A Grammar of Kordofanian Julut

with Particular Consideration of the Verbal Morphology

Author: Ulrike Nüsslein. Series edited by: Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig †, Bernd Heine.

Series: GA Grammatical Analyses of African Languages Volume 61

The subject matter of this study is a minority language of Sudan with the name Julut. It is spoken in the Nuba Mountains, which are located in South Kordofan. Due to the ongoing civil war in South Kordofan since 2011, research in the Nuba Mountains is almost impossible. Therefore, the actual subject matter of this work is the Julut language predominantly of those speakers who live in the capital Khartoum.

The work’s research objective is to create a documentation and a description of the Julut language. The documentation comprises a corpus of recordings and written data. The thesis consists of a sketch grammar, a more extensive description of the verbal morphology and a small part of documentation of the Julut language.

Based on Construction Grammar, the description of the verbal morphology consists of two parts, the semasiological and onomasiological perspective on a language. Julut is a hitherto little-described language. One of the few investigations was undertaken by Birgit Hellwig in connection with her main research objective, the Katla language, between 2006 and 2007. In 1949–1950, Greenberg proposed that the language groups Heiban, Talodi, Rashad, Katla and Kadugli are branches of a Kordofanian language family (Schadeberg 1981). From that time onward, Julut was considered a dialect of the Katla language and referred to as “Julud”.

Current research by Birgit Hellwig argues that Julut and Katla should be considered a dialect continuum, because Julut and the neighbouring East Katla are mutually intelligible, but Julut and West Katla are not. Based on these findings and the fact that both ethnic groups perceive themselves to be separate communities, Julut is regarded as a discrete language and is dealt with as a separate research objective here.

Under these links you will find further descriptions of Kordofanian languages and cultures of the Sudan:

Accompanying material:

• A Grammar of Dagik (ISBN 978-3-89645-566-6)
• A Tima-English Dictionary (ISBN 978-3-89645-901-5)
• Nayayirak tamaa dumurik – Speak Tima! (ISBN 978-3-89645-413-3)
• Nuba Mountain Language Studies (ISBN 978-3-89645-427-0)
• Nuba Mountain Language Studies – New Insights (ISBN 978-3-89645-767-7)
• The Nominal and Verbal Morphology of Tima (ISBN 978-3-89645-559-8)
• The Phonology of Koalib (ISBN 978-3-89645-552-9)
• The Tima of the Nuba Mountains (Sudan) (ISBN 978-3-89645-898-8)
• Tira and Otoro (ISBN 978-3-89645-173-6)

© 2024 by Rüdiger Köppe Verlag – www.koeppe.de

Print