Katla language

Katla
Kaalak
Native to	Sudan
Region	Nuba Hills
Ethnicity	Katla, Gulud
Native speakers	25,000 Julud (2009)[1] Possibly 14,000 Katla (1984)[2]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Kordofanian Katla Katla
Dialects	Katla-Cakom Katla-Kulharong Julud
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kcr
Glottolog	katl1237  Katla julu1237  Julud
ELP	Katla

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.[3]^[citation not found] 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,[3]^[citation not found] it is believed to be spoken in 11 villages around Jebel Katla and their ethnicity is kàlàk.[3]^[citation not found]

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/.[4]

Consonants in the Julut dialect[5]

		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].[4]

Vowels in the Julut dialect[5]

	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.[6]

Genitive case

In some cases Katla places the genitive after the subject, as in other Sudanese languages: ‚u gbalana‘ " the dog’s owner ". Usually this is avoided and put in between both nouns: ‚gas i gu‘ „the dog’s head“.[7]

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”[7]

Pronouns

[8]	singular	plural
1st person	Ṇ-	Ni-, N-, Ń-
2nd person	Dj-	Dj-
3rd person	Y-	Y-

Numbers

Source:[8]

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. Katla at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Katla language at Ethnologue (17th ed., 2013)
3. Birgit Hellwig 2013, p. 238. sfn error: no target: CITEREFBirgit_Hellwig2013 (help)
4. 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.
5. Nüsslein, Ulrike (2020). A Grammar of Kordofanian Julut with Particular Consideration of the Verbal Morphology. Köln: Köppe. pp. 30–31.
6. Meinhof 1917, p. 219.
7. Meinhof 1917, p. 221.
8. Meinhof 1917, p. 212-235.

Bibliography

• Meinhof, Carl (1917). Sprachstudien im egyptischen Sudan 14: Katla. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen VII.