In Christopher Ehret's classification of Nilo-Saharan, the Jebel languages are a small subfamily within Eastern Sudanic consisting of the Eastern Jebel languages and Berta. This classification has not been universally adopted; the more widely followed Lionel Bender , for instance, classes only Eastern Jebel, not Berta, as falling within Eastern Sudanic (thus ruling out the possibility of them grouping together.)