Acheron language

Niger–Congo language of Kordofan, Sudan
Acheron
Asheron
Native toSudan
RegionNuba Hills
Native speakers
20,000 (2006)[1]
9,800 in home area (2006)[1]
Language family
Niger–Congo?
Dialects
  • Gathuk
  • Gandok
  • Garong
Language codes
ISO 639-3acz
Glottologache1245
ELPAcheron
Acheron is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Acheron (Asheron) is a Niger–Congo language in the Talodi family spoken in South Kordofan, Sudan.

Acheron derives from the Arabic word aɟɟur-uun which means "innocent people",[2] it was later "indigenised as acʊrʊn" (Stevenson 1956: 102) and turned into aʃərɔn. The autoethonym in Acheron is wɑ-rəmɛ for the people and ɡə-rəmɛ for the language.[2]

The number of active speakers is estimated to be 9.800.[2] This number includes the community members and "diaspora speakers"[2] in other Sudanese towns and abroad.

Further reading

  • Norton, Russell. 1995. Variation and change in the phonology of Asheron. M.A. Dissertation, University of Essex.
  • Norton, Russell. 2000. The noun classes of Asheron. Occasional Papers in the study of Sudanese Languages 8:23-55.
  • Norton, Russell. 2013. The Acheron vowel system: a participatory approach. In Roger Blench & Thilo Schadeberg (eds), Nuba Mountain Language Studies. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 195–217.

References

  1. ^ a b Acheron at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b c d Norton, Rusell (2015-01-01). "Schadeberg, Thilo C. and Roger M. Blench: Nuba Mountain Language Studies". Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. 36 (1). doi:10.1515/jall-2015-0006. ISSN 0167-6164. S2CID 151944262.

External links

  • Listen to a sample of Acheron from Global Recordings Network


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