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- The Nilotic languages are usually divided into a Western group (containing such languages as Acholi, Burun, Dinka, Lango, Luo, Mabaan, Nuer, and Shilluk), an Eastern group (including Bari, Karimojong, Lotuxo, Maa [the language of the Maasai people], Teso, Toposa, and Turkana), and a Southern group (including Omotik, Datooga [Tatoga], and Kalenjin).
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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.
- Overview
- Linguistic characteristics
- Morphology
- Verbs
- Gender
The considerable typological diversity that characterizes the Nilo-Saharan languages corresponds to their wide geographic spread. Structural properties—for example, with respect to sound systems and word order—often are shared with unrelated neighbouring language groups. Thus, rich and complex consonant systems with universally rare distinctions—su...
The considerable typological diversity that characterizes the Nilo-Saharan languages corresponds to their wide geographic spread. Structural properties—for example, with respect to sound systems and word order—often are shared with unrelated neighbouring language groups. Thus, rich and complex consonant systems with universally rare distinctions—su...
Apart from widespread lexical roots whose form and meaning relationships are similar, there are grammatical properties that clearly point toward a common historical origin for the Nilo-Saharan languages. Bari, a Nilotic language of South Sudan, demonstrates one widespread morphological property whereby either the singular or the plural form of a no...
The verb tends to constitute the most complex aspect of Nilo-Saharan languages. It frequently involves extensive marking for conjugational features such as person, number, tense (the expression of time), aspect, or voice, with consonant mutation often accompanying such morphological processes. A widespread and rather permanent distinction is that b...
Gender distinctions between masculine and feminine (or neuter) nouns are common in the neighbouring Afro-Asiatic family (as they are in Indo-European languages) but not in Nilo-Saharan, which has only a few exceptions. Gender as a derivational property of nouns is found, for example, in Southern and Western Nilotic languages, whereas in the Eastern...
Nubian languages (including the only Nilo-Saharan language with an ancient written tradition) are spoken along the Nile in northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The Nilotic languages are spoken by some 14 million people ( see Nilotes), including the Dinka, Nuer, Luo, Turkana, Kalenjin, and Maasai.
Some of the better known Nilo-Saharan languages are Kanuri, Fur, Songhay, Nobiin and the widespread Nilotic family, which includes the Luo, Dinka and Maasai. Most Nilo-Saharan languages are tonal , as are Niger-Congo languages.
Jan 31, 2023 · Examples of Nilo-Saharan languages include Lugbara in Uganda, Zarma in Niger and Dholuo in Kenya. The Khoisan Languages Of Africa. The 40 to 70 languages in the Khoisan phylum include tongues that are mostly located in southern Africa — namely parts of Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola.
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.
Overview and Distribution. Nilo-Saharan is one of the four major African language phyla, together with Afro-Asiatic, Niger-Congo and Khoisan. Nilo-Saharan languages are spoken by 46 million people in a central belt extending westwards from east of Lake Victoria through southern Sudan and Chad, parts of Niger and Nigeria up to Mali in West Africa.
