Southern Nilotic languages

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Southern Nilotic languages - Wikipedia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Southern Nilotic
Geographic distribution	western Kenya, eastern Uganda, northern Tanzania
Linguistic classification	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Southern Eastern Nilotic Southern Nilotic
Subdivisions	Kalenjin Omotik–Datooga
Language codes
Glottolog	`sout2830`

The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya and northern Tanzania (with one of them, Kupsabiny or Sapiny, being spoken on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon). They form a division of the larger Nilotic language family, along with the Western Nilotic languages and the Eastern Nilotic languages.

Subdivisions

The Southern Nilotic languages are generally divided into two groups, Kalenjin and Tatogoa, although there is some uncertainty as to the internal coherence of the Kalenjin branch. Southern Nilotic languages appear to have been influenced considerably by Cushitic (Afro-Asiatic) languages.^[1] The Kalenjin languages are spoken by the Kalenjin people. This family spreads all around Uganda and to some of Kenya. The Tatoga languages consist of the Omotik language and of the larger Datooga language, or more fitting, Datooga dialect cluster.^{[citation needed]}

Kalenjin (see)
Tatoga: Omotik, Datooga

Languages

Kalenjin
Tatogoa
- Datooga
- Omotik

Reconstruction

Proto-Kalenjin has been reconstructed by Franz Rottland (1979).^[2]

Cushitic influences

Historically, Southern Nilotic has undergone extensive contact with a "missing" branch of East Cushitic that Heine (1979) refers to as Baz.^[3] Proto-Baz reconstructions proposed by Heine (1979),^[4] with notes about corresponding East Cushitic and Proto-East Cushitic forms from Sasse (1979):^[5]

Gloss	Proto-Baz	Proto-East Cushitic	Example cognates
bat	*rɛɛrɛɛʕ
bell	*kor
bovine, male	*aʀ	*ʔawr- 'large male animal'	Saho and Somali awr, Oromo ooroo
calf	*maʀ
cow dung, mud	*zig
curse (n.)	*hab-	*hab-aar- 'to curse'	Saho and Oromo abaar, Somali habaar
eat, to	*am
eight	*siziet
ewe, virgin	*subeen
feathers, fur	*goro-
fifty	*konom	*ken- 'five'	Konso ken, Oromo shani, Somali shan
fingernail, claw	*ʕidd
forty	*afaram	*ʔafar- 'four'	Afar affara, Somali afar, Oromo afur
goat, male	*quar-
goat/sheep, young	*maqal
grass	*ʕaus	ʕawš- ~ ʕayš-	Afar qayso, Somali caws, Oromo ees
head	*mɛtɛħ	*matħ-	Arbore mete, Somali madax, Oromo mataa
honey	*malab	*malab-	Afar–Saho and Somali malab
hundred	*boqol	*bokʼl-	Saho bool, Somali boqol
lake, sea	*baz	*baz-	Afar–Saho and Somali bad, Daasanach baz
look, to	*ilaal	ʔil-aal-, derivative from ʔil- 'eye'	Saho and Oromo ilaal
lost, to get	*bod	*bad-	Afar–Saho, Somali and Oromo bad-
louse	*insir
lover	*saani
nine	*sagaal		Afar and Somali sagaal, Oromo sagal
pot, clay	*ɖeri
rain	*roob	*roob-	Oromo rooba, Somali roob
red	*buri-
scratch, to	*quut
see, to	*kas
seven	*tizzaba		Arbore tuzba
six	*lVħ	*liħ	Daasanach li, Oromo jaha, Somali lix
smoke	*iʀi
spear	*tor
suck, to	*nug	*nuug-	Oromo luug, Rendille nug, Somali nuug
ten	*tamman	*tomman	Arbore tomon, Saho tamman, Somali toban
thirty	*sozzom	*sezħ- 'three'	Arbore sezze, Oromo sadii', Somali saddex

References

^ Rottland, Franz (1982) Die Südnilotischen Sprachen: Beschreibung, Vergleichung und Rekonstruktion (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 7). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.
^ Rottland, Franz. 1979. The reconstruction of proto-Kalenjin. (Papers from the Inst. of African Studies (IAS), 128.) Nairobi: Institute of African Studies, University of Nairobi.
^ Güldemann, Tom (2018). "Historical linguistics and genealogical language classification in Africa". In Güldemann, Tom (ed.). The Languages and Linguistics of Africa. The World of Linguistics series. Vol. 11. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton. pp. 58–444. doi:10.1515/9783110421668-002. ISBN 978-3-11-042606-9.
^ Heine, Bernd, Franz Rottland & Rainer Voßen. 1979. Proto-Baz: Some aspects of early Nilotic-Cushitic contacts. Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika 1. 75‒92.
^ Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1979). "Consonant Phonemes of Proto East Cushitic". Afro-Asiatic Linguistics. 7 (1): 1–57.

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