The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the
Nilotic languages
The Nilotic languages are a group of related languages spoken across a wide area between South Sudan 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.
Dem ...
, themselves belonging to the
Eastern Sudanic
In most classifications, the Eastern Sudanic languages are a group of nine families of languages that may constitute a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Eastern Sudanic languages are spoken from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania.
Nub ...
subfamily of
Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in
Equatoria in
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
. They are spoken across a large area in
East Africa, ranging from Equatoria to the highlands of
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
. Their speakers are mostly
cattle herders living in semi-arid or arid plains.
Classification
According to Vossen (1982), the Eastern Nilotic languages are basically classified as follows by the
comparative method
In linguistics, the comparative method is a technique for studying the development of languages by performing a feature-by-feature comparison of two or more languages with common descent from a shared ancestor and then extrapolating backwards t ...
. Vossen (1982) also provides a reconstruction of Proto-Eastern Nilotic.
;Eastern Nilotic
*
Bari languages
* Teso–Lotuko–Maa:
**
Teso–Turkana (or Ateker; incl. Karimojong)
**Lotuko–Maa:
***Lotuko languages
****
Lango language
Lango (also called Leb-Lango) is not exclusively a Luo language although past linguists have wrongly grouped it under Luo languages. It is a mixture of Ateker languages, and broken Luo dialects. The word "Lango" is used to describe both the lang ...
****
Lopit language
****
Lokoya language
Lokoya is an Eastern Nilotic languages, Eastern Nilotic language spoken by an estimated 12,400 people in South Sudan. It is also referred to by various other names, including Ellyria, Koyo, Loirya, Ohoromok, Lokoiya, Lokoja, Loquia, Lowoi, Oirya, ...
****
Lotuko language
****
Dongotono language
***Ongamo–Maa
****
Ongamo language
****
Maa languages
*****
Maasai language
Maasai (previously spelled ''Masai'') or Maa (; autonym: ''ɔl Maa'') is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000. It is closely related to the other Maa varieti ...
(see also
Mukogodo-Maasai)
*****
Camus language
*****
Samburu language
Samburu is a Maa language dialect spoken by Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya
)
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(see also
Elmolo-Samburu)
It is generally agreed upon that Bari forms a primary branch, but lower-level splits are less clear.
Swadesh approach (Vossen 1982)
Vossen's classification using the Swadesh approach is as follows (Vossen 1982:114).
;Eastern Nilotic
*Bari languages
**Mondari
**Kakwa
**Nyanggwara
**Kuku
**Pöjulu
**Ngyepu
**Bari
*Lotuko–Maa languages
**Lotuko languages
***Lopit, Dongotono
***Lotuko, Lokoya
**Ongamo–Maa languages
***Ongamo
****Maasai
*****Camus, Samburu
*Teso–Turkana languages
**Teso
***Nyangatom
****Turkana, Karimojong
Gleason approach (Vossen 1982)
Vossen's classification using the Gleason approach is as follows (Vossen 1982:119).
;Eastern Nilotic
*Bari languages
**Kuku, Ngyepu
**Pöjulu
**Kakwa
**Bari
**Nyanggwara, Mondari
*Lotuko languages
**Lopit, Dongotono
**Lotuko, Lokoya
*Teso–Turkana languages
**Nyangatom
***Teso
****Turkana, Karimojong
**Ongamo–Maa languages
***Ongamo
****Maasai
*****Camus, Samburu
Gender Marking
Gender marking through prefixes (or proclitics) on nouns is an innovation in the Eastern Nilotic languages that is not found in the other branches of Nilotic. However, not every Eastern Nilotic language has this feature: for example,
Bari does not have it.
Comparative vocabulary
Sample basic vocabulary of Eastern Nilotic languages from Vossen (1982):
See also
*
Languages of Tanzania
Tanzania is a multilingual country. There are many languages spoken in the country, but no one language is spoken natively by a majority or a large plurality of the population. Swahili and English, the latter of which was inherited from colonial ...
*
Languages of South Sudan
South Sudan is a multilingual country, with over 60 indigenous languages spoken. The official language of the country is English which was introduced in the region during the colonial era (''see Anglo-Egyptian Sudan'').
Some of the indigenous l ...
*
Serengeti-Dorobo language, of which at least the numeral system is Eastern or Southern Nilotic
*
List of Proto-Eastern Nilotic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
Footnotes
Bibliography
* Vossen, Rainer. 1982. ''The Eastern Nilotes: Linguistic and Historical Reconstructions''. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. .
External links
A Classified Vocabulary of the Turkana in Northwestern Kenya by Itaru Ohta, 1989.
Vowel Harmony and Cyclicity in Eastern Nilotic Eric Bakovic
The Consequences of Microvariation in Eastern Nilotic Eric Bakovic
{{Eastern Sudanic languages