Nyimang, also known as Ama, is an Eastern Sudanic language spoken in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan by the Nyimang people who are a sub-group of the Nuba people.
| Nyimang | |
|---|---|
| Ámá | |
| Native to | Sudan |
| Region | South Kordofan |
| Ethnicity | Nyimang |
Native speakers | 170,000 (2022)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nyi |
| Glottolog | amas1236 |
It is spoken in Al Fous, Fuony, Hajar Sultan, Kakara, Kalara, Koromiti, Nitil, Salara, Tundia, and other villages (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).
Rilly (2010:182) lists two mutually unintelligible varieties, Ama and Mandal.[2] Blench lists the Mandal dialect separately.
Phonology
editConsonants
edit| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal/ Retroflex |
Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | t̪ | t | k | ||
| voiced | b | d̪ | d | ɟ | ɡ | |
| Fricative | f | s | (ʃ) | |||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Trill | r | ɽ | ||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
- /s/ is heard as [ʃ] when before front vowels.
- /l/ can be heard as a retroflex [ɭ] when before front vowels.
- /f/ can also be heard as bilabial [ɸ] in free variation.[3]
Vowels
edit| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e | o | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
- /i, u/ can be heard as [ɪ, ʊ] in lax position.
- /o/ can have an allophone of [ɵ] when in the position of /ɽ/.[4]
References
edit- ^ Nyimang at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024)
- ^ Rilly, Claude. 2010. Le méroïtique et sa famille linguistique. Leuven: Peeters Publishers. ISBN 978-9042922372
- ^ Stevenson, Roland C. (1938). A grammar of the Nyimang language (Nuba Mountains).
- ^ Tucker, Archibald N.; Bryan, Margaret A. (2017). Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa, 2nd edn. London: Oxford University Press. pp. 312–313.
External links
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