The Shatt language is a Daju language of the Eastern Daju family spoken by the Shatt people in the Shatt Hills (part of the Nuba Mountains) southwest of Kaduqli in South Kordofan province in southern Sudan.
Villages are Shatt Daman, Shatt Safia, and Shatt Tebeldia (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).
Names The designation "Shatt" is an Arabic word meaning "dispersed" and is applied to several distinct groups in the Nuba Mountains. "Caning" is their own name for themselves, linguistically referred to as endonym, whereas "Shatt" is considered an exonym due to its external ascription. Speakers refer to their language as ('mouth, language').Boyeldieu, Pascal. 2011. The modified form of Shatt Damam nouns and its Daju cognates. Afrika und Übersee 91. 9-84. Available at: https://llacan.cnrs.fr/publications/Shatt_nouns.pdf
Phonology
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalNasalmnɲŋPlosiveptck(ʔ)bdɟgɓɗʄFricativefsxhzRhoticrApproximantwlj
/x/ may vary between velar [x] or uvular [χ] fricative sounds. A glottal stop [ʔ] may also occur, only in intervocalic positions.
Vowels FrontCentralBackCloseiuMideəoOpena
/ə/ is phonetically raised as [ə̝]. Sounds /e, o/ may also be heard as [ɛ, ɔ].
Alphabet The alphabet consists of 27 letters, which are shown in the table below with the corresponding letter from the International Phonetic Alphabet chart. IPA[a][ə̝][ɓ][c][d][ɗ][ɛ][f][g][i][ʄ][k][l][m][n][ŋ][ɲ][ɔ][p][r][s][t][u][w][x][j][z]Upper Case AÄBCDꞌD EFGIJKLMNNgNyOPRSTUWXYZLower Case aäbcdꞌdefgijklmnngnyoprstuwxyz
Grammar The grammar in this section is primarily based on the Caning Grammar Book (Second Edition 2017).
Morphology
Types of Words +Types of Caning WordsTypeExampleTranslationNounKig kasiy ya.Person ate meat.VerbKig kasiy ya.Person ate meat.PrepositionKig kasiy ya tä pumpung.Person ate meat in bush.LocationKig kasiy ya tagä pa.Person ate meat in front of house.PronounMa masiy ya.He ate meat.AdjectiveKig kasiy yana apo.Person ate good meat.QuantityKig kasiy ya käꞌday.Person ate all the meat.NumberKig kasiy aska kodos.Person ate three fishes.AdverbKig kasiy ya tetex.Person ate meat quickly.Question WordXänang kasiy ya?Who ate meat?ConnectorNdä kig kasiy ya.Then person ate meat.
Nouns A noun in Caning "can be a person, animal, place, thing, or idea."
Singular and Plural Plurals in Caning are built in three different ways:
By adding a suffix to the singular. By adding a suffix to the plural. By adding a suffix to both, the singular and the plural form.
+Suffixes: Singular and PluralSuffix S/PRootSingularPluralTranslation-ic / -uxuxicuxworm(s)- / -inyaxaxaxinyhut(s)-ic / -inywin-winicwininyvulture(s) When adding a singular suffix only as described in form one, the plural form remains unchanged. +Most common Singular SuffixesSuffixSingularPluralTranslation-c / bebecbebegourd-dic, -tic/ gäldicgälegg-wec / ngaluwecngalubell-wic / kadasuwickadasufoundation For the second for, when adding the plural suffix only, the singular form remains unchanged. +Some common Plural SuffxesSuffixSingularPluralTranslation/ -uuxuxuwomen/ -da, -taoxayoxaydaanimals/ -di, -tibulbuldidrums/ -de, -tejenjendeyears Certain patterns occur in pairs for the respective singular and plural forms, as described in form three. +Suffix pairsPairSingularPluralTranslation-ic / -inywinicwininyvulture(s)-ic / -ubanyicbanyulight(s)-wan/-wanpenäwanpenggäwanson(s)-x/-nyosoxosonylion(s)-d/ -nu'dawud'dawunutype of fish
Plural-only nouns There are exceptions to the rule, e.g. words that change form, having a shorter plural than singular form or no singular or plural form at all.
Some nouns only occur as plurals, e.g. noncountable nouns that refer to masses or liquids: +Example: Plural-only nounsSingularPlural//mem/mmemmilk//Ma/mmawater//zäg/zikearth, ground
Pronouns +Subject and Object PronounsSingularPlural1st PersonagäIWasWe (not you)KogWe (and you)2nd PersongiYouAnggoYou3rd PersonmaHeSaTheyceShenyaIt It is noteworthy that Caning has two forms of the pronoun "we" (1st person plural) that could be distinguished by calling them inclusive and exclusive versions. One being -was (we - not you) and the other one being -kog (we - and you).
This difference is also made with the possessor and possessive pronouns us/our(s).
Possessor Pronouns Possessor pronouns can replace the possessor (apang = man) in the sentence below.
"Kig kasax axä apang. Person refused hut of man.
Kig kasax axang. Person refused my hut." (ax = hut) +Possessor Pronouns PossessorCaningSingularPluralTranslationmy -angaxangaxinygangmy hutyour (sg) -ägiaxägiaxinygägiyour (sg) huthis -ämaaxämaaxinygämahis huther -äceaxäceaxinygäceher hutits -änyaaxgänyaaxinygänyaits hutour (not your) -äskoaxäskoaxinygäskoour (not your) hutour (and your) -ogaxogaxinygogour (and your) hutyour (pl) -ägoaxägoaxinygägoyour (pl) huttheir -äsaaxäsaaxinygäsatheir hut
Possessive Pronouns Possessive Pronouns can also replace nouns.
By using the same example, the difference between possessor and possessive pronouns become more clear.
"Kig kasax axä apang. Person refused hut of man.
Kig kasax nämanggo. Person refused his." (ax = hut)
All of the possessive pronouns below can therefore take the place of nämanggo in the above sentence. +Possessive PronounsCaningPronounnanggäminenänggiyours (sg)nämanggohisnäcenggahersnänyanggoitsnäskongaours (us, not you)nänokangaours (us and you)nänggongayours (pl)näsangatheirs
Numbers
Cardinal numbers +Cardinal numbers in CaningN Text in CaningNText in CaningNText in CaningNText in Caning1nuxu11asiny wang nuxu21ud wang nuxu110udiny mädäg wang asiny2pädax12asiny wang pädax30ud wang asiny200udiny mädäginy pädax3kodos13asiny wang kodos31ud wang asiny wang nuxu300udiny mädäginy kudos4tesped14asiny wang tesped40udiny pädax400udiny mädäginy tesped5mädäg15asiny wang mädäg50udiny pädax wang asiny500udiny mädäginy mädäg6aran16asiny wang aran60udiny kodos600udiny mädäginy aran7paxtänding17asiny wang paxtänding70udiny kudos wang asiny700udiny mädäginy paxtänding8tespetespe18asiny wang tespetespe80udiny tesped800udiny mädäginy tesped9paye nuxu19asiny wang paye nuxu90udiny tesped wang asiny900udiny mädäginy paye nuxu10asiny20ud100udiny mädäg1000päsic nuxu Intermediate numbers, e.g. 785 are built similar to English, from front to end: udiny mädäginy paxtänding (700) wang (and) udiny tesped (80) wang (and) mädäg (5).
Ordinal numbers The following table shows how ordinal numbers are built. +Ordinal numbers in Caning - DaysCaningTranslationCaningTranslationxongi näs nuxuzenengfirst dayxongondi näs paxtändingzenengseventh dayxongondi näs pätaxenengsecond dayxongondi näs tespetespedenengeighth dayxongondi näs kodosenengthird dayxongondi näs paye nuxuzenengninth dayxongondi näs tespedenengfourth dayxongondi näs asinygenengtenth dayxongondi näs mädägkenengfifth dayxongondi näs asiny wang nuxuzenengeleventh dayxongondi näs arandenengsixth dayxongondi näs asiny wang pätaxenengtwelfth day Numbers usually come after the noun with a modifier suffix, in this case -eneng. +Example of cardinal and ordinal numbers in the same sentenceCaningEnglishEdekeny sawuno sasog täsa mänang tä sängga kodos, na xongondi näs kodoseneng cäläpede ta atänäce ka,For the next three days, they came and did the same, and on the third day she said to her grandchild,
References
External links Ethnologue Language map for Nuba Hills region of Sudan
Caning (Shatt) basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database Caning to English online dictionary from webonary English to Caning online dictionary with over 1,300 entries from webonary