Ghulfan language

Last updated
Ghulfan
Uncunwee
Native to Sudan
Region Nuba Mountains
Ethnicity Ghulfan
Native speakers
40,000 (2022) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 ghl
Glottolog ghul1238
ELP Uncunwee

Ghulfan (also Gulfan, Uncu, Uncunwee, Wunci, Wuncimbe) is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the central Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 40,000 people in the Ghulfan Kurgul and Ghulfan Morung hills, south of Dilling. The villages in which the language is spoken are Dabri, Karkandi, Katang, Kurgul, Namang, Ninya, Moring, Ota, Shigda, and Tarda. It is closely related to Kadaru, with which it forms the Kadaru-Ghulfan subgroup of Hill Nubian. [2]

Contents

Ethnologue reports that the use of Ghulfan is decreasing as younger speakers switch to Sudanese Arabic with only adults speaking the language now and that there are no monolingual speakers of the language. [2]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Retroflex Post-alv./
Palatal
Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless t ʈ k
voiced b d ɖ ɡ
Fricative ʃ
Lateral l
Rhotic r ɽ
Approximant w j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Near-close ɪ ʊ
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

[3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cushitic languages</span> Branch of Afroasiatic native to East Africa

The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2012, the Cushitic languages with over one million speakers were Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Europe</span>

There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three largest phyla of the Indo-European language family in Europe are Romance, Germanic, and Slavic; they have more than 200 million speakers each, and together account for close to 90% of Europeans.

The Nubian languages are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. In the past, Nubian languages were spoken throughout much of Sudan, but as a result of Arabization they are today mostly limited to the Nile Valley between Aswan and Al Dabbah. In the 1956 Census of Sudan there were 167,831 speakers of Nubian languages. Nubian is not to be confused with the various Nuba languages spoken in villages in the Nuba mountains and Darfur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lower Nubia</span> Northernmost part of Nubia

Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern population, were relocated as part of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia; Qasr Ibrim is the only major archaeological site which was neither relocated nor submerged. The intensive archaeological work conducted prior to the flooding means that the history of the area is much better known than that of Upper Nubia. According to David Wengrow, the A-Group Nubian polity of the late 4th millenninum BCE is poorly understood since most of the archaeological remains are submerged underneath Lake Nasser.

Nobiin, also known as Halfawi, Mahas, is a Northern Nubian language of the Nilo-Saharan language family. "Nobiin" is the genitive form of Nòòbíí ("Nubian") and literally means "(language) of the Nubians". Another term used is Noban tamen, meaning "the Nubian language".

The Kadaru are a sub-ethnic group of the Nuba peoples in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan state, in southern Sudan. They live in the Kadaru Hills between Dilling and Delami in South Kurdufan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saʽidi Arabic</span> Variety of Arabic spoken by Upper Egyptians

Ṣaʽīdi Arabic, or Upper Egyptian Arabic, is a variety of Arabic spoken by the Upper Egyptians in the area that is South/Upper Egypt, a strip of land on both sides of the Nile that extends from Aswan and downriver (northwards) to Lower Egypt. It shares linguistic features with Egyptian Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and the Classical Arabic of the Quran. Dialects include Middle and Upper Egyptian Arabic.

Dongolawi is a Nubian language of northern Sudan. It is spoken by a minority of the Danagla people in the Nile Valley, from roughly upstream to the bend in the Nile near ed Debba. Dongolawi is an Arabic term based on the town of Old Dongola, the centre of the historic Christian kingdom of Makuria. Today's Dongola was founded during the 19th century on the western side of the Nile. The Dongolawi call their language Andaandi "the language of our home".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nyima languages</span> Pair of Eastern Sudanic languages of southern Sudan

The Nyima languages are a pair of languages of Sudan spoken by the Nyimang of the Nuba Mountains that appear to be most closely related to the Eastern Sudanic languages, especially the northern group of Nubian, Nara and Tama.

Midob is a Nubian language spoken by the Midob people of North Darfur region of Sudan. As a Nubian language, it is part of the wider Nilo-Saharan language family.

The Hill Nubian languages, also called Kordofan Nubian, are a dialect continuum of Nubian languages spoken by the Hill Nubians in the northern Nuba Mountains of Sudan.

Dair is a moribund Hill Nubian language spoken in the northern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It was spoken by around 1,000 people in 1978 in the Jibaal as-Sitta hills, between Dilling and Delami.

Karko is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the northwestern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 7,000 people in the Karko hills, 35 km west of Dilling, including Dulman, although Jakobi Angelika & Hamdan Ahma estimate the Karko population at up to 15,000 individuals, mostly in urban centers. Ethnologue reports that speakers of Karko are shifting to Sudanese Arabic.

Kadaru is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the northern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 25,000 people in the Jibaal as-Sitta hills, between Dilling and Delami. Kordofan Nubian is a cluster of dialects also called Ajang Language with names of dialects varying according to specific clans. According to Ajang people, they all belong to one language group and although some sounds and words might have changed with time, they can understand each other quite well. It is closely related to Ghulfan, with which it forms the Kadaru-Ghulfan subgroup of Hill Nubian.

Dilling is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the northwestern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 12,000 people in the town of Dilling and surrounding hills, including Kudur. Ethnologue reports that Dilling is moribund, with only older adults speaking the language and not using it with their children. All speakers also use Sudanese Arabic. The Dilling call themselves Warki, while the Dilling speakers of Kudur call themselves Kwashe. Another ethnic minority that speak Dilling are the Debri people, an ethnic group of several thousand people from South Kurdufan in Sudan

El Hugeirat is a moribund Hill Nubian language spoken in the northern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 50 people in a few families in the El Hugeirat hills, in the villages of Sija, Bija, Shenshin and Baboy.

Wali is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the northwestern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 9,000 people 12 km northeast of Katla. Ethnologue reports that use of Wali is vigorous and that there are many monolingual speakers. Young children speak English and Wali, but it is expected that the next generation will continue to communicate using Wali.

Kenzi, also known as Kenuzi, Kunuz, or Mattokki, is a Nubian language of Egypt. It is spoken north of Mahas in Egypt, and is closely related to Dongolawi or Andaandi, a Nubian language of Sudan. The two have historically been considered two varieties of one language. More recent research recognizes them as distinct languages without a "particularly close genetic relationship." With population displacement due to the Aswan High Dam there are communities of speakers in Lower Egypt. Recent linguistic research on the Kenzi language has been conducted by Ahmed Sokarno Abdel-Hafiz.

Ghale is a Tibeto-Burman language of Nepal. It belongs to the group of Ghale languages. The dialects of Ghale have limited intelligibility: (south) Barpak, Kyaura, Laprak, (north) Khorla, Uiya, Jagat, Philim, Nyak

References

  1. Ghulfan at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. 1 2 "Ghulfan". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  3. Williams, Robert S.; Comfort, Jade (n.d.). Ghulfan Grammar Sketch.