The Nilotic languages are languages spoken across wide areas between Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania by the Nilotic peoples.
Etymology The word Nilotic means of or relating to the Nile River or to the Nile region of Africa. The Nile River runs from Rwanda through various countries down to Egypt.
Demographics Nilotic peoples, who are the native speakers of the languages, originally migrated from the Gezira area in Sudan. Nilotic language speakers live in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda.
Subdivisions According to linguist Joseph Greenberg, the language family is divided into three subgroups:
Eastern Nilotic languages such as Turkana and Maasai Southern Nilotic languages such as Kalenjin and Datooga Western Nilotic languages such as Luo, Nuer and Dinka
These Nilotic languages' groupings are geographical classifications rather than mutual intelligibility. For instance, the Dinka is a different language from the Luo, which is also different from Nuer etc. Some words may sound similar due to shared location although these are distinct ethnic groups, with distinct speeches. Dinka and Nuer languages are not mutually intelligible but they share a common vocabulary since both languages are related Western Nilotic languages.
Before Greenberg's reclassification, Nilotic was used to refer to Western Nilotic alone, with the other two being grouped as related "Nilo-Hamitic" languages.
Blench (2012) treats the Burun languages as a fourth subgroup of Nilotic.Roger Blench (2012) Nilo-Saharan language list In previous classifications, the languages were included within the Luo languages. Starostin (2015) treats the Mabaan-Burun languages as "West Nilotic" but outside the Luo level.George Starostin (2015) The Eastern Sudanic hypothesis tested through lexicostatistics: current state of affairs (Draft 1.0)
Reconstruction Over 200 Proto-Nilotic lexical roots have been reconstructed by Dimmendaal (1988).Dimmendaal, Gerrit Jan. 1988. "The lexical reconstruction of proto-Nilotic: a first reconnaissance." Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere (AAP) 16: 5-67. Dimmendaal reconstructs the Proto-Nilotic consonants as follows: LabialDentalAlveolarPalatalVelarUvularPlosivevoiceless()voiced()Fricative ImplosiveNasalTrillLateral Approximant
Numerals Comparison of numerals in individual languages:
Classification Language 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Eastern, Bari Bari Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Lotuxo-Maa, Lotuxo Lopit F / M (litː < 'hand') (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Lotuxo-Maa, Lotuxo Lotuho (Lotuxo) (1) (litː < 'hand') (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Lotuxo-Maa, Lotuxo Lotuho (Lotuxo) (2) < 'hand' (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Lotuxo-Maa, Ongamo-Maa Maasai (fem), (masc), (place) (fem), (masc) (fem), (masc) (fem), (masc) (f.), (m.) < Kalenjin (fem), (masc) < Kalenjin Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Lotuxo-Maa, Ongamo-Maa Samburu (fem), (masc), (place) (fem), (masc) (fem), (masc) (fem), (masc) < Kalenjin < Kalenjin Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Teso Teso (Ateso) (1) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Teso Teso (Ateso) (2) < 'hand' (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Turkana Karamojong (Dodotho) (1) (< hand) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Turkana Karamojong (2) < hand (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Turkana Nyangatom (litː hand) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Turkana Toposa < hand (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Turkana Turkana < hand (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Southern, Kalenjin, Elgon Kupsabiny (Sebei) [akɛ́ːŋkɛ] [ɑréːɲ] [sómok] [aŋwán] [múːt] [múːt ɑk akɛ́ːŋkɛ] (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) [támán] Southern, Kalenjin, Elgon Sabaot (Koony dialect) [aɡɛ́ːŋɡɛ] [ɑyéːŋ] [sómok] [aŋwán] [múːt] [lɑ] [tɪ́sap] [sɪsɪ́ːt] [sɑ́kɑːl] [támán] Southern, Kalenjin, Nandi-Markweta, Markweta Cherang'any Southern, Kalenjin, Nandi-Markweta, Markweta Endo (Marakwet) Southern, Kalenjin, Nandi-Markweta, Nandi Keiyo Southern, Kalenjin, Nandi-Markweta, Nandi Tugen Southern, Kalenjin, Okiek Akie (Okiek) Southern, Kalenjin, Pokot Pökoot (Suk) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Southern, Tatoga Asimjeeg Datooga (1) Southern, Tatoga Datooga (2) Southern, Tatoga Datooga (3) Western, Dinka-Nuer, Dinka Dinka Agaar Western, Dinka-Nuer, Dinka Dinka Padang Western, Dinka-Nuer, Nuer Nuer (1) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Dinka-Nuer, Nuer Nuer (2) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Anuak Anuak(Anyua) (1) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 2) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Anuak Anuak (2) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Bor Belanda Bor (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Jur Luwo (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Mabaan-Burun, Burun Burun (Mayak) Western, Luo, Northern, Mabaan-Burun, Mabaan Mabaan (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) (lit: both hands) Western, Luo, Northern, Shilluk Shilluk (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Thuri Thuri (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Unclassified Päri (Lokoro) (1) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Northern, Unclassified Päri (Lokoro) (2) (5 + 1), (5 + 2), , (5 + 3), (5 + 4), Western, Luo, Southern, Adhola Adhola (1) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Southern, Adhola Adhola (2) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Southern, Kumam Kumam (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Southern, Luo-Acholi, Alur-Acholi, Alur Western, Luo, Southern, Luo-Acholi, Alur-Acholi, Labwor Acholi (Labwor) (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3) (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Southern, Luo-Acholi, Alur-Acholi, Acholi Acholi (5 + 1) (5 + 2) (5 + 3)?? (5 + 4) Western, Luo, Southern, Luo-Acholi, Luo Dholuo (5 + 1) (5 + 2)
See also Nilotic peoples Paranilotic languages Nilo-Saharan languages Kir–Abbaian languages Proto-Nilotic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
Further reading Starostin, George. 2017. On the issue of areal-genetic entanglement in the basic lexicon: the fate of ʽmoonʼ in the Macro-Sudanic region. 12th Annual Sergei Starostin Memorial Conference on Comparative-Historical Linguistics (RSUH, March 23-24, 2017).
References
External links Nilotic, Michael Cysouw The Nilotic Language Family, Doris Payne