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Central Sudanic
Geographic distribution	CAR, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Cameroon
Native speakers	ca. 15 million
Linguistic classification	Nilo-Saharan? Central Sudanic
Proto-language	Proto-Central Sudanic
Subdivisions	Bongo–Bagirmi Mangbetu–Asoa Mangbutu–Lese Lendu Moru–Madi ? Birri–Kresh
Language codes
ISO 639-5	csu
Glottolog	cent2225
Central Sudanic languages in Africa

Central Sudanic is a family of about sixty languages that have been included in the proposed Nilo-Saharan language family. Central Sudanic languages are spoken in the Central African Republic, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo (DRC), Nigeria and Cameroon. They include the pygmy languages Efé and Asoa.

Blench (2011) suggests that Central Sudanic influenced the development of the noun-class system characteristic of the Atlantic–Congo languages.

Classification

Half a dozen groups of Central Sudanic languages are generally accepted as valid. They are customarily divided into East and West branches.

Blench (2023)

Blench cites the following classification:

Sinyar–Formona is sparsely documented and its placement in the western branch is "provisional".

Starostin (2016)

Starostin (2016) finds support for Eastern Central Sudanic (Lendu, Mangbetu, Lugbara, etc., concentrated in the northeast corner of DR Congo) but not for the western division, which would include Bongo–Bagirmi and Kresh scattered across Chad, the CAR, and South Sudan.

Starostin (2011) notes that the poorly attested language Mimi of Decorse is suggestive of Central Sudanic, though he provisionally treats it as an isolate. Boyeldieu (2010) states that the inclusion of Kresh has yet to be demonstrated, but Starostin (2016) finds good support, with Birri being its closest relative.

Bender (1992)

Lionel Bender (1992) classifies the Central Sudanic languages as follows, with Central Sudanic bifurcating into a Peripheral branch and a Central branch.

• Central Sudanic
  • Peripheral
    • Moru–Madi
      • Moru (Miza, etc.)
      • Avukaya, Logo, Keliko
      • Madi (Lokai, etc.)
    • Mangbutu: Mamvu; Balese
    • Mangbetu: Meje, Asua, Aka, Lombi
    • Kresh: Kresh; Aja
    • Baadha (a.k.a. Baledha, Lendu)
  • Central
    • Bagirmi-Sara
      • Barma (Bagirmi)
      • Sara-Mbay
      • Sara-Ngambay, Sara Kaba
      • Baka
    • Yulu-Binga
    • Fongoro
    • Shemya (Sinyar)
    • Bongoid
      • Bongo
      • Fer (Kara)
      • Modo, Jur Beli

Numerals

Comparison of numerals in individual languages:

See also

• List of Proto-Central Sudanic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
• Central Sudanic word lists (Wiktionary)

References

1. "Nilo-Saharan; Ethnologue".
2. Blench, Roger (2011). Can Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic help us understand the evolution of Niger-Congo noun classes? (PDF). CALL 41. Leiden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-18.
3. Blench, Roger. 2023. In defence of Nilo-Saharan.
4. George Starostin (2016) The Nilo-Saharan hypothesis tested through lexicostatistics: current state of affairs
5. Bender, Lionel M. 1992. "Central Sudanic segmental and lexical reconstruction." Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere 29: 5-61.
6. Chan, Eugene (2019). "The Nilo-Saharan Language Phylum". Numeral Systems of the World's Languages.

Sources

• Blench, Roger. 2011. "Can Sino-Tibetan and Austroasiatic help us understand the evolution of Niger-Congo noun classes?", CALL 41, Leiden.
• Blench, Roger. Central Sudanic overview.
• Blench, Roger. 2018. Core and peripheral noun morphology in Central Sudanic languages. Proceedings of the 13th Nilo-Saharan Conference University of Addis Ababa, 6 May 2017
• Starostin, George. On Mimi, Journal of Language Relationship, v. 6, 2011, pp. 115–140.

External links

• A map of Central Sudanic

• Central Sudanic languages
• Language families