Nobiin

Introduction

The Nobiin is a Nubian language spoken along the the Nile in the south about the Egypt and north about the Sudan by approximately 495 000 people.

Nobiin descent directly of the Ancien Nubian, a spoken language, written until XVe century. The speakers of Nobiin are all today bilingual and usually speak the Arab .

Nobiin is a tonal language, tons them are noted in Latin writing with the accents, has discriminating vowels and consonants various lengths. The words can undergo a elision or a Assimilation in various directions. The verbs can be placed in series. The typology of the language is SOV.

Phonetics

Vowels

Nobiin has 5 Voyelle S, which can be short or long. One will double the long vowels in the transcription. However, of many names do not take account of the length of the vowel ( bálé / báléé " fête" , ííg / íg " feu" , shártí / sháártí " lance" …).

Consonants

Grammar

Pronouns

personal Pronouns:

ày- "Je"
ìr- "Tu"
tàr- "It, it, ça"
ùù- "Nous"
úr- "Vous"
for the third time " They, elles"

possessive Pronouns:

àyíín án ànní - “mon/ma/mes”
ìríín ín ìnní - “ton/ta/tes”
tàríín tán tànní - “son/sa/ses”
ùùíín úún ùùní - “our/our”
úríín únn únní - “your/your”
téríín ténn ténní - “their/their”

conclusive Pronouns:

ìn : “this”
mán : “that”

Names

The Nom S in Nobiin are for the majority made up of two Syllabe S, but there exist also monosyllabic names or much longer. The names can be derived from the Adjectif S, the Verbe S, and other names by adding different Suffixe S.

Plural also modifies the pronunciation of the name: a plural name will decide with a more serious tone, in addition to seeing itself supplemented of one of the four plural suffixes. Two of these suffixes decide with a serious tone, the two others decide according to an acute tone.

The tone is indicated in Nobiin, when he is written in Latin alphabet, by the direction of the accent: E (your descendant, engraves), E (your amount, acute).

- ìì (serious): féntí → fèntìì dates
- ncìì (serious): àrréé → àrèèncìì falls
- ríí (acute): áádèm → ààdèmríí people
- gúú (acute): kúrsí → kùrsìgúú chairs

A priori, there is no general rule concerning the names which makes it possible to say if such name will take such suffix: it is something which it is necessary to know. However, it is noticed, for example, that the names which end in - éé generally take a plural in - ncìì (plural 2).

The kind of a name is expressed lexicalement, sometimes by using a suffix, but more often while making follow the name of a qualifier óndí (male) or kàrréé (female):

íd man /ìdéén woman
tòòd boy /búrú girl
kàjkàrréé guenon /kàjnóndí monkey

There exists an interesting word on this subject: slave . We have in Nobiin òsshí (the slave man) and òsshá (the slave woman), two forms surprisingly close one to the other. In Old Nubian, " esclave" is neutral and plural: oshonaeigou (slaves).

Geography and demography

Before the construction of the stopping of Aswan, Nobiin lived in the valley of the Nile, with between the third cataract and Korosko. Nowadays, the Nobiin speakers live:

Close to Kom Ombo in Egypt, 40 km in the north of Aswan.
has Wadi Halfa in the Kassala with the Sudan
In the north of Sudan, around Burgeg
With the Cairo and with Khartoum, quoted Egyptian which shelters great communities nobiines

The near total of Nobiin are bilingual, usually speaking the Arab . It is a state of made noticed as of 1819 by the traveller Jean Louis Burckhardt in his book Voyages in Nubie .

Nobiin was called Mahas, Mahas- Fiadidja, and Fiadicca in the past. Mahas and Fiadidja are other dialects close to Nobiin. Nobiin is not related with the Ki-Nubi.

History

Nobiin is one of some languages of Africa having a written history that one can follow over more than one millenium. The Old Nubian, preserved in the shape of a collection of some manuscripts, Christians mainly, and documented in detail by Gerald Browne (1944-2004), is the direct ancestor of Nobiin. One could find many manuscripts in the Valley of the Nile, between the first and the fifth cataract of the river, attesting Nubian presence during the first millenium. A dialect close to Nobiin, the Kenzi-Dongolawi, was located at the same place. The others Nubian Langues are 500 km more in the south, Darfur and in the mountains.

Since VIIe century, Nobiin are in competition with the people Arab S. the influence of the Egypt is not either negligible. The conversion of Nubie to the Islam after the fall of the Christian Kingdoms radically changed the language and the use. In the current Spoken Arabic with the Sudan, one finds some dialects spoken in the Kingdom about Sennar, of which Nobiin.

With the invasion Othoman E in XVIe century, the language is subject to Turkish influences mainly.

See too

References and bibliography

Adams, W.Y. (1982) “The coming off Nubian announcers to the Nile Valley”, in Ehret, C. & Posnansky, Mr. (eds.) The Archeological and Linguistic Rebuilding off African History. Berkeley/Los Angeles, 11-38.
Beautiful, H. (1974) “Dialect in Nobíin Nubian”. In Abd to el-Gadir Mohmoud Abdalla (ED.) off Studies in Ancient Languages the Sudan . Khartoum. 109-122.
Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig (gold John Lewis) (1819) Travels in Nubia . London.
Thelwall, Robin (1978) “Lexicostatistical relations between Nubian, Daju and Dinka”, Nubian Studies: conference of Chantilly, 2 July 6th, 1975 , 265-286.
Thelwall, Robin (1982) “Linguistic Aspects off Greater Nubian History”, in Ehret, C. & Posnansky, Mr. (eds.) The Archeological and Linguistic Rebuilding off African History. Berkeley/Los Angeles, 39-56. online version
Werner, Roland (1987) Grammatik of Nobiin (Nilnubisch) (Nilo-Saharan Studies vol. 1). Hambürg: Helmut Buske Verlag. ISBN 0932-1993

External bonds

Ethnologist: Nobiin

Random links: