Masalit language
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| Masalit (kana masara) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Sudan, Chad |
| Region: | Dar Masalit (Gharb Darfur) |
| Total speakers: | 0.25 million (1983) |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Nilo-Saharan Maban |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | ssa |
| SIL | MSA |
| Linguasphere | |
| Location | |
Masalit is a Nilo-Saharan language spoken by the Masalit ethnic group in western Darfur. It has two sociolects: "heavy" Masalit, with a complicated agglutinative grammar, spoken by higher-ranking people and in the countryside, and "light", spoken particularly in the towns, with a somewhat simplified grammatical structure.
Bibliography
- Edgar, John. A Masalit grammar: with notes on other languages of Darfur and Wadai. Berlin: D. Reimer, 1989. (Sprache und Oralitat in Afrika; 3).
