Acheron language

Acheron
Asheron
Pronunciation	/ɡə-rəmɛ/
Native to	Sudan
Region	Nuba Hills
Native speakers	20,000 (2006) [1] 9,800 in home area (2006) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Kordofanian Talodi–Heiban Talodi Tocho languages Acheron
Dialects	Gathuk Gandok Garong
Language codes
ISO 639-3	acz
Glottolog	ache1245
ELP	Acheron
Acheron is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Acheron (Asheron) is a language in the Talodi family spoken in South Kordofan, Sudan.

Acheron derives from the Arabic word aɟɟur-uun[ sic ] which means "innocent people", ^[2] it was later "indigenised as /acʊrʊn/" ^[3] and turned into /aʃərɔn/. The autoethonym in Acheron is /wɑ-rəmɛ/ for the people and /ɡə-rəmɛ/ for the language. ^[2]

The number of active speakers is estimated to be 9,800. ^[2] This number includes the community members and "diaspora speakers" in other Sudanese towns and abroad. ^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants ^[4]

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	voiceless	pː	t̪ː			t		k	kː
	voiced	b	d̪			d	ɟ	g	gw
Fricative	voiceless			s	sː
	voiced		ð	z
Nasal	short	m				n	ɲ	ŋ
	long	mː				nː	ɲː	ŋː
Trill				r	rː
Tap						ɽ
Approximant	short					l	j	w
	long					lː		wː

Norton (2000) calls /s/ and /k/ "stiff cord" segments, saying they are always voiceless, with other short plosives and fricatives varying in voicing. ^[4]

Vowels

Vowels ^[5]

		Front	Central	Back
Close	[+ATR]	i		u
	[-ATR]	ɪ		ʊ
Mid		ɛ	ə	ɔ
Open			a

Norton (1995) posited 10 vowels: 5 [-ATR] / ɪ , ɛ , a , ɔ ʊ / and 5 [+ATR] / i , e , ɜ , o , u /. ^[6] However, Norton (2013) has 8 vowels: [-ATR] / ɪ , ɛ , ə , ɑ , ɔ , ʊ / and [+ATR] / i u /. ^[2]

Notes

1. Acheron at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Norton 2013, p. 195.
3. Stevenson 1956 , p. 102, quoted in Norton 2013 , p. 195
4. Norton 2000, p. 24.
5. Norton 2013, pp. 208.
6. Norton 1995, quoted in Norton 2013 , p. 195

References

• Norton, Russell (1995). Variation and change in the phonology of Asheron (MA thesis). University of Essex.
• Norton, Russell (2000). "The noun classes of Asheron". Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages. 8: 23–55.
• Norton, Russell (2013). "The Acheron vowel system: a participatory approach". In Blench, Roger; Schadeberg, Thilo (eds.). Nuba Mountain Language Studies. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 195–217. ISBN   978-3-89645-427-0.
• Stevenson, Roland C. (1956). "A survey of the phonetics and grammatical structure of the Nuba Mountain languages, with particular reference to Otoro, Katcha and Nyimang". Afrika und Übersee. 40: 73–84, 93–115.

Further reading

• Stirtz, Timothy M. (1 January 2015). "Schadeberg, Thilo C. and Roger M. Blench: Nuba Mountain Language Studies" . Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. 36 (1). doi:10.1515/jall-2015-0006. ISSN   0167-6164. S2CID   151944262.

External links

• Listen to a sample of Acheron from Global Recordings Network