Tar Gula language

Sudanic language spoken in Central Africa

Kara
Tar Gula
Native to	Central African Republic, Sudan
Ethnicity	Kara, Gula
Native speakers	(13,000 cited 1996)^[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Central Sudanic Bongo–Bagirmi Kara Kara
Dialects	Mele Mere Molo Moto-Mara Sara Koto
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`kcm`
Glottolog	`gula1266`

The Gula language, or Tar Gula, of the Central African Republic, commonly known as Kara, is a Central Sudanic language or dialect cluster. The term "Kara" is also attached to numerous ethnic groups of the region and their languages, and so is often ambiguous.

Names

Ethnologue lists Gula du Mamoun, Kara (of South Sudan) and Yamegi as synonyms, and Molo, Mele, Mot-Mar (Moto-Mara), Sar (Sara), Mere, and Zura (Koto) as dialects.

Classification

Sources disagree as to whether Gula shares a Kara branch with other languages, with proposed Kara languages in one classification reassigned to other branches in other classifications. (See Kara languages.)

Locations

As of 2013, ethnic Kara were reported to be residing in Menamba Boma, Ringi Payam, Raja County.^[2]

References

^ Kara at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ "Village Assessment Survey". International Organization for Migration South Sudan. 2013.