Tama language

Last updated
Tama
Tamongobo
Native to Chad, Sudan
Region South Darfur, West Darfur, Wadi Fira
Ethnicity Tama, Kimr [1]
Native speakers
460,000 (2022–2023) [1]
Dialects
  • Tama
  • Orra
  • Girga
  • Haura
  • Madungore
Unwritten
Language codes
ISO 639-3 tma
Glottolog tama1331
Linguasphere 05-DAA-aa

Tama, or Tamongobo, is the primary language spoken by the Tama people in Ouaddai, eastern Chad and in Darfur, western Sudan. [2] It is a Taman language which belongs to the Eastern Sudanic branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Miisiirii is often considered a dialect, though it is not particularly close.

Contents

Demographics

Tama is spoken by 63,000 people in Dar Tama, a well irrigated area near Guéréda that extends from Kebkebiya village to nearby Sudan. There are two nearly identical dialects, one spoken in the northern and central areas, and another one spoken in the south. [3]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voicelessk
voicedbɟg
implosiveɓɗ̪
Fricative fsʃh
Nasal mnɲŋ
Rhotic rɽ
Lateral lɭ
Approximant wj

Vowels

+ATR -ATR
Front Central Back Front Central Back
Close iuɪʊ
Mid eoɛɔ
Open ʌ̈a

Vowel length is also distinctive. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nilo-Saharan languages</span> Proposed family of African languages

The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by somewhere around 70 million speakers, mainly in the upper parts of the Chari and Nile rivers, including historic Nubia, north of where the two tributaries of the Nile meet. The languages extend through 17 nations in the northern half of Africa: from Algeria to Benin in the west; from Libya to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the centre; and from Egypt to Tanzania in the east.

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Songhay languages</span> Group of languages of West Africa

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mande languages</span> Language family of West Africa

The Mande languages are a group of languages spoken in several countries in West Africa by the Mandé peoples. They include Maninka (Malinke), Mandinka, Soninke, Bambara, Kpelle, Jula (Dioula), Bozo, Mende, Susu, and Vai. There are around 60 to 75 languages spoken by 30 to 40 million people, chiefly in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and also in southern Mauritania, northern Ghana, northwestern Nigeria and northern Benin.

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The Mararit language is a Taman language of the Eastern Sudanic branch spoken in eastern Chad and western Sudan. There are two dialects, Ibiri and Abou Charib, which Blench (2006) counts as distinct languages. The majority speak the Abou Charib dialect. Mararit is reportedly not mutually intelligible with Tama and Sungor despite being part of the same Taman language group.

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Gumuz is a dialect cluster spoken along the border of Ethiopia and Sudan. It has been tentatively classified within the Nilo-Saharan family. Most Ethiopian speakers live in Kamashi Zone and Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, although a group of 1,000 reportedly live outside the town of Welkite. The Sudanese speakers live in the area east of Er Roseires, around Famaka and Fazoglo on the Blue Nile, extending north along the border. Dimmendaal et al. (2019) suspect that the poorly attested varieties spoken along the river constitute a distinct language, Kadallu.

Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal is a Dutch linguist and Africanist. His research interests focused mainly on the Nilo-Saharan languages.

References

  1. 1 2 Tama at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  2. Anthony Appiah; Henry Louis Gates (2010). Encyclopedia of Africa. Oxford University Press. p. 454. ISBN   978-0195337709.
  3. Rilly, Claude. 2010. Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN   978-9042922372
  4. Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2009). Tama. In Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (ed.), Coding Participant Marking: Construction Types in Twelve African Languages: Amsterdam/Philadelphia: Amsterdam: John Benjamins. pp. 305–330.