Katla (also Kaalak or Kwaalak) is a Katla language, closely related to a neighbouring language called Tima. Katla is generally classified as Kordofanian, which is not a uniform branch, and is native to the Nuba Mountains (Birgit Hellwig 2013:238). While Jalad is seen a dialect there is a clear distinction between the two groups. Similarly one can distinguish Katla into east and west Katla dialects (Brigit Hellwig 2013: 238), it is believed to be spoken in 11 villages around Jebel Katla and their ethnicity is kàlàk (Brigit Hellwig 2013: 238).
The variety Julud is mutually intelligible with Katla-Kulharong but not with Katla-Cakom.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Labial- velar |
Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | t̪ | t | (c) | k | k͡p | (ʔ) | |
| voiced | b | d̪ | d | ɟ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | ||
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd̪ | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | |||
| Fricative | s | (ʃ) | h | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Rhotic | r | ɽ | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||||
Sounds [c] and [ʃ] occur as realizations of /s/.[3]
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | t̪ | ʈ | k | k͡p | ||
| voiced | b | d̪ | ɖ | ɟ | ɡ | ɡ͡b | |
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd̪ | ᶯɖ | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Rhotic | r | ɽ | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | a |
/i, u/ can also be realized as [ɪ, ʊ].[3]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| ɪ | ʊ | ||
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | ɐ | ||
| a |
Nouns
Plural
Most of the time nouns in Katla do not have a plural, either numbers are put in front of the word or a quantifier is used. Often loanwords do not follow this rule and therefore change in their plural form (Meinhof 1917: 219 )
Genitive case
In lot of cases Katla follows the Sudanese way of placing the genitive after the substantive: ‚u gbalana‘ " the dog’s owner ". Usually although this is tried to bee avoided and put in between both nouns: ‚gas i gu‘ „the dog’s head“ (Meinhof 1917:221)
Subjective case
The subjective case is put infringement of the verb. In the case of multiple objects each one gets a case:
‘gu šekemole retet’ “The dog bit the gazelle” (Meinhof 1917:221)
Pronouns[5]
Ṇ- I
Dj- You
Y- She/He/It
Ni-, N-, Ń- We
Dj- You (pl.)
Y- They
Numbers[6]
1 tẹták
2 sẹk
3 hātẹd
4 agálam
5 jẹgwūlẹn
6 djọltẹn
7 djolēk
8 taṅgẹl
9 djalbatẹn
10 rākwẹs
Dialects and locations
Dialects and village locations:[1]
- Julud dialect: Kabog, Kabog North, Kabosh, Kambai, Karkando, Karkarya, Kary, Kimndang, Kitanngo, Kolbi, Koto Kork, Octiang, Rumber, Sabba, and Tolot
- Katla dialect: Bombori, Karoka, Kateik, Kiddu, Kirkpong, and Koldrong
References
- ^ a b Katla at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Katla language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
- ^ a b Tucker, Archibald N.; Bryan, Margaret A. (1966). The Katla Group. In Linguistic Analyses: The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa: London: Oxford University Press.
- ^ a b Nüsslein, Ulrike (2020). A Grammar of Kordofanian Julut with Particular Consideration of the Verbal Morphology. Köln: Köppe. pp. 30–31.
- ^ Meinhof, Carl. 1916-1917. Sprachstudien im egyptischen Sudan 14: Katla. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen VII. 212-235. p.224
- ^ Meinhof, Carl. 1916-1917. Sprachstudien im egyptischen Sudan 14: Katla. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen VII. 212-235. p.223
 | This article about Kordofanian languages is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This page was last edited on 22 September 2023, at 02:13