Reel language

Reel
Thuɔk ë Rëël
Native to	South Sudan
Ethnicity	Atwot
Native speakers	116,000 (2017) [1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Nilotic Western Nilotic Dinka-Nuer Nuer-Reel Reel
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	atu
Glottolog	reel1238
ELP	Reel

Reel, or Atwot, is a Nilotic language of South Sudan that is closely related to Nuer. They call themselves Reel; Atwot is their Dinka name.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants ^[2]

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n̪	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	Voiceless	p	t̪	t	c	k	ʔ
	Voiced	b	d̪	d	ɟ	ɡ
Trill				r
Approximant		w		lʲ	j

/t̪/ alternates with [ s ], /c/ with [ ç ], and /p/ with [ ɸ ]. ^[3] /ʔ/ becomes [ ɦ ] near breathy vowels. ^[4]

Vowels

Vowels ^[5]

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

Reid (2010) finds seven vowel phonemes, considering voice quality and vowel length as suprasegmental distinctions. ^[6] Vowels have two voice qualities (modal and breathy) ^[7] and three lengths (short, long, and overlong). ^[8]

Tones

Reel has three tones—high, low, and falling. ^[9]

See also

• Atwot people
• Nilotic languages
• Western Nilotic languages

Notes

1. Reel at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
2. Reid 2010, p. 36.
3. Reid 2010, p. 37.
4. Reid 2010, p. 38.
5. Reid 2010, pp. 54, 64.
6. Reid 2010, p. 54.
7. Reid 2010, p. 55.
8. Reid 2010, p. 56.
9. Reid 2010, p. 117.

References

• Reid, Tatiana (2010). Aspects of phonetics, phonology and morphophonology of Thok Reel (MSc thesis). University of Edinburgh. hdl:1842/5312.