Where are Kadu languages spoken?

These languages are spoken in Sudan.

Total number of speakers (estimates)

Approximately 130 000 according to SIL’s website ethnologue.com

Classification:

The group of Kadu languages has between 6 and 9 languages, depending on the source.

Western branch

Kanga 8000 speakers according to SIL

Keiga 6000 speakers according to SIL

Tulishi 8600 speakers according to SIL

Central branch :    75 000 for the whole group, according to SIL

Katcha

Kadugli

Miri

Tumma

Eastern branch

Krongo  : 21 700 speakers according to SIL

Tumtum : 7300 speakers according to SIL

Comments on the classification:

We have based our classification on the work of Dimmendaal (2008) and Schadeberg (1981).

The classification of these languages varies with the sources. They sometimes have been classified with the Kordofanian languages within the Niger-Congo group, and sometimes with the languages of the Nilo-Saharan group.

However, according to Dimmendaal, it is safer to consider the Kadu group as an independent group, at least for now.

Are Kadu languages endangered?

All the languages of the western branch and Tumtum, from the eastern branch are classified “severely endangered” by the UNESCO. Krongo is also endangered. No precise estimation have been found for the languages of central branch.

Ethnographic elements

This section will be developed subsequently.

Linguistic details

This section will be developed subsequently.

Sources

Gerrit Dimmendaal, 2008. “Language Ecology and Linguistic Diversity on the African Continent”, Language and Linguistics Compass 2/5:843

Thilo C. Schadeberg. 1981. “The classification of the Kadugli language group”. Nilo-Saharan, ed. by T. C. Schadeberg and M. Lionel Bender, pp. 291-305. Dordrecht: Foris Publications.