Dair language
| Dair | |
|---|---|
| Thaminyi | |
| Native to | Sudan |
| Region | Nuba Mountains |
Native speakers | (1,000 cited 1978)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | drb |
| Glottolog | dair1239 |
| ELP | Dair |
 Dair is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger. | |
Dair (also Dabab,[citation needed] Daier, Jebel Dair,[2]: 121, 123 Thaminyi) is a moribund Hill Nubian language spoken in the northern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It was spoken by around 1,000 people in 1978 in the Jibaal as-Sitta hills, between Dilling and Delami.[1]
The first documentation of the language by outsiders came in 1864, by German explorer Werner Munzinger.[2]: 120 He reported that the language was called Kuliniri by the local people at that time.[3] Junker and Czermak published a corpus of Dair transcriptions with phonetic and morphosyntactic notes in 1913.[2]: 121 [4]
Classification
[edit]Dair is classified as a Nubian language, part of the Nilo-Saharan language family. It is grouped with the Hill Nubian (sometimes called Kordofan Nubian) languages.[5]: 15 It is most closely related to its fellow Hill Nubian languages El Hugeirat, Ghulfan, and Kadaru.[2]: 128 [6]: 73
Geographic distribution
[edit]Dair is spoken in the Nuba Mountains.[citation needed]
Phonology
[edit]Consonants
[edit]Junker and Czermak give the following consonantal inventory for Dair:[4]: 7
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labia- lized velar | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | b | t | d | ʈ | ɖ | c | ɟ | k | ɡ | |||||
| Fricative | f | v | ç | ʝ | ||||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||||||||
| Approximant | ɹ | ɻ | ||||||||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ɭ | ||||||||||||
Vowels
[edit]Junker and Czermak are less precise with their vowel inventory. They list five cardinal vowels, a, e, i, o, and u, and note that "half-open" pronunciation of these vowels also occur. Vowel length is distinctive, with short and long vowels. Syllables can be stressed or unstressed.[4]: 16
References
[edit]- 1 2 Dair at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- 1 2 3 4 Stevenson, R. C. (1962). "Linguistic Research in the Nuba Mountains I". Sudan Notes and Records. 43. University of Khartoum: 118–130. JSTOR 41716826. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
- ↑ Munzinger, Werner (1864). Ostafrikanische studien (in German). Schaffhausen : F. Hurter. p. 546. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 Junker, Hermann; Czermak, Wilhelm (1913). Kordofân-Texte im Dialekt von Gebel Dair (in German). Vienna: A. Hölder. Retrieved 26 September 2026.
- ↑ Blažek, Václav (1999). "Nubian numerals" (PDF). Numerals : comparative-etymological analyses of numeral systems and their implications : (Saharan, Nubian, Egyptian, Berber, Kartvelian, Uralic, Altaic and Indo-European languages). hdl:11222.digilib/122989. Retrieved 24 September 2026.
- ↑ Bell, Herman (1973). "An Extinct Nubian Language in Kordofan". Sudan Notes and Records. 54. University of Khartoum: 73–80. ISSN 0375-2984. Retrieved 27 September 2026.