Eastern Sudanic languages

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The Eastern Sudanic languages form a family of languages spoken from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania, usually considered a subfamily of Nilo-Saharan, following Joseph Greenberg. Its members are:

To these, Christopher Ehret controversially adds Berta. Other possible but unconfirmed members are Meroitic and Oropom.

Nubian (and possibly Meroitic) give Eastern Sudanic the earliest written attestations of any sub-Saharan African language; however, its largest branch by far is Nilotic, spread by extensive and comparatively recent conquests throughout East Africa. Before the spread of Nilotic, Eastern Sudanic was centered in present-day Sudan (although the name refers to the region of Sudan, not the country, as opposed to Central Sudanic.)

Lionel Bender (1980) proposes several Eastern Sudanic isoglosses, such as "mouth" *kutuk, "three" *(ko)TVS-(Vg), "fish" *ku-lug-ut, *kVl(t).

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Subclassifications

Bender 1982 (as described by Ruhlen 1987, and followed by the Ethnologue):

Ehret 2001 (who terms them "Eastern Sahelian"):

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Sources

  • M. L. Bender. "Some Nilo-Saharan isoglosses". ed. Thilo Schadeberg, M. L. Bender, Nilo-Saharan: Proceedings of the First Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, Leiden, Sept. 8-10, 1980. Foris: Dordrecht 1981.
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