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Gaam
Ingessana
Native to	Sudan
Region	Blue Nile State
Ethnicity	Ingessana
Native speakers	110,000 (2022)^[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Southern Eastern Eastern Jebel Gaam
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`tbi`
Glottolog	`gaam1241`

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 Blue Nile State 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 (Kulelek, Bau), Buwahg (Buek).

An early record of this language is a short wordlist dated February 1883 by Juan Maria Schuver. His informant came from the east side of the Tabi Hills, but was hard to understand because he was chewing tobacco.^[2]

Phonology

Consonants

There are 21 distinct consonant phonemes. The fricative, nasal, lateral and rhotic consonants also distinguish length.

^[3]
	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Plosives	p	b	t̪	d̪	t	d	c	ɟ	k	ɡ
Fricatives	f, fː				s, sː
Nasals		m, mː				n, nː		ɲ, ɲː		ŋ, ŋː
Laterals						l, lː
Rhotics						r, rː
Approximants		w				ð	y

Vowels

There are six distinct vowel phonemes. All six can also occur in sequential (and thus lengthened) form but may change phonetic quality. Stirtz (2012)^[4] proposes the following system:

	[-round]		[+round]
	[-back]	[+back]
[+ATR]	i	ə	u
[-ATR]	ɛ	a	ɔ

Tone

Gaam is a tonal language. There are three level tones, High, Mid and Low, which can be combined to form rising and falling tones. A total of nine tone melodies is possible, all of them contrastive.

References

^ Gaam at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
^ Wendy James, et al., Juan Maria Schuver's Travels in North East Africa, 1880-1883 (London: Hakluyt Society, 1996), pp. 344-446
^ Stirtz (2012:21)
^ Stirtz (2012:33)

Bibliography

Stirtz, Timothy (2004). "Phonology and orthography in Gaahmg". Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages. 9: 127–144.
Stirtz, Timothy (2012). A grammar of Gaahmg, a Nilo-Saharan language of Sudan (Ph.D. thesis). Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. hdl:1887/18452. ISBN 978-94-6093-078-2.

External links

Gaam basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

Eastern Sudanic languages

Part of the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family

Northern k languages

Nubian

Birgid Dongolawi Kenzi Midob Nobiin Old Nubian
Hill Nubian	Dair Dilling El Hugeirat Ghulfan Haraza Kadaru Karko Wali

Nara

Nara

North	Majang
Southeast	Kwegu Meʼen Mursi Suri
Southwest	Baale Didinga Murle Laarim Tennet

Eastern Jebel

Temein

Daju

Eastern	Logorik Shatt
Western	Beigo Daju Mongo Nyolge Nyala Sila

Nilotic

Large group listed below

Nilotic languages

Eastern

Bari	Bari Kuku Mandari
Teso–Turkana	Karamojong Teso Toposa Turkana Nyangatom
Lotuko	Dongotono Lango (South Sudan) Lokoya Lopit Otuho
Ongamo–Maa	Maasai Ngasa Samburu Camus