Editing Nobiin language (section)

==Classification==
Nobiin is one of the about eleven [[Nubian languages]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}} It has traditionally been grouped with the Dongolawi cluster, mainly based on the geographic proximity of the two (before the construction of the Aswan Dam, varieties of Dongolawi were spoken north and south of the Nobiin area, in Kunuz and Dongola respectively). The uniformity of this 'Nile-Nubian' branch was first called into doubt by Thelwall (1982) who argued, based on lexicostatistical evidence, that Nobiin must have split off from the other Nubian languages earlier than Dongolawi. In Thelwall's classification, Nobiin forms a "Northern" branch on its own whereas Dongolawi is considered part of Central Nubian, along with Birged (North Darfur) and the [[Hill Nubian languages]] ([[Nuba Mountains]], [[Kordofan]]).{{sfn|Thelwall|1982}}

In recent times, research by Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst has shed more light on the relations between Nobiin and Dongolawi. The groups have been separated so long that they do not share a common identity; additionally, they differ in their traditions about their origins.<ref name="origins">In particular, the speakers of Nobiin claim to be the only real Nubians of African descent, whereas the Dongolawi believe they are descendants of Arabian immigrants.{{harvtxt|Bechhaus-Gerst|1996|p=298}}</ref> The languages are clearly genetically related, but the picture is complicated by the fact that there are also indications of contact-induced [[language change]].{{sfn|Bechhaus-Gerst|1996}} Nobiin appears to have had a strong influence on Dongolawi, as evidenced by similarities between the phoneme inventories as well as the occurrence of numerous borrowed grammatical morphemes. This has led some to suggest that Dongolawi in fact is "a 'hybrid' language between old Nobiin and pre-contact Dongolawi."{{sfn|Heine|Kuteva|2001|p=400}} Evidence of the reverse influence is much rarer, although there are some late loans in Nobiin which are thought to come from Dongolawi.{{sfn|Bechhaus-Gerst|1996|p=306}}

The Nubian languages are part of the [[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]] branch of the [[Nilo-Saharan languages]]. On the basis of a comparison with seventeen other Eastern Sudanic languages, Thelwall (1982) considers Nubian to be most closely related to Tama, a member of the [[Taman languages|Taman]] group, with an average lexical similarity of just 22.2 per cent.