Editing Nubi language (section)

{{Short description|Sudanese Arabic-based creole language}}
{{distinguish|Nubian languages|Nubia language}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Nubi Arabic
|nativename={{Lang|kcn-Arab|كي-نوبي|rtl=yes}}
|altname=Kinubi
|states= [[Uganda]], [[Kenya]]
|ethnicity= [[Nubians (Uganda)|Ugandan Nubians]], [[Nubians (Kenya)|Kenyan Nubians]]
|speakers={{sigfig|50,100|2}} 
|date=2014-2019
|ref = e25
|speakers2=
|speakers_label = Speakers
|familycolor=Creole
|fam1=[[Arabic-based creole languages|Arabic-based creole]]
|ancestor =[[Bimbashi Arabic]]
|script=[[Arabic script|Arabic]]
|iso3=kcn
|glotto=nubi1253
|glottorefname=Nubi
|notice=IPA
}}
The '''Nubi language''' (also called '''Ki-Nubi''', {{langx|ar|كي-نوبي|kī-nūbī}}) is a [[Sudanese Arabic]]-based [[creole language]] spoken in [[Uganda]] around [[Bombo, Uganda|Bombo]], and in [[Kenya]] around [[Kibera]], by the [[Nubians (Uganda)|Ugandan Nubians]], many of whom are descendants of [[Emin Pasha]]'s [[Sudan]]ese soldiers who were settled there by the [[British Empire|British colonial administration]]. It was spoken by about 15,000 people in [[Uganda]] in 1991 (according to the census), and an estimated 10,000 in Kenya; another source estimates about 50,000 speakers as of 2001. 90% of the [[lexicon]] derives from [[Arabic language|Arabic]],<ref name=":1">Ineke Wellens. ''The Nubi Language of Uganda: An Arabic Creole in Africa''. BRILL, 2005 {{ISBN|90-04-14518-4}}</ref> but the grammar has been simplified,<ref>{{cite book |title=Modern Arabic: Structures, Functions, and Varieties |author=Clive Holes |year=2004 |publisher=Georgetown U P |isbn=9781589010222 |pages=421 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8E0Rr1xY4TQC&pg=PA26 |access-date=2017-03-23}}</ref> as has the sound system. [[Nairobi]] has the greatest concentration of Nubi speakers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Owens|first=Jonathan|date=2006|title=Creole Arabic|url=https://www.academia.edu/7551407|journal=Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics|language=en|pages=518–27}}</ref> Nubi has the prefixing, suffixing and compounding processes also present in Arabic.<ref>{{cite book |title=Deconstructing Creole |author1=Umberto Ansaldo |author2=Stephen Matthews |author3=Lisa Lim |year=2007 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |isbn=9789027229854 |pages=290 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g2mpnPLUuwAC&q=kouwenberg+creole+2003+inflection |access-date=2010-01-20}}</ref>

Many Nubi speakers are [[Kakwa people|Kakwa]] who came from the Nubian region, first into [[Equatoria]], and from there southwards into Uganda and the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]]. They rose to prominence under Ugandan President [[Idi Amin]], who was Kakwa.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EkSP9XUIAKsC&q=kakwa+nubians&pg=PA81|title=Uganda Since Independence: A Story of Unfulfilled Hopes|last=Mutibwa|first=Phares Mukasa|date=1992-01-01|publisher=Africa World Press|isbn=9780865433571|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/04/06/amin-buys-loyalty-of-soldiers/92db022c-dc34-4a6a-af97-56eae2ccf728/ |title=Amin Buys Loyalty of Soldiers - the Washington Post |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=10 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228083214/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1977/04/06/amin-buys-loyalty-of-soldiers/92db022c-dc34-4a6a-af97-56eae2ccf728/ |archive-date=28 February 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Jonathan Owens argues that Nubi constitutes a major counterexample to [[Derek Bickerton]]'s theories of [[creole language]] formation, showing "no more than a chance resemblance to Bickerton's universal creole features" despite fulfilling perfectly the historical conditions expected to lead to such features.{{Citation needed|date=March 2017}}
Scholars (Sebit, 2023) have suggested that the Nubi Language was the main point of unity among the Nubi community in east Africa, to survive the hardship they experienced from different community components.