Nilo-Saharan languages
 |
Map showing the distribution of the Nilo-Saharan languages. |
The
Nilo-Saharan languages are a group of
African languages spoken mainly in the upper parts of the
Chari and
Nile rivers, including
Nubia. Roughly 11 million people spoke Nilo-Saharan languages as of 1987, according to
Merritt Ruhlen's estimate. The family is internally extremely diverse - far more so than
Indo-European, or even
Niger-Congo - and is rather controversial; few historical linguists have attempted work on the family as a whole, and several have denied its validity. Particularly controversial is the inclusion of
Songhay.
According to
Joseph Greenberg (
The Languages of Africa) as initially modified by
Lionel Bender (and adopted by the
Ethnologue), they are classified into the following branches:
#
Komuz languages#
Saharan languages (including
Kanuri language)#
Songhay languages#
Fur languages (including
Fur language)#
Maban languages# (
Chari-Nile languages - later rejected, placing the 4 branches below on an equal footing with those above)##
Central Sudanic languages##
Kunama language##
Berta language##
Eastern Sudanic languages (including
Nubian languages and
Nilotic languages)
The
Ethnologue, following
Anbessa Tefera and
Peter Unseth, considers the
Shabo language to be Nilo-Saharan, but otherwise unclassified. It is sometimes considered a
language isolate, following
Christopher Ehret.
Some linguists, including
Roger Blench, consider the
Kadu languages (also called
Kadugli languages or Tumtum) to be Nilo-Saharan, while others follow Greenberg in classing them as
Kordofanian languages, or Ehret in considering them a small isolated family. Proposals have sometimes been made to add
Mande (usually classed as
Niger-Congo) to Nilo-Saharan, largely due to its many noteworthy similarities with Songhay.
The extinct
Meroitic language of ancient
Kush has sometimes been suggested as a probable member of Nilo-Saharan; however, too little is known of the language to classify it with any confidence. The same may reasonably be said of the rather more recently extinct
Oropom language in
Uganda (if it ever existed), for whom connections with
Kuliak or
Nilotic have been suggested.
Proposals for the external relationships of Nilo-Saharan typically center on
Niger-Congo: Gregersen (1972) grouped the two together to form
Kongo-Saharan, whereas Blench (1995) actually proposed that Niger-Congo may simply be a member of Nilo-Saharan (coordinate with
Central Sudanic.) However, such theories are treated with reserve by most historical linguists.
Bender 1997
Lionel Bender classifies them as follows, slightly modifying his 1989 classification:
#
Songay languages#
Saharan languages#
Kuliak languages# Satellite-Core:##
Maban languages##
Fur languages##
Berta language##
Kunama language##
Core Nilo-Saharan languages###
Eastern Sudanic languages###
Central Sudanic languages###
Komuz languages###
Kadu languagesEhret 2001
In his reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan,
Christopher Ehret classifies them in a more detailed fashion, as follows:
*
Koman languages*
Sudanic languages**
Central Sudanic languages**
North Sudanic languages***
Kunama language***
Saharo-Sahelian languages****
Saharan languages****
Sahelian languages*****
For languages*****
Trans-Sahel languages******
Western Sahelian languages*******
Songhay languages*******
Maban languages******
Eastern Sahelian languages*******
Astaboran languages********
Nara language (= Barea)********
Western Astaboran languages*********
Nubian languages*********
Taman languages*******
Kir-Abbaian languages********
Jebel languages*********
Eastern Jebel languages (= Tabi)*********
Berta language********
Kir languages*********
Nuba Hills (= Temein) (including
Nyimang)
*********
Daju languages*********
Surma-Nilotic languages**********
Surmic languages**********
Nilotic languages*******
Rub languages (= Kuliak, Teuso) (
Ik et al.)
*
Lionel Bender, 1997.
The Nilo-Saharan Languages: A Comparative Essay. München.
*
Christopher Ehret, 2001.
A Historical-Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan. Köln.
*
Joseph Greenberg,
1963.
The Languages of Africa (International Journal of American Linguistics 29.1). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
External relationships
*
Roger Blench. "Is Niger-Congo simply a branch of Nilo-Saharan?", in ed. Nicolai & Rottland,
Fifth Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium. Nice, 24-29 August 1992. Proceedings. (Nilo-Saharan 10). Koeln: Koeppe Verlag. 1995. pp.36-49.
*
Edgar Gregersen. "Kongo-Saharan".
Journal of African Languages, 11, 1:69-89. 1972.
*
Languages of Ethiopia*
Ethnologue*
Roger Blench: Nilo-Saharan**
Nilo-Saharan classification (Blench)
(.PDF)*
Nilo-Saharan Newsletter*
Nilo-Saharan language family with estimated branching dates by Elizabeth T. Wood (pdf file)
