Gaam (Gaahmg), also known as Ingessana, ''(Me/Mun) Tabi'', ''Kamanidi'', or ''Mamedja/Mamidza'', is an
Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the
Ingessana people in the Tabi Hills in
Blue Nile State
Blue Nile State ( ') is one of the eighteen states of the Republic of the Sudan. It was established by presidential decree nº 3 in 1992 and it is named after the Blue Nile River.
The region is host to around forty different ethnic groups. Its e ...
in eastern
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
, near
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
. It was considered an isolate within Eastern Sudanic until the other
Eastern Jebel languages
The Eastern Jebel languages are a small subfamily belonging to the Eastern Sudanic languages, Eastern Sudanic subgroup of Nilo-Saharan languages, Nilo-Saharan. They are spoken in the hills of An Nil al Azraq province in eastern Sudan (the name "J ...
were discovered in the late 20th century. Dialects are ''Soda (Tao), Kukur (Gor), Kulang (Kulelek, Bau), Buwahg (Buek).''
An early record of this language is a short wordlist dated February 1883 by
Juan Maria Schuver
Juan Maria Schuver (born Joannes Maria Schuver; 26 February 1852 – August 1883) was a Dutch explorer.
The son of a wealthy merchant, as a young man Schuver travelled extensively throughout Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa. At ...
. His informant came from the east side of the Tabi Hills, but was hard to understand because he was chewing tobacco.
Phonology
Consonants
There are 21 distinct consonant phonemes. The
fricative
A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in ...
,
nasal
Nasal is an adjective referring to the nose, part of human or animal anatomy. It may also be shorthand for the following uses in combination:
* With reference to the human nose:
** Nasal administration, a method of pharmaceutical drug delivery
* ...
,
lateral
Lateral is a geometric term of location which may also refer to:
Biology and healthcare
* Lateral (anatomy), a term of location meaning "towards the side"
* Lateral cricoarytenoid muscle, an intrinsic muscle of the larynx
* Lateral release ( ...
and
rhotic consonants also distinguish
length
Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with Dimension (physical quantity), dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a Base unit (measurement), base unit for length is chosen, ...
.
Vowels
There are six distinct vowel phonemes. All six can also occur in sequential (and thus lengthened) form but may change phonetic quality. Stirtz (2012)
proposes the following system:
Tone
Gaam is a
tonal language
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All oral languages use pitch to express emotional and other para-linguistic information and to convey emphasi ...
. There are three level tones, High, Mid and Low, which can be combined to form rising and falling tones. A total of nine tone melodies is possible, all of them contrastive.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Gaam basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
Eastern Jebel languages
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