Katla language

Last updated
Katla
Kaalak
Native to Sudan
Region Nuba Hills
Ethnicity Katla, Gulud
Native speakers
25,000 Julud (2009) [1]
Possibly 14,000 Katla (1984) [2]
Dialects
  • Katla-Cakom
  • Katla-Kulharong
  • Julud
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kcr
Glottolog katl1237   Katla
julu1237   Julud
ELP Katla

Katla (also Kaalak or Kwaalak) is a Katla language, closely related to a neighbouring language called Tima. Katla is generally classified as Kordofanian, which is not a uniform branch, and is native to the Nuba Mountains. [3] [ citation not found ] While Jalad is seen a dialect there is a clear distinction between the two groups. Similarly one can distinguish Katla into east and west Katla dialects, [3] [ citation not found ] it is believed to be spoken in 11 villages around Jebel Katla and their ethnicity is kàlàk. [3] [ citation not found ]

Contents

The variety Julud is mutually intelligible with Katla-Kulharong but not with Katla-Cakom.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Velar Labial-
velar
Glottal
Plosive voiceless t ( c ) k k͡p ( ʔ )
voiced b d ɟ ɡ ɡ͡b
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd̪ ⁿd ᶮɟ ᵑɡ
Fricative s ( ʃ ) h
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Rhotic r ɽ
Approximant w l j

Sounds [c] and [ʃ] occur as realizations of /s/. [4]

Consonants in the Julut dialect [5]
Labial Dental/ Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Labial-velar
Plosive voiceless ʈ k k͡p
voiced b ɖ ɟ ɡ ɡ͡b
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd̪ ᶯɖ ᶮɟ ᵑɡ
Fricative f s ʃ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Rhotic r ɽ
Approximant w l j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e ə o
ɛ ɔ
Open a

/i, u/ can also be realized as [ɪ, ʊ]. [4]

Vowels in the Julut dialect [5]
Front Central Back
Close i u
ɪ ʊ
Mid e ə o
ɛ ɔ
Open ɐ
a

Nouns

Plural

Most of the time nouns in Katla do not have a plural, either numbers are put in front of the word or a quantifier is used. Often loanwords do not follow this rule and therefore change in their plural form. [6]

Genitive case

In some cases Katla places the genitive after the subject, as in other Sudanese languages: ‚u gbalana‘ " the dog’s owner ". Usually this is avoided and put in between both nouns: ‚gas i gu‘ „the dog’s head“. [7]

Subjective case

The subjective case is put infringement of the verb. In the case of multiple objects each one gets a case:

‘gu šekemole retet’ “The dog bit the gazelle” [7]

Pronouns

[8] singularplural
1st personṆ-Ni-, N-, Ń-
2nd personDj-Dj-
3rd personY-Y-

Numbers

Source: [8]

  1. tẹták
  2. sẹk
  3. hātẹd
  4. agálam
  5. jẹgwūlẹn
  6. djọltẹn
  7. djolēk
  8. taṅgẹl
  9. djalbatẹn
  10. rākwẹs

Dialects and locations

Dialects and village locations: [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 Katla at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Katla language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  3. 1 2 3 Birgit Hellwig 2013, p. 238.
  4. 1 2 Tucker, Archibald N.; Bryan, Margaret A. (1966). The Katla Group. In Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa: London: Oxford University Press.
  5. 1 2 Nüsslein, Ulrike (2020). A Grammar of Kordofanian Julut with Particular Consideration of the Verbal Morphology. Köln: Köppe. pp. 30–31.
  6. Meinhof 1917, p. 219.
  7. 1 2 Meinhof 1917, p. 221.
  8. 1 2 Meinhof 1917, p. 212-235.

Bibliography