The Fer language, also ''Dam Fer'' or '' Fertit,'' one of several languages called Kara ("Kara of Birao"), is a

Central Sudanic Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nigeria and ...

language spoken by some five thousand people in the northern

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

near the

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

ese and

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

ian borders, in the region known as

Dar Runga Dar Runga was a sultanate in what is today southern Chad. It was a tributary state of the Ouaddai Empire. It was conquered by Rabih az-Zubayr in 1890 and annexed to its former vassal, the sultanate of Dar al Kuti Dar al Kuti ('Dar al-Kuri' in ...

. While the

Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...

leaves it

unclassified Classified information is material that a government body deems to be sensitive information that must be protected. Access is restricted by law or regulation to particular groups of people with the necessary security clearance and need to know, ...

, it appears to be a Bongo–Bagirmi language within the Central Sudanic family (

Lionel Bender Marvin Lionel Bender (August 18, 1934 – February 19, 2008) was an American linguist. Life Bender was born August 18, 1934, in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He travelled throughout the world, particularly in Northeast Africa, and was an accompli ...

, Pascal Boyeldieu);

Roger Blench Roger Marsh Blench (born August 1, 1953) is a British linguist, ethnomusicologist and development anthropologist. He has an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is based in Cambridge, England. He researches, publishes, and works ...

classifies "Fer" as Bagirmi, but "Kara of Birao" as one of the related

Kara languages The Kara languages are Tar Gula and possibly related Central Sudanic languages of the Central African Republic. The name ''Kara'' is used for numerous other peoples of the region, and so is often ambiguous. ''Ethnologue'' 16 lists three Kara ...

References

External links

Fer "Kara"
- Boyeldieu Languages of the Central African Republic Bongo–Bagirmi languages {{CentralAfricanRepublic-stub