Sudan: Information on whether Nuba is a language or dialect and whether it is spoken only in the Sudan
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 June 1993 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | SDN14564 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Sudan: Information on whether Nuba is a language or dialect and whether it is spoken only in the Sudan, 1 June 1993, SDN14564, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6ab7794.html [accessed 25 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
While Sudan is generally divided into Arabs in the north and black Africans in the south, it has 56 ethnic groups and 597 subgroups (Kurian 1990, 1800). The Nuba comprise 8.1 per cent of the Sudanese population and live in scattered communities in southern Kordofan Province (Ibid.).
Sudan has over 115 languages, and no one of these is spoken by all Sudanese. Arabic is the official language (Ibid.). According to a 1955-56 census, Arabic and its dialects (spoken by 51 per cent of Sudanese) and Dinka and its dialects (spoken by 11 per cent of Sudanese) are the two dominant languages. Fourteen other languages are spoken by about five per cent of Sudanese (Nelson 1982, 84). Three of the four main African language groups (referred to by the source as "superstock")Afro-Asiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger-Kordofanianare found in the Sudan (Ibid.). The Niger-Kordofanian group, in which Nuba belongs, is further divided into two main groups: Niger-Congo and Kordofanian. The Niger-Congo group (or stock) is very widespread, consisting of many divisions and sub-divisions and hundreds of languages, while the Kordofanian stock comprises about 40 languages spoken in the Nuba Mountains area of the Sudan (Ibid., 84).
Kordofanian Nuba, as a group of languages, consists of five groupsKoalib, Tegali, Talodi, Tumtum and Katlawith about eight languages classified under each of these groups (Ibid., 85). Kordofanian Nuba is found only among the Nuba of the Nuba Mountains (Lavergne 1989, 92). A source at the Embassy of Sudan in Ottawa corroborated this information (24 June 1993). A historian specializing on the Sudan at the University of New Hampshire also affirmed that Nuba, which he described as a "cluster" of languages, is found only in the Nuba Mountains area (24 June 1993). The same source went further to state that there is on-going debate as to whether these are indeed distinct languages (Ibid.). For more details on the Nuba people and language(s), please refer to the attachment from SudanA Country Study.
Additional and/or corroborative information on the requested subject is currently unavailable to the DIRB in Ottawa.
References
Embassy of the Sudan, Ottawa. 24 June 1993. Telephone interview with representative.
Kurian, George Thomas, ed. 1990. Encyclopedia of the Third World. 4th ed. Vol. 3. New York: Facts on File.
Lavergne, Marc, ed. Le Soudan Contemporain: De l'invahison turco-égyptienne à la rébellion africaine (1821-1989). Paris. Karthala. Minorities Rights Group. 1990. World Directory of Minorities. Chicago: St. James Press.
Nelson, Harold, D., ed. 1982. SudanA Country Study. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Historian at the University of New Hampshire, Durham who specializes on the Sudan. 24 June 1993. Telephone interview with the source.
Attachments
Kurian, George Thomas, ed. 1990. Encyclopedia of the Third World. 4th ed. Vol. 3. New York: Facts on File.
Lavergne, Marc, ed. Le Soudan Contemporain: De l'invahison turco-égyptienne à la rébellion africaine (1821-1989). Paris. Karthala.
Minorities Rights Group. 1990. World Directory of Minorities. Chicago: St. James Press.
Nelson, Harold, D., ed. 1982. SudanA Country Study. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.
