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The Nilo-Saharan languages are a proposed family of African languages spoken by between 27 and 35 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.
The Koman languages are a small close-knit family of languages located along the Ethiopia–Sudan border with about 50,000 speakers. They are conventionally classified as part of the Nilo-Saharan family. However, due to the paucity of evidence, many scholars treat it as an independent language family. Among scholars who do accept its inclusion within Nilo-Saharan, opinions vary as to their position within it.
Gojjam is a historical provincial kingdom in northwestern Ethiopia, with its capital city at Debre Marqos.
Asosa or Assosa is the capital of Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia. Located in the Asosa Zone, this town has a latitude and longitude of 10°04′N34°31′E, with an elevation of 1,570 meters.
The Gumuz are an ethnic group speaking a Nilo-Saharan language inhabiting the Benishangul-Gumuz Region in western Ethiopia, as well as the Fazogli region in Sudan. They speak the Gumuz language, which belongs to the Nilo-Saharan family. The Gumuz number around 200,000 individuals.
Dangur is one of the 20 Districts of Ethiopia, or woredas, in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia. It is named after the Dangur range of mountains, which extend southwest from the mountains along the west side of Lake Tana. The administrative center of this woreda is Manbuk.
Bambasi is a town in western Ethiopia. The town is named after the highest point in the Asosa Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Mount Bambasi. Bambasi has a longitude and latitude of 9°45′N34°44′E with an elevation of 1668 meters above sea level. It is the administrative center of Bambasi woreda.
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Mao-Komo is a woreda in Benishangul-Gumuz Region, Ethiopia. Because it is not part of any zones in Benishangul-Gumuz, it is considered a Special woreda, an administrative subdivision which is similar to an autonomous area. The southernmost woreda in the Region, Mao-Komo is bordered on the west by Sudan and South Sudan, on the north by the Asosa Zone, and on the east and south by the Oromia Region. Towns in this woreda include Tongo, which has a weekly market. The Tongo refugee camp, housing 12,483 displaced people from Sudan and South Sudan, is also located in Mao-Komo.
Begi is a town in south-western Ethiopia. Located in the West Welega Zone of the Oromia, the town has a latitude and longitude of 9°20′N34°29′E with an elevation of 1673 meters above sea level. Begi is the administrative center of Begi Aanaa. As of 2005, the district (Aanaa) is divided into two districts: Begi and Qondaala.
Ernst Marno was an Austrian explorer in East Africa. He traveled extensively through the Blue Nile area and the Sudanese-Ethiopian borderland, as well as Kordofan and southern Sudan. His experiences were narrated in two books, which provide information about the Nilo-Saharan populations of the area before the colonial occupation of Sudan by the British Empire.
The Bʼaga languages, also known as Gumuz, form small language family spoken along the border of Ethiopia and Sudan. They have been tentatively classified as closest to the Koman languages within the Nilo-Saharan language family.
The Komuz languages are a proposed branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family which would include the Koman languages, the Gumuz languages and the Shabo language, all spoken in eastern South Sudan and Sudan and western Ethiopia. Nilo-Saharan specialists have vacillated on a genealogical relationship between the Koman and Gumuz languages, a relationship called Komuz. Greenberg (1963) had included Gumuz in the Koman language family. Bender classified them together in a distant relationship he called Komuz, but by 1996 he had reversed himself, though he kept both groups in core Nilo-Saharan. Dimmendaal (2008) kept them together, though expressed doubts over whether they belonged in Nilo-Saharan, later referring to Gumuz as an isolate (2011). Ahland, on the basis of new Gumuz data, resurrected the hypothesis. Blench (2010) independently came to the same conclusion and suggested that the Shabo language might be a third, outlying branch. The classification of Shabo is difficult because of a strong Koman influence on the language that is independent of any genealogical relationship between them. Schnoebelen (2009), moreover, sees Shabo as a likely isolate.
Juan Maria Schuver was a Dutch explorer.
The Opuo language, or Tʼapo, is a Koman language spoken by the Opo people of Ethiopia and South Sudan. It has a lexical similarity of 24% with Komo. The language is also called Opo-Shita, Opo, Opuo, Cita, Ciita, Shita, Shiita, Ansita, Kina, and Kwina. The self-name for the language is Tʼapo. "Langa" is a derogatory term for its speakers used by the Anuak.
Gaam (Gaahmg), also known as Ingessana, (Me/Mun)Tabi, Kamanidi, or Mamedja/Mamidza, is an Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the Ingessana people in the Tabi Hills in eastern Sudan, near Ethiopia. It was considered an isolate within Eastern Sudanic until the other Eastern Jebel languages were discovered in the late 20th century. Dialects are Soda (Tao), Kukur (Gor), Kulang, Buwahg (Buek).
Kwama is a Koman language, spoken in the South Benishangul-Gumuz region of Ethiopia, along the Sudan border between Asosa and Gidami.
Suri, is a Surmic language spoken in the West Omo Zone of the South West Ethiopia Peoples' Region in Ethiopia, to the South Sudan border by the Suri. The language has over 80% lexical similarity to Mursi. The language is often referred to by another form of its name, Surma, after which the Surmic branch of Eastern Sudanic is named, but that form is frequently used for the three related languages spoken by the Surma people: Suri, Mursi, and Me'en.
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.
Daatsʼiin is a Gumuz language of western Ethiopia. There are two communities of speakers in western Ethiopia, one in Mahadid, on the northeast border of Alitash National Park, and one in Inashemesh on the Sudan border, south of the park where the Rahad River crosses from Ethiopia into Sudan.
References
- 1 2 Gerrit Dimmendaal, Colleen Ahland & Angelika Jakobi (2019) Linguistic features and typologies in languages commonly referred to as 'Nilo-Saharan', Cambridge Handbook of African Linguistics, pp. 6–7
- ↑ Wendy James, et al., Juan Maria Schuver's Travels in North East Africa, 1880-1883 (London: Hakluyt Society, 1996), pp. 343f