The Teso–Turkana (or Ateker) languages are a group of closely related
Eastern Nilotic languages
The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spr ...
spoken in southeastern
South Sudan
South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...
, northeastern
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The south ...
, northwestern
Kenya
)
, national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Nairobi
, coordinates =
, largest_city = Nairobi
, ...
, and southwestern
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...
. In effect they form a
dialect cluster
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
consisting of c.2 million people. According to
Gerrit Dimmendaal
Gerrit Jan Dimmendaal (born 1955) is a Dutch linguist and Africanist. His research interests focused mainly on the Nilo-Saharan languages.Gerrit Dimmendaal, Colleen Ahland & Angelika Jakobi (2019) "Linguistic features and typologies in languages c ...
, most of these languages –
Karimojong
The Karamojong or Karimojong are a Nilotic ethnic group. They are agro-pastoral herders living mainly in the north-east of Uganda. Their language is also known as ngaKarimojong and is part of the Nilotic language family.
History
The Karamojong ...
, Jie,
Toposa,
Turkana, and
Nyangatom – are mutually intelligible, and for the most part differ only in regard to
tone.
[Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (1983) ''The Turkana language''. Dordrecht: Foris. ] Teso belongs to the same broad group but is not described as being as closely related to Turkana as the others.
The languages are:
*
Teso (Ateso)
*Turkanic
**
Turkana
**
Karimojong
The Karamojong or Karimojong are a Nilotic ethnic group. They are agro-pastoral herders living mainly in the north-east of Uganda. Their language is also known as ngaKarimojong and is part of the Nilotic language family.
History
The Karamojong ...
(incl. Jie, Dodoth)
**
Toposa (incl. Jiye)
**
Nyangatom
See also
*
Ateker
References
External links
''Webbook'' page on Teso–TurkanaPanAfrican L10n page on Teso–Turkana
Agglutinative languages
Eastern Nilotic languages
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