. 1994. Bibliographie et matériaux lexicaux des langues Moru-Mangbetu (Soudan-Central, Zaïre). Annales Aequatoria 10: 203‒245.
- ^ Boone, Douglas; Richard L. Watson (editors). 1996. Moru-Ma'di survey report. Nairobi, Kenya: Summer Institute of Linguistics.
- ^ Santandrea, Stefano. 1966. The Birri language: Brief elementary notes. Afrika und Übersee 49: 81‒234.
- ^ a b c Santandrea, Stefano. 1976. The Kresh group, Aja and Baka languages (Sudan): A linguistic contribution. Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale.
- ^ Bender, Lionel. 2001. English-Kunama lexicon. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 65: 201–253.
- ^ Bender, M. Lionel. 1989. Berta Lexicon. In Bender, M. Lionel (ed.), Topics in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics, 271–304. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
- ^ Ahland, Colleen and Eliza Kelly. 2014. Daatsʼíin-Gumuz Comparative Word list.
- ^ Evans-Pritchard, Edward E. 1932. Ethnological Observations in Dar Fung. Sudan Notes and Records 15: 1–61.
- ^ Seligmann, Brenda Z. 1911–1912. Note on Two Languages in the Sennar Province of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen 2: 297–308.
- ^ Wolf, Katharina. 2010. Une enquête sociolinguistique parmi les Amdang (Mimi) du Tchad: Rapport Technique. SIL Electronic Survey Reports 2010-028
- ^ Blench, Roger. 2021. The Maban languages and their place within Nilo-Saharan.
- ^ Edgar, John T. 1991. Maba-group Lexicon. (Sprache und Oralität in Afrika: Frankfurter Studien zur Afrikanistik, 13.) Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
- ^ Gaudefroy-Demombynes, Maurice. 1907. Document sur les Langues de l'Oubangui-Chari. In Actes du XVIe Congrès International des Orientalistes, Alger, 1905, Part II, 172–330. Paris: Ernest Leroux.
- ^ Doris Löhr, H. Ekkehard Wolff (with Ari Awagana). 2009. Kanuri vocabulary. In: Haspelmath, Martin & Tadmor, Uri (eds.) World Loanword Database. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 1591 entries.
- ISBN 978-80-87025-17-8.
- ^ Tourneux, Henry. 1992. Inventaire phonologiques et formation du pluriel en zaghawa (Tchad). Afrika und Übersee 75, 267–277.
- ^ Zima, Petr. 1994. Lexique dendi (songhay): Djougou, Bénin: avec un index français-dendi. (Westafrikanische Studien 4). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe.
- ^ Christiansen-Bolli, Regula. 2010. A Grammar of Tadaksahak: a Northern Songhay Language of Mali. Leiden.
- ISBN 9781107030800.
- ISBN 9789231017094.
- ISBN 9780521894357.
- S2CID 161913402.
Further reading
- OCLC 62281704.
- Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2008-09-01). "Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent". Language and Linguistics Compass. 2 (5): 840–858. ISSN 1749-818X.
- OCLC 48027016.
- OCLC 795772769.
- Mikkola, Pertti (1999). "Nilo-Saharan revisited: some observations concerning the best etymologies". Nordic Journal of African Studies. 8 (2): 108–138.
External relationships
- Blench, Roger (2011). Can Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic help us understand the evolution of Niger-Congo noun classes? (PDF). CALL 41. Leiden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-18.
- Gregersen, Edgar (1972). "Kongo-Saharan". Journal of African Languages. 11 (1): 69–89.