Nubian languages

Last updated
Nubian
Ethnicity Nubian
Geographic
distribution		 Egypt, Sudan
Native speakers
200,000–1 million (cited 1977) [1]
Linguistic classification Nilo-Saharan?
Proto-language Proto-Nubian
Subdivisions
  • Central
  • Northern
  • Western
Language codes
ISO 639-2 / 5 nub
Glottolog nubi1251

The Nubian languages are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. 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 (southern Egypt) and Al Dabbah. In the 1956 Census of Sudan there were 167,831 speakers of Nubian languages. [2] Nubian is not to be confused with the various Nuba languages spoken in villages in the Nuba mountains and Darfur. [3]

Contents

More recent classifications, such as those in Glottolog, consider that Nubian languages form a primary language family. Older classifications consider Nubian to be a branch of the Nilo-Saharan phylum, a proposal that has been losing support among linguists due to a lack of supporting data.

History

Old Nubian is preserved in at least a hundred pages of documents, comprising both texts of a Christian religious nature and documentary texts dealing with state and legal affairs. Old Nubian was written with a slanted uncial variety of the Coptic alphabet, with the addition of characters derived from Meroitic. These documents range in date from the 8th to the 15th century AD. Old Nubian is currently considered ancestral to modern Nobiin, even though it shows signs of extensive contact with Dongolawi.

Another, as yet undeciphered, Nubian language has been preserved in a few inscriptions found in Soba and Musawwarat es-Sufra and is assumed to have been the language of the kingdom of Alodia. Since their publication by Adolf Ermann in 1881, they have been referred to as 'Alwan inscriptions', 'Alwan Nubian or 'Soba Nubian'. This language appears to have become extinct by the 19th century. [4]

A reconstruction of Proto-Nubian has been proposed by Claude Rilly (2010: 272–273). [5]

Present-day languages

A page from an Old Nubian translation of the Investiture of the Archangel Michael, from the 9th-10th century, found at Qasr Ibrim, now at the British Museum. Michael's name appears in red: Nubians during the period frequently used Greek personal names, often with a terminal - added. Old Nubian manuscript.jpg
A page from an Old Nubian translation of the Investiture of the Archangel Michael , from the 9th–10th century, found at Qasr Ibrim, now at the British Museum. Michael's name appears in red: Nubians during the period frequently used Greek personal names, often with a terminal ‑ⲓ added.
Marble Monument found in Soba with an as yet undeciphered inscription in Alwan Nubian Marble stone with southern-Nubian inscription, Soba.jpg
Marble Monument found in Soba with an as yet undeciphered inscription in Alwan Nubian

Rilly (2010) distinguishes the following Nubian languages, spoken by in total about 900,000 speakers:

  1. Nobiin , is the second largest Nubian language with 545,000 speakers in Egypt, Sudan, and the Nubian diaspora. Previously known by the geographic terms Mahas and Fadicca/Fiadicca.
  2. Kenzi (endonym: Mattokki) with 865,000 speakers in Egypt [6] and Dongolawi (endonym: Andaandi) with 180,000 speakers in Sudan. They are no longer considered a single language, but closely related. The split between Kenzi and Dongolawi is dated relatively recently to around the 15th century. [7] Dongolawi is now spoken as far south as ed-Debbah, but as late as the 19th century could be found as far south as Korti and probably even further upstream. [8]
  3. Midob (Meidob) with 50,000 speakers. [9] The language is spoken primarily in and around the Malha volcanic crater in North Darfur.
  4. Birgid , now extinct, was spoken north of Nyala around Menawashei, with the last known speakers alive in the 1970s. It was the predominant language between the corridor of Nyala and al-Fashir in the north and the Bahr al-Arab in the south as recently as 1860. [10]
  5. Hill Nubian or Kordofan Nubian, a group of closely related languages or dialects spoken in various villages in the northern Nuba Mountains; in particular by the Dilling, Debri, and Kadaru. An extinct language, Haraza, is known only from a few dozen words recalled by village elders in 1923. [11] [12]

Synchronic research on the Nubian languages began in the last decades of the nineteenth century, first focusing on the Nile Nubian languages Nobiin and Kenzi-Dongolawi. Several well-known Africanists have occupied themselves with Nubian, most notably Lepsius (1880), Reinisch (1879) and Meinhof (1918); other early Nubian scholars include Almkvist and Schäfer. Additionally, important comparative work on the Nubian languages has been carried out by Thelwall, Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst in the second half of the twentieth century and Claude Rilly and George Starostin in the twenty-first.

Classification

Relations between the Nubian languages. Lines indicate genealogical relations, dotted lines linguistic influence; asterisks (*) mark languages unattested in writing, daggers (+) mark dead languages. Nubian-tree3.png
Relations between the Nubian languages. Lines indicate genealogical relations, dotted lines linguistic influence; asterisks (*) mark languages unattested in writing, daggers (†) mark dead languages.

Traditionally, the Nubian languages are divided into three branches: Northern (Nile), Western (Darfur), and Central. Ethnologue's classifies the Nubian languages as follows:. [13]

Glottolog groups all non-Northern Nubian branches in a single group named West-Central Nubian. Additionally, within Hill Nubian, Glottolog places Dair in the same branch as Kadaru. [14]

The relation between Dongolawi and Nobiin remains a matter of debate within Nubian Studies. Ethnologue's classification is based on glotto-chronological research of Thelwall (1982) and Bechhaus-Gerst (1996), which considers Nobiin the earliest branching from Proto-Nubian. They attribute the current syntactical and phonological proximity between Nobiin and Dongolawi to extensive language contact. Arguing that there is no archeological evidence for a separate migration to the Nile of Dongolawi speakers, Rilly (2010) provides evidence that the difference in vocabulary between Nobiin and Dongolawi is mainly due to a pre-Nubian substrate underneath Nobiin, which he relates to the Meroitic. Approaching the inherited proto-Nubian vocabulary in all Nubian languages systematically through a comparative linguistic approach, Rilly arrives at the following classification: [15]

Orthography

There are three currently active proposals for a Nubian alphabet: based on the Arabic script, the Greek script, the Latin script and the Old Nubian alphabet. In the publication of various books of proverbs, dictionaries, and textbooks since the 1950s, Latin has been used by four authors, Arabic by two authors, and Old Nubian by three authors. For Arabic, the extended ISESCO system may be used to indicate vowels and consonants not found in the Arabic alphabet itself.

Character ⲁⲃⲅⲇⲉⲍⲏⲑⲓⲓ̈ⲕⲗⲙⲛⲟ
Romanizedabgdezēthiïklmno
Arabizedا‎ب‎ج‎د‎‎ز‎‎‎ي‎ي‎ك‎ل‎م‎ن‎و‎
Phonetic value /a, aː//b//ɡ//d//e, eː//z//ə, əː//θ//i,iː//j//k//l//m//n//o/
Character ⲡⲣⲥⲧⲩⲫⲱϣϩⳝⲇⳝⲧⳝⳟⳡⳣ
Romanizedprstufōšhcjçŋñw
Arabizedپ‎ر‎س‎ت‎و‎ف‎و‎ش‎ه‎‎‎‎‎‎و‎
Phonetic value /p//r//s//t//u,uː//f//oː//ʃ//h//ç//ɟʝ//cç//ŋ//ɲ//w/

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nubians</span> Ethnolinguistic group native to northern Sudan and southern Egypt

Nubians are a Nilo-Saharan speaking ethnic group indigenous to the region which is now northern Sudan and southern Egypt. They originate from the early inhabitants of the central Nile valley, believed to be one of the earliest cradles of civilization. In the southern valley of Egypt, Nubians differ culturally and ethnically from Egyptians, although they intermarried with members of other ethnic groups, especially Arabs. They speak Nubian languages as a mother tongue, part of the Northern Eastern Sudanic languages, and Arabic as a second language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meroitic language</span> Extinct language

The Meroitic language was a language of uncertain linguistic affiliation spoken in Meroë during the Meroitic period and became extinct about 400 AD. It was written in two forms of the Meroitic alphabet: Meroitic Cursive, which was written with a stylus and was used for general record-keeping; and Meroitic Hieroglyphic, which was carved in stone or used for royal or religious documents. It is poorly understood, owing to the scarcity of bilingual texts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sudanese Arabic</span> Regional variety of the Arabic language

Sudanese Arabic, also referred to as the Sudanese dialect, Colloquial Sudanese or locally as Common Sudanese refers to the various related varieties of Arabic spoken in Sudan as well as parts of Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Chad. Sudanese Arabic has also influenced a number of Arabic-based pidgins and creoles, including Juba Arabic, widely used in South Sudan, as well as Ki-Nubi, spoken by the Nubi communities of Kenya and Uganda.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kordofan</span> Former province of Sudan

Kordofan is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory divided between North and South Kordofan States, as part of the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. West Kordofan was reestablished in July 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Nubian</span> Extinct Nubian language of northern Sudan and southern Egypt

Old Nubian is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi. It was used throughout the kingdom of Makuria, including the eparchy of Nobatia. The language is preserved in more than a hundred pages of documents and inscriptions, both of a religious nature, and related to the state and private life, written using adaptation of the Coptic alphabet.

Nobiin, also known as Halfawi, Mahas, is a 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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaigiya tribe</span> Arab tribe in northern Sudan

The Shaigiya, Shaiqiya, Shawayga or Shaykia are an Arabized Nubian tribe. They are part of the Sudanese Arabs and are also one of the three prominent Sudanese Arabs tribes in North Sudan, along with the Ja'alin and Danagla. The tribe inhabits the region of Dar al-Shayqiya, which stretches along the banks of the Nile River from Korti to the end of 4th Nile cataract and includes their tribal capital of Merowe Sheriq and parts of the Bayuda desert.

The Daju people are a group of seven distinct ethnicities speaking related languages living on both sides of the Chad-Sudan border and in the Nuba Mountains. Separated by distance and speaking different languages, at present, they generally have little cultural affinity to each other.

Birgid is an extinct Nubian language that was spoken in western Sudan, north of the city of Nyala in South Darfur. Canadian linguist Thelwall mentions his last contact with elderly speakers of Birgid in 1972.

Dongolawi is a Nubian language of northern Sudan. It is spoken by a minority of the Danagla people in the Nile Valley, from roughly south of Kerma upstream to the bend in the Nile near al Dabbah, Sudan.

The Northern Eastern Sudanic, Eastern k Sudanic, Ek Sudanic, NNT or Astaboran languages may form a primary division of the proposed Eastern Sudanic family. They are characterised by having a /k/ in the first person singular pronoun "I/me", as opposed to the Southern Eastern Sudanic languages, which have an /n/. Nyima has yet to be conclusively linked to the other languages, and would appear to be the closest relative of Ek Sudanic rather than Ek Sudanic proper.

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

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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.

Afitti is a language spoken on the eastern side of Jebel el-Dair, a solitary rock formation in the North Kordofan province of Sudan. Although the term ‘Dinik’ can be used to designate the language regardless of cultural affiliation, people in the villages of the region readily recognize the terms ‘Ditti’ and ‘Afitti.’ There are approximately 4,000 speakers of the Afitti language and its closest linguistic neighbor is the Nyimang language, spoken west of Jebel el-Dair in the Nuba Mountains of the North Kordofan province of Sudan.

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.

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.

Hill Nubians are a group of Nubian peoples who inhabit the northern Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan state, Sudan. They speak the Hill Nubian languages. Despite their scattered presence and linguistic diversity, they all refer to themselves as Ajang and call their language Ajangwe, "the Ajang language".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of the Nuba Mountains</span> Diverse set of languages spoken in the south of Sudan

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cushitic-speaking peoples</span> Collection of ethnic groups residing in East Africa

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References

  1. ↑ Rouchdy, Aleya (1980). "Languages in Contact: Arabic-Nubian". Anthropological Linguistics. 22 (8): 334–344.
  2. ↑ "Language and ethnic statistics in 20th century Sudanese censuses and surveys" . Retrieved 13 September 2023.
  3. ↑ Thelwall, Robin (3 February 2002). "Nuba Language and History". Nuba Survival. 1 (3). Retrieved 17 August 2022.
  4. ↑ Gerhards 2023, p. 147.
  5. ↑ Rilly, Claude. 2010. Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN   978-9042922372
  6. ↑ "Language Representative Counts".
  7. ↑ Adams, W. Y. (1982). "The coming of Nubian speakers to the Nile Valley", in The Archeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. Edited by C. Ehret & M. Posnansky. Berkeley / Los Angeles, p. 38
  8. ↑ Gerhards 2023, pp. 138–141.
  9. ↑ "Language Representative Counts".
  10. ↑ Spaulding 2006, p. 396.
  11. ↑ Herman Bell (1975) "Documentary Evidence on the Haraza Nubian Language"
  12. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Haraza Nubian". Glottolog 3.0 . Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  13. ↑ "Nubian". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  14. ↑ "Glottolog 3.0 – Kordofan Nubian". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  15. ↑ Rilly, Claude (2010). Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique (in French). Peeters. p. 401. ISBN   978-90-429-2237-2.

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