Karko (also Garko, Kaak, Karme, Kithonirishe; autonym: ''Kakenbi'') is a

Hill Nubian The Hill Nubian languages, also called Kordofan Nubian, are a dialect continuum of Nubian languages spoken by the Hill Nubians in the northern Nuba Mountains of Sudan. Classification The Hill Nubian languages are generally classified as being i ...

language spoken in the northwestern

Nuba Mountains The Nuba Mountains ( ar, جبال النوبة), also referred to as the Nuba Hills, is an area located in South Kordofan, Sudan. The area is home to a group of indigenous ethnic groups known collectively as the Nuba peoples. In the Middle Ages, ...

in the south of

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 ...

. It is spoken by around 7,000 people in the Karko hills, 35 km west of Dilling, including Dulman. ''Ethnologue'' reports that speakers of Karko are shifting to

Sudanese Arabic Sudanese Arabic, also referred to as the Sudanese dialect (), Colloquial Sudanese () or locally as Common Sudanese () refers to the various related varieties of Arabic spoken in Sudan as well as parts of Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Chad. Sudane ...

Dialects

Karko has three dialects: Karko, Kasha and Shifir. Additionally, varieties spoken by the Ilaki on Abu Junuk to the west (by 1,000 people) and by the Tamang at El Tabaq southwest of Katla (by 800 people) may be dialects or separate languages.

References

Definitely endangered languages Nubian languages Languages of Sudan {{NiloSaharan-lang-stub