Katla
Kaalak
Native toSudan
RegionNuba Hills
EthnicityKatla, Gulud
Native speakers
25,000 Julud (2009)[1]
Possibly 14,000 Katla (1984)[2]
Dialects
  • Katla-Cakom
  • Katla-Kulharong
  • Julud
Language codes
ISO 639-3kcr
Glottologkatl1237  Katla
julu1237  Julud
ELPKatla

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]

Consonants in the Julut dialect[4]
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]

Vowels in the Julut dialect[4]
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

  1. 1 2 Katla at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Katla language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013) Closed access icon
  3. 1 2 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.
  4. 1 2 Nüsslein, Ulrike (2020). A Grammar of Kordofanian Julut with Particular Consideration of the Verbal Morphology. Köln: Köppe. pp. 30–31.
  5. ↑ Meinhof, Carl. 1916-1917. Sprachstudien im egyptischen Sudan 14: Katla. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen VII. 212-235. p.224
  6. ↑ Meinhof, Carl. 1916-1917. Sprachstudien im egyptischen Sudan 14: Katla. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen VII. 212-235. p.223
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