Gaam language

Gaam
Ingessana
Native to	Sudan
Ethnicity	Ingessana
Native speakers	67,000 (2000)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Kir–Abbaian Eastern Jebel Gaam
Language codes
ISO 639-3	tbi
Glottolog	gaam1241

The Ingessana language, also known as Gaam, Gaahmg, (Me/Mun)Tabi, Kamanidi, or Mamedja/Mamidza, is an Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the Ingessana people in the Tabi Hills in eastern Sudan, near Ethiopia. It was considered an isolate within Eastern Sudanic until the other Eastern Jebel languages were discovered in the late 20th century. Dialects are Soda (Tao), Kukur (Gor), Kulang (Kulelek, Bau), Buwahg (Buek).

Phonology

Consonants

There are 21 distinct consonant phonemes. The fricative, nasal, lateral and rhotic consonants also distinguish length.

Consonant phonemes

	Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Plosives	p	b	t̪	d̪	t	d	c	ɟ	k	ɡ
Fricatives	f, fː				s, sː
Nasals		m, mː				n, nː		ɲ, ɲː		ŋ, ŋː
Laterals						l, lː
Rhotics						r, rː
Approximants		w				ð	y

Vowels

There are six distinct vowel phonemes. All six can also occur in sequential (and thus lengthened) form but may change phonetic quality. Stirtz (2012) proposes the following system:

	[-round]		[+round]
	[-back]	[+back]
[+ATR]	i	ə	u
[-ATR]	ɛ	a	ɔ

Tone

Gaam is a tonal language. There are three level tones, High, Mid, and Low, which can be combined to form rising and falling tones. A total of nine tone melodies is possible, all of them contrastive.

Bibliography

• Stirtz, Timothy (2004). "Phonology and orthography in Gaahmg". Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages. 9: 127–144. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Stirtz, Timothy (2012). A grammar of Gaahmg, a Nilo-Saharan language of Sudan. Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden. ISBN 978-94-6093-078-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Gaam basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database