Template:Short description {{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Main other
File:Darfur Linguistic Map.svg
Linguistic map of the non-Arab peoples of Darfur, showing the extent of the Masalit language in Sudan.
Masalit (autonym Masala/Masara; Template:Langx) is a Nilo-Saharan language of the Maban language group spoken by the Masalit people in Ouaddaï Region, Chad and West Darfur, Sudan.
Masalit, known as the Massalat, moved west into central-eastern Chad. Their ethnic population in Chad was Template:Sigfig as of the 1993 census, but only 10 speakers of their language were reported in 1991.<ref name=e18>Template:Ethnologue18</ref>
PhonologyEdit
VowelsEdit
ConsonantsEdit
- It has been stated that occasional click sounds Template:IPAblink and Template:IPAblink may occur, however; they are considered to be rare.
- Sounds {{#invoke:IPA|main}} can occur as geminated {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.
- Sounds /t, m, n, ŋ/ can occur as palatalized [tʲ, mʲ, nʲ, ŋʲ] before front vowels.
- {{#invoke:IPA|main}} only occur as a result of words of Arabic origin.
- Template:IPAblink is not a phonemic sound, and is only heard before word-initial vowels.
- Sounds {{#invoke:IPA|main}} only occur in word-initial position.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
SociolectsEdit
The Masalit language has two sociolects:
- "Heavy" Masalit, spoken by higher-ranking people and those in the countryside, with a complicated agglutinative grammar
- "Light" Masalit, spoken particularly in the home and in the market, with a somewhat simplified grammatical structure and many borrowings from Sudanese Arabic, the regional lingua franca and language of education.
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
- {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}