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22-414: Nubian (and possibly Meroitic ) gives Eastern Sudanic some of the earliest written attestations of African languages. However, the largest branch by far is Nilotic , spread by extensive and comparatively recent conquests throughout East Africa . Before the spread of Nilotic, Eastern Sudanic was centered in present-day Sudan . The name "East Sudanic" refers to the eastern part of the region of Sudan where

44-588: A Berta expression (with bele "rock/stone" misanalyzed as Arabic beni "sons"). Bremer (2016) surveys the following 6 varieties of Berta, providing word lists for them as well. Geographical information is from Bremer (2016:2–3). With the exception of Metehara, all surveyed Berta varieties are spoken in the Benishangul-Gumuz Region of Ethiopia . There is very little data for Berta varieties spoken in Sudan . This Nilo-Saharan languages –related article

66-415: A Surmic–Nilotic relationship. There are several different classifications of East Sudanic languages. Lionel Bender assigns the languages into two branches, depending on whether the 1sg pronoun ("I") has a /k/ or an /n/: Nubian Nara Nyima Taman Surmic Eastern Jebel Temein (Nuba Hills) Daju Nilotic Claude Rilly (2009:2) provides the following internal structure for

88-501: A few roots, e.g. Old Nubian has several sets of pronouns and subject clitics are the following, of which the following are the main ones: There are two demonstrative pronouns : Interrogative words include ⳟⲁⲉⲓ "who?"; ⲙⲛ̄ "what?"; and a series of question words based on the root ⲥ̄ . The Old Nubian verbal system is by far the most complex part of its grammar, allowing for valency , tense , mood , aspect , person and pluractionality to be expressed on it through

110-615: A single language, are Gebeto (Berta proper), Fadashi , and Undu . They are either a small family (or language isolate ) of their own, or a primary branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Berta has the typical word order subject–verb–object . It is a tonal language. It has significantly influenced some of the Eastern Jebel languages . The Arabic name "Beni-Shangul" (as in the Ethiopian province of Benishangul-Gumuz ) derives from

132-444: A supralinear stroke, which could indicate: Modern Nobiin is a tonal language; if Old Nubian was tonal as well, the tones were not marked. Punctuation marks included a high dot •, sometimes substituted by a double backslash \\ ( ⳹ ), which was used roughly like an English period or colon ; a slash / ( ⳺ ), which was used like a question mark ; and a double slash // ( ⳼ ), which was sometimes used to separate verses. In 2021,

154-450: A use as determiner. Old Nubian has a nominative-accusative case system with four structural cases determining the core arguments in the sentence, as well as a number of lexical cases for adverbial phrases . The most common plural marker is -ⲅⲟⲩ , which always precedes case marking. There are a few irregular plurals, such as: Furthermore, there are traces of separate animate plural forms in -ⲣⲓ , which are textually limited to

176-440: A variety of suffixes. The main distinction between nominal and verbal predicates in a main clause versus a subordinate clause is indicated by the presence of the predicate marker -ⲁ . The major categories, listing from the root of the verb to the right, are as follows: This can be indicated by a series of subject clitics, which are obligatory only in certain grammatical contexts. They are generally absent when an overt subject

198-451: Is an extinct Nubian language, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century AD. It is ancestral to modern-day Nobiin and closely related to Dongolawi and Kenzi . It was used throughout the kingdom of Makuria , including the eparchy of Nobatia . The language is preserved in more than a hundred pages of documents and inscriptions , both of a religious nature (homilies, prayers, hagiographies, psalms, lectionaries), and related to

220-659: Is beyond reasonable doubt. Nubian Nara Taman ? Nyima ? Surmic ? Jebel ? Temein ? Daju ? Nilotic Nyima is not part of the northern group, though it appears to be closest to it. (For one thing, its pronouns align well with the northern (Astaboran) branches.) Surmic, Nilotic, and Temein share a number of similarities, including in their pronouns, but not enough to warrant classifying them together in opposition to Astaboran without proper comparative work. Jebel and Daju also share many similarities with Surma and Nilotic, though their pronominal systems are closer to Astaboran. Inclusion of Kuliak and Berta

242-695: Is not supported. Similarities with Kuliak may be due to both being Nilo-Saharan families, whereas Berta and Jebel form a sprachbund . A similar classification was given in Starostin (2014): Roger Blench (2019) and (2021), like Starostin, only finds support for Bender's Northern branch. Blench proposes the following internal structure, supported by morphological evidence. Nilotic Surmic Eastern Jebel Daju Temein Nubian Nara Taman Ama Old Nubian language Old Nubian (also called Middle Nubian or Old Nobiin )

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264-656: Is present in the clause, unless the subject has the topic marker -ⲉⲓⲟⲛ. ⲕⲧ̅ⲕⲁ kit-ka stone- ACC ⲅⲉⲗⲅⲉⲗⲟ̅ⲥⲟⲩⲁⲛⲛⲟⲛ gelgel-os-ou-an-non roll- PFV - PST1 - 3PL - TOP ⲓ̈ⲏ̅ⲥⲟⲩⲥⲓ iēsousi Jesus ⲙⲁⳡⲁⲛ mañan eye. DU ⲧⲣⲓⲕⲁ· tri-ka both- ACC ⲇⲟⲗⲗⲉ dolle high ⲡⲟⲗⲅⲁⲣⲁ polgar-a raise. CAUS - PRED [ⲡⲉⲥⲥⲛⲁ·] pes-s-n-a speak- PST2 - 2 / 3 / SG - PRED ⲡⲁⲡⲟ pap-o father- VOC ⲥ̅ⲕⲉⲗⲙ̅ⲙⲉ iskel-im-m-e thank- AFF - PRS - 1SG . PRED ⲉⲕ̅[ⲕⲁ] Berta languages The Berta languages , or Funj , traditionally considered dialects of

286-510: Is the largest constituent of modern Eastern Sudanic. Güldemann (2018) considers East Sudanic to be undemonstrated at the current state of research. He only accepts the evidence for a connection between the Nilotic and Surmic languages as "robust", while he states that Rilly's evidence (see below) for the northern group comprising Nubian , Nara , Nyima , Taman and Meroitic "certainly look[s] promising". Glottolog (2023) does not accept even

308-647: The White Monastery in Sohag . The alphabet included three additional letters ⳡ /ɲ/ and ⳣ /w/ , and ⳟ /ŋ/ , the first two deriving from the Meroitic alphabet . The presence of these characters suggest that although the first written evidence of Old Nubian dates to the 8th century, the script must have already been developed in the 6th century, following the collapse of the Meroitic state. Additionally, Old Nubian used

330-463: The 10th–11th century as the main language for the civil and religious administration of Makuria. Besides Old Nubian, Koine Greek was widely used, especially in religious contexts, while Coptic mainly predominates in funerary inscriptions. Over time, more and more Old Nubian began to appear in both secular and religious documents ( including the Bible ), while several grammatical aspects of Greek, including

352-576: The Eastern Sudanic languages. Nyima Taman Nara Meroitic Nubian Nilotic Surmic Jebel Temein Daju Starostin, using lexicostatistics , finds strong support for Bender's Northern branch, but none for the Southern branch. Eastern Sudanic as a whole is rated a probable working model, pending proper comparative work, while the relationship between Nubian, Tama, and Nara

374-484: The case, agreement, gender, and tense morphology underwent significant erosion. The consecration documents found with the remains of archbishop Timotheos suggest, however, that Greek and Coptic continued to be used into the late 14th century, by which time Arabic was also in widespread use. The script in which nearly all Old Nubian texts have been written is a slanted uncial variant of the Coptic alphabet , originating from

396-550: The country of Sudan is located, and contrasts with Central Sudanic and Western Sudanic (modern Mande , in the Niger–Congo family ). Lionel Bender (1980) proposes several Eastern Sudanic isoglosses (defining words), such as *kutuk "mouth", *(ko)TVS-(Vg) "three", and *ku-lug-ut or *kVl(t) "fish". In older classifications, such as that of Meinhof (1911), the term was used for the eastern Sudanic languages , largely equivalent to modern Nilo-Saharan sans Nilotic , which

418-399: The entire noun phrase , which may also comprise adjectives , possessors , and relative clauses . Old Nubian has one definite determiner -(ⲓ)ⲗ . The precise function of this morpheme has been a matter of controversy, with some scholars proposing it as nominative case or subjective marker. Both the distribution of the morpheme and comparative evidence from Meroitic, however, point to

440-401: The first modern Nubian typeface based on the style of text written in old Nubian manuscripts called Sawarda was released designed by Hatim-Arbaab Eujayl for a series of educational books teaching Nobiin. Old Nubian has no gender . The noun consists of a stem to which derivational suffixes may be added. Plural markers, case markers, postpositions , and the determiner are added on

462-476: The state and private life (legal documents, letters), written using adaptation of the Coptic alphabet . Old Nubian, according to historical linguists, was the spoken language of the oldest inhabitants of the Nile valley. Adams, Berhens, Griffith and Bechhause-Gerst agree that Nile Nubian has its origins in the Nile valley. Old Nubian is one of the oldest written African languages and appears to have been adopted from

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484-521: The variant ⳝ for the Coptic letter ϭ . The characters ⲍ, ⲝ/ϩ ⲭ, ⲯ only appear in Greek loanwords. Gemination was indicated by writing double consonants; long vowels were usually not distinguished from short ones. Old Nubian featured two digraphs : ⲟⲩ /u, uː/ and ⲉⲓ /i, iː/ . A diaeresis over ⲓ ( ⲓ̈ ) was used to indicate the semivowel /j/ . In addition, Old Nubian featured

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