Nalu (''nalɛ'', ''nul''; also spelled Nalou) is an

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

language of

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

and

Guinea-Bissau Guinea-Bissau ( ; pt, Guiné-Bissau; ff, italic=no, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫 𞤄𞤭𞤧𞤢𞥄𞤱𞤮, Gine-Bisaawo, script=Adlm; Mandinka: ''Gine-Bisawo''), officially the Republic of Guinea-Bissau ( pt, República da Guiné-Bissau, links=no ) ...

, spoken by the

Nalu people The Nalu, also called Nalo, Nanum, or Nanu, are a West African ethnic group who are found in Guinea and Guinea Bissau. They speak the Nalu language. They have been described as "pre-Mandingas", as they settled in the region before the arrival o ...

, a West African people who settled the region before the arrival of the Mandinka in the 14th or 15th centuries. It is spoken predominantly by adults. It is estimated to be spoken by a range of 10,000 to 25,000 people, whereas Wilson (2007) reports that there are around 12,000 speakers. It is considered an

endangered language An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a "dead langu ...

due to its dwindling population of speakers.

Classification

Contrary to prior classifications, Güldemann (2018) classifies Nalu as unclassified within Niger-Congo. It also does not form a subgroup with the

Rio Nunez languages The Rio Nunez (Rio Nuñez) or Nunez River languages constitute a pair of Niger–Congo languages, Mbulungish and Baga Mboteni. They are spoken at the mouth of the Nunez River in Guinea, West Africa. The Rio Nunez languages have been studied ...

. Nalu is traditionally classified as Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Mbulugish-Nalu.

History

The Nalu people who speak Nalu have been described as settling in West Africa before the

Mandinka people The Mandinka or Malinke are a West African ethnic group primarily found in southern Mali, the Gambia and eastern Guinea. Numbering about 11 million, they are the largest subgroup of the Mandé peoples and one of the largest ethnic-linguistic gro ...

. This would place them as existing in West Africa between the 14th and 15th centuries. Wilson (2007) reports that the Nalu people had originally come from

.Wilson, William André Auquier. 2007. ''Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification''. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik, 12.) Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. Today, the Nalu speakers are shifting toward the

Susu language The Susu language (endonym: sus, Sosoxui; french: Soussou) is the language of the Susu or ''Soso'' people of Guinea and Sierra Leone, West Africa, West Africa. It is in the Mande language family. It is one of the national languages of Guinea ...

which is gaining more popularity in Guinea. It has a predominantly adult-speaking population. The next generation is being passed on the language, however, in a few remote villages around Katoufoura.

Geographic distribution

Nalu is spoken predominantly on the littorals, or shore regions, of Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Most Nalu speakers in Guinea live north of the Nuñez River on the Tristão islands, in the sub-prefecture of

Kanfarandé Kanfarandé is a town and sub-prefecture in the Boké Prefecture in the Boké Region Boké Region is located in western Guinea. It is bordered by the countries of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau and the Guinean regions of Kindia and Labé. I ...

which is the prefecture of

Boké Boké is the capital city of Boké Prefecture within the Boké Region of Lower Guinea near the border with Guinea-Bissau. It is also a sub-prefecture of Guinea. Located along the Rio Nuñez which flows to its not-too-distant mouth on the Atla ...

. In Guinea-Bissau, most speakers of Nalu live in the Cacine estuary in the

Tombali region Tombali is one of the eight regions in Guinea-Bissau. It is located in the extreme south of the country and its capital is Catió. There has not been any local administration since the civil war of 1998-99 and all social services are done by or ...

Vocabulary

Nalu underwent a sound change in its language. Sound change generally occurs due to what sounds require less effort for the speaker. These sound changes are usually limited to each dialect in a language and examples of the Nalu language sound changes are in the section below. Nalu has six dialects. Three are spoken in Guinea-Conakry and three are spoken in Guinée-Bissau. However, the relationship between the dialects is unknown.

Examples

Nouns Verbs Sound Changes Over Time

References

External links

Glottolog

Joshua Project
* ELAR archive o
Nalu Language
{{Niger-Congo branches Senegambian languages Languages of Guinea Languages of Guinea-Bissau