List of endangered languages in Sudan

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Sudan is a multilingual country dominated by Sudanese Arabic. In the 2005 constitution of the Republic of Sudan, the official languages of Sudan are Arabic and English.

An endangered language is a language that it is at risk of falling out of use, generally because it has few surviving speakers. If it loses all of its native speakers, it becomes an extinct language. [1]

Sudan

Sudan
LanguageStatus [1] CommentsISO 639-3
Acheron language Severely endangeredacz
Afitti language Severely endangeredaft
Belanda Bor language Definitely endangeredbxb
Beli language Definitely endangeredblm
Dair language Severely endangereddrb
Dilling language Definitely endangereddil
Ebang language Severely endangeredhbn
El Hugeirat language Severely endangeredelh
Eliri language Severely endangeredeli
Heiban language Vulnerablehbn
Kadaru language Definitely endangeredkdu
Kanga language Severely endangeredkcp
Karko language Definitely endangeredkko
Katla language Definitely endangeredkcr
Keiga language Severely endangeredkec
Kelo language Critically endangeredxel
Ko language Critically endangeredfuj
Komo language Definitely endangeredAlso spoken in: Ethiopiaxom
Krongo language Definitely endangeredkgo
Lafofa language Severely endangeredlaf
Laro language Definitely endangeredlro
Logol language Severely endangeredlof
Logorik language Critically endangeredliu
Lumun language Definitely endangeredlmd
Mo'da language Critically endangeredgbn
Molo language Critically endangeredzmo
Moro language Definitely endangeredmor
Nding language Critically endangeredeli
Ngile language Severely endangeredjle
Otoro language Severely endangeredotr
Shatt language Severely endangeredshj
Sillok language Definitely endangeredsoh
Shwai language Critically endangeredshw
Tagoi language Severely endangeredtag
Talodi language Critically endangeredtlo
Temein language Severely endangeredteq
Tese language Critically endangeredkeg
Tima language Severely endangeredtms
Tingal language Definitely endangeredtie
Tocho language Severely endangeredtaz
Tulishi language Severely endangeredtey
Tumtum language Severely endangeredtbr
Wali language Critically endangeredwll
Warnang language Severely endangeredwrn
Yulu language VulnerableAlso spoken in: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congoyul

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

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Avokaya is a Central Sudanic language spoken in southern South Sudan and parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Sudan</span> Spoken languages within Sudan

Sudan is a multilingual country dominated by Sudanese Arabic. In the 2005 constitution of the Republic of Sudan, the official languages of Sudan are Literary Arabic and English.

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Chadian Arabic, also known as Shuwa Arabic, Western Sudanic Arabic, or West Sudanic Arabic (WSA), is a variety of Arabic and the first language of 1.6 million people, both town dwellers and nomadic cattle herders. Most of its speakers live in central and southern Chad. Its range is an east-to-west oval in the Sahel. Nearly all of this territory is within Chad and Sudan. It is also spoken elsewhere in the vicinity of Lake Chad in the countries of Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger. Finally, it is spoken in slivers of the Central African Republic. In addition, this language serves as a lingua franca in much of the region. In most of its range, it is one of several local languages and often not among the major ones.

Dongolawi is a Nubian language of northern Sudan. It is spoken by a minority of the Danagla people in the Nile Valley, from roughly upstream to the bend in the Nile near ed Debba. Dongolawi is an Arabic term based on the town of Old Dongola, the centre of the historic Christian kingdom of Makuria. Today's Dongola was founded during the 19th century on the western side of the Nile. The Dongolawi call their language Andaandi "the language of our home".

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Gule, also known as Anej, Fecakomodiyo, and Hamej, is an extinct language of Sudan. It is generally classified as one of the Koman languages. It is poorly attested, and Hammarström judges the evidence to be insufficient for classification as Koman. Others however accept it as Koman, though too poorly attested to be much help in reconstructing that family.

Maba is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Maban branch spoken in Chad and Sudan. It is divided into several dialects, and serves as a local trade language. Maba is closely related to the Masalit language. Most speakers of Maba reside in Chad with 542,000 speakers as of 2019. In 2022 there were 28,000 speakers in Sudan where the language is known as Sulaihab.

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 South Kordofan province of Sudan.

Yulu is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Yulu people of South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR). It has an estimated 7,000–13,000 speakers.

Ghulfan is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the central Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 40,000 people in the Ghulfan Kurgul and Ghulfan Morung hills, south of Dilling. The villages in which the language is spoken are Dabri, Karkandi, Katang, Kurgul, Namang, Ninya, Moring, Ota, Shigda, and Tarda. It is closely related to Kadaru, with which it forms the Kadaru-Ghulfan subgroup of Hill Nubian.

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.

References

  1. 1 2 Moseley, Christopher, ed. (2010). Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. Memory of Peoples (3rd ed.). Paris: UNESCO Publishing. ISBN   978-92-3-104096-2 . Retrieved 2015-04-11.