Aja language (Nilo-Saharan)

Not to be confused with Adja language.

Aja
Native to	South Sudan, Central African Republic
Ethnicity	Aja people
Native speakers	(200 cited 1993) [1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Central Sudanic? Birri–Kresh Kresh Aja
Language codes
ISO 639-3	aja
Glottolog	ajas1235
ELP	Aja

Linguistic map of the non-Arab peoples of Darfur, showing the extent of the Kresh languages in Sudan.

Aja is a Central Sudanic language spoken in the southern South Sudanese province of Bahr el Ghazal and along the South Sudanese border in the Central African Republic. Although the Aja are ethnically Kresh, their language is unintelligible to other Kresh languages. It is largely Banda in vocabulary, though it remains Kresh in structure. Most members of the tribe are bilingual in Kresh. Alternate spellings are Adja and Ajja.

Phonology

Aja consonants ^[2]

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Plosive	p b ɓ			t d ɗ		ʈ ɖ	c ɟ	k ɡ
Nasal	m			n			ɲ	ŋ
Trill				r
Tap or Flap		ⱱ		ɾ
Affricate				ts			tɕ dʑ
Fricative		f v	θ	s	ʃ ʒ			x ɣ	ħ ʕ	h
Approximant							j	w
Lateral approximant				l

Vowels

Aja vowels ^[2]

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i				u
Near-close		ɪ		ʊ
Close-mid	e				o
Mid
Open-mid	ɛ				ɔ
Near-open			ɐ
Open	a

References

1. Aja at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Santandrea, Stefano (1976). The Kresh group: Aja and Baka Languages (Sudan). Napoli: Istituto Universitario Orientale.