Nilotic languages

Nilotic
Geographic distribution:	southwestern Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, northeastern Congo (DRC), northern Uganda, western Kenya and northern Tanzania
Linguistic classification:	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Kir–Abbaian Nilotic
Subdivisions:	Eastern Nilotic Southern Nilotic Western Nilotic Burun
Glottolog:	nilo1247[1]

The Nilotic languages are a group of Eastern Sudanic languages spoken across a wide area between southern Sudan and Tanzania by the Nilotic peoples, who traditionally practice cattle-herding. The languages are divided into four groups:

• Eastern Nilotic languages such as Turkana and Maasai
• Southern Nilotic languages such as Kalenjin and Datooga
• Western Nilotic languages such as Luo
• Burun

Before Greenberg's reclassification, the term was used to refer to Western Nilotic alone, with the other two being grouped as related "Nilo-Hamitic languages".

See also

• Nilotic peoples
• Paranilotic languages
• Nilo-Saharan languages

References

• Creider, Chet A. (1989). The syntax of the Nilotic languages: Themes and variations. Berlin: D. Reimer. ISBN 3-496-00483-5. 

External links

• Nilotic, Michael Cysouw
• The Nilotic Language Family, Doris Payne