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Ghulfan language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ghulfan
Uncunwee
Native toSudan
RegionNuba Mountains
EthnicityGhulfan
Native speakers
40,000 (2022)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ghl
Glottologghul1238
ELPUncunwee

Ghulfan (also Gulfan, Uncu, Uncunwee, Wunci, Wuncimbe) is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the central Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 40,000 people in the Ghulfan Kurgul and Ghulfan Morung hills, south of Dilling. The villages in which the language is spoken are Dabri, Karkandi, Katang, Kurgul, Namang, Ninya, Moring, Ota, Shigda, and Tarda. It is closely related to Kadaru, with which it forms the Kadaru-Ghulfan subgroup of Hill Nubian.[2]

Ethnologue reports that the use of Ghulfan is decreasing as younger speakers switch to Sudanese Arabic with only adults speaking the language now and that there are no monolingual speakers of the language.[2]

Phonology

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Consonants

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Labial Alveolar Retroflex Post-alv./
Palatal
Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless t ʈ k
voiced b d ɖ ɡ
Fricative ʃ
Lateral l
Rhotic r ɽ
Approximant w j

Vowels

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Front Central Back
Close i u
Near-close ɪ ʊ
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open a

[3]

References

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  1. ^ Ghulfan at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ a b "Ghulfan". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  3. ^ Williams, Robert S.; Comfort, Jade (n.d.). Ghulfan Grammar Sketch.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)