Dongolawi is a Nubian language of northern

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 ...

. It is spoken by a minority of the Danagla people in the

Nile Valley The Nile (also known as the Nile River or River Nile) is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa. It has historically been considered the longest river i ...

, from roughly south of

Kerma Kerma was the capital city of the Kerma culture, which was founded in present-day Sudan before 3500 BC. Kerma is one of the largest archaeological sites in ancient Nubia. It has produced decades of extensive excavations and research, including t ...

upstream to the bend in the Nile near al Dabbah, Sudan. ''Dongolawi'' is an Arabic term based on the town of

Old Dongola Old Dongola ( Old Nubian: ⲧⲩⲛⲅⲩⲗ, ''Tungul''; , ''Dunqulā al-ʿAjūz'') is a deserted Nubian town in what is now Northern State, Sudan, located on the east bank of the Nile opposite the Wadi Howar. An important city in medieval Nub ...

, the centre of the historic Christian kingdom of

Makuria Makuria ( Old Nubian: , ''Dotawo''; ; ) was a medieval Nubian kingdom in what is today northern Sudan and southern Egypt. Its capital was Dongola (Old Nubian: ') in the fertile Dongola Reach, and the kingdom is sometimes known by the name of ...

(6th to 14th century). Today's

Dongola Dongola (), also known as Urdu or New Dongola, is the capital of Northern State in Sudan, on the banks of the Nile. It should not be confused with Old Dongola, a now deserted medieval city located 80 km upstream on the opposite bank. Et ...

was founded during the 19th century on the western side of the Nile. The Dongolawi call their language Andaandi "the language of our home". Nearly all Dongolawi speakers are also speakers of

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 and Ethiopia. Sudanese ...

, the lingua franca of Sudan. Arabic–Dongolawi bilingualism is replacive in the sense that Dongolawi is threatened by complete replacement by Arabic (Jakobi 2008). Dongolawi is closely related to Kenzi (Mattokki), spoken in southern Egypt. They were once considered dialects of a single language, ''Kenzi-Dongolawi''. More recent research recognises them as distinct languages without a "particularly close genetic relationship."Bechhaus-Gerst, Marianne. ''The (Hi)story of Nobiin — 1000 Years of Language Change''. Peter Lang, 2011, p. 22. Apart from these two languages spoken along the Nile, three extinct varieties were included under Kenzi-Dongolawi.

References

External links

Dongolawi basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

Nubian languages Languages of Sudan Nubians in Sudan {{Sudan-stub

References

Further reading

External links