Nobiin is a Nubian language spoken along the banks of the Nile river in southern Egypt and northern Sudan by approximately 495 000 people. It is one of the Nubian languages, ultimately of the Nilo-Saharan phylum. Many Nobiin speaking Nubians were forced to relocate in 1963-1964 due to the construction of the Aswan High Dam at Aswan, Egypt, to make room for Lake Nasser.
Nobiin has been called Mahas, Mahas-Fiadidja, and Fiadicca in the past. Mahas and Fiadidja are geographical terms corresponding to alleged dialectal variants of Nobiin; Roland Werner has argued, based on Bell (1974) that in fact there is no evidence for the distinctness of the two (cf Werner p. 18—24). Nobiin should not be confused with the Arabic-based creole Ki-Nubi.
Geography and demography
Before the construction of the Aswan dam, speakers of Nobiin lived in the Nile valley between the third cataract in the South and Korosko in the North. Nowadays, Nobiin speakers live in the following areas: (1) near Kom Ombo, Egypt, about 40 km north of Aswan, where new housing was provided by the Egyptian government for approximately 50,000 Nubians; (2) in New Halfa in the Kassala state of Sudan; (3) in the Northern state of Sudan, northwards from Burgeg to the Egyptian border at Wadi Halfa. Additionally, many Nubians have moved to large cities like Cairo and Khartoum.
Practically all speakers of Nobiin are bilingual in Arabic. This was noted as early as 1819 by the traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in his Travels to Nubia. In response to concerns about a possible language shift to Arabic, Werner (1987:31) notes a very positive language attitude . Similarly, the 15th edition of the Ethnologue notes that "[t]he language is the center of Nubian identity". However, use of Nobiin is confined mainly to the domestic circle, as Arabic is the dominant language in trade, education, and public life.
History
Nobiin is one of the few African languages having a written history that can be followed over the course of more than a millenium. Old Nubian, preserved in a sizable collection of mainly early Christian manuscripts and documented in detail by Gerald M. Browne (1944-2004), is considered ancestral to Nobiin.
Sounds
Vowels
Nobiin has a five vowel system. Vowels can be long or short, e.g. jáákí 'fear' (long /a/), jàkkàr 'fish-hook' (short /a/). However, many nouns are unstable with regard to vowel length; thus, bálé : báléé ‘feast’, ííg : íg ‘fire’, shártí : sháártí ‘spear’.
Consonants
In the table below, orthographic symbols are included between brackets if they differ from the IPA symbols. Note especially the use of ‘y’ for IPA [j], common in African orthographies. Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.
Phonetic inventory of consonants in Nobiin, IPA notation.
| Werner 1987 |
bilabial |
labio-
dental |
alveolar |
palatal |
velar |
glottal |
| stops |
p b |
|
t d |
|
k g |
|
| fricatives |
|
f |
|
ç (sh) |
|
h |
| affricates |
|
|
|
cç (c) ɟʝ (j) |
|
|
| nasals |
m |
|
n |
ɲ (ny) |
ŋ (ng) |
|
| trills |
|
|
r |
|
|
|
| approximants |
w |
|
l |
j (y) |
|
|
The phoneme /p/ has a somewhat marginal status as it only occurs as a result of certain morphophonological processes. /b/ is mainly in contrast with /f/. The alveolar liquids /l/ and /r/ are in free variation as in many African languages. Consonant length is contrastive, e.g. dáwwí 'path' vs. dáwí 'kitchen'. However, long consonants tend to be shortened in many cases (e.g. the Arabic loan dùkkáán ‘shop’ is often found as dùkáán).
Tone
Nobiin is a tonal language. In Nobiin, tone is used to mark lexical contrasts. Tone also figures heavily in derivational morphology. Nobiin has two underlying tones, High and Low. A falling tone occurs in certain contexts; this tone can in general be analysed arising from a High and a Low tone together.
- árré 'settlement' (High)
- nùùr 'shadow' (Low)
In Nobiin, every utterance ends in a low tone. This is one of the clearest signs of the occurrence of a boundary tone, realized as a low tone on the last syllable of any prepausal word. The examples below show how the surface tone of the High tone verb ókkír- ‘cook’ depends on the position of the verb. In the first sentence, the verb is not final (because the question marker –náà is appended) and thus it is realized as High. In 2, the verb is in utterance final position, resulting in a low tone on the last syllable.
- íttírkà ókkéénáà? (vegetables:DO cook:she.PRESENT-Q) 'Does she cook the vegetables?'
- èyyò íttírkà ókkè. (yes vegetables:DO cook:she.PRESENT) 'Yes, she cooks the vegetables.'
Tone plays an important role in several derivational processes. The most common situation involves the loss of the original tone pattern of the derivational base and the subsequent assignment of Low tone, along with the affixation of a morpheme or word bringing its own tonal pattern (see below for examples).
Morphology
Nobiin has open and closed syllables: ág ‘mouth’, één ‘woman’, gíí ‘uncle’, kám ‘camel’, díís ‘blood’. Every syllable bears a tone. Long consonants are only found in intervocalic position, whereas long vowels can occur in initial, medial and final position.
Pronouns
The basic personal pronouns of Nobiin are:
- ày- "I"
- ìr- "you (singular)"
- tàr- "he, she, it"
- ùù- "we"
- úr- "you (plural)"
- tér- "they"
There are three sets of possessive pronouns. One of them is transparently derived from the set of personal pronouns plus a connexive suffix –íín. Another set is less clearly related to the simple personal pronouns; all possessive pronouns of this set bear a High tone. The third set is derived from the second set by appending the nominalizing suffix -ní. The three sets are listed below.
- àyíín án ànní — 'my'
- ìríín ín ìnní — 'your'
- tàríín tán tànní — 'his/her'
- ùùíín úún ùùní — 'our'
- úríín únn únní — 'your (pl)'
- téríín ténn ténní — 'their'
Nobiin has two demonstrative pronouns: ìn 'this', denoting things nearby, and mán 'that', denoting things farther away. Both can function as the subject or the object in a sentence; in the latter case they take the object marker -gá yielding ìngà and mángá, respectively (for the object marker, see also below). The demonstrative pronoun always precedes the nouns it refers to.
- ìn íd dìrbád wèèkà kúnkènò (this man hen one-OB have:3.sgPRESENT) 'This man has a hen.'
- mám búrúú nàày lè? (that girl who be.Q) 'Who is that girl?'
Nouns
Nouns in Nobiin are predominantly disyllabic, although monosyllabic and three- or four-syllabic nouns are also found. Nouns can be derived from adjectives, verbs, or other nouns by appending various suffixes. In plural formation, the tone of a noun becomes Low and one of four plural markers is suffixed. Two fo these are Low in tone, while the other two have a High tone.
- -ìì (L): féntí → fèntìì '(sweet) dates'
- -ncìì (L): àrréé → àrèèncìì 'falls'
- -ríí (H): áádèm → ààdèmríí 'men, people'
- -gúú (H): kúrsí → kùrsìgúú 'chairs'
In most cases it is not predictable which plural suffix a noun will take. Furthermore, many nouns can take different suffixes, e.g. ág 'mouth' → àgìì/àgríí. However, nouns that have final -éé usually take Plural 2 (-ncìì), whereas disyllabic Low-High nouns typically take Plural 1 (-ìì).
Gender is expressed lexically, occasionally by use of a suffix, but more often with a different noun altogether, or, in the case of animals, by use of a separate nominal element óndí ‘masculine’ or kàrréé ‘feminine’:
- íd ‘man’ vs. ìdéén ‘woman’
- tòòd ‘boy’ vs. búrú ‘girl’
- kàjkàrréé ‘she-ass’ vs. kàjnóndí ‘donkey’
The pair male slave/female slave forms an interesting exception, showing gender marking through different endings of the lexeme: òsshí 'slave (m)' vs. òsshá 'slave (f)'. An Old Nubian equivalent which does not seem to show the gender is oshonaeigou 'slaves'; the plural suffix -gou has a modern equivalent in -gúú (see above).
In compound nouns comprised of two nouns, the tone of the first noun becomes Low while the appended noun keeps its own tonal pattern.
- kàdíís 'cat' + mórrí 'wild' → kàdììs-mórrí 'wild cat'
- ìkìríí 'guest' + nóóg 'house' → ìskìrììn-nóóg 'guest room'
- tògój 'sling' + kìd 'stone' → tògòj-kìd 'sling stone'
Many compounds are found in two forms, one more lexicalized than the other. Thus, it is common to find both the coordinated noun phrase háhám ámán 'the water of the river' and the compound noun bàhàm-ámán 'river-water', distinguished by their tonal pattern.
Verbs
Verbal morphology in Nobiin is subject to numerous morphophonological processes, including syllable contraction, vowel elision, and assimilation of all sorts and directions. A distinction needs to be made between the verbal base and the morphemes that follow. The majority of verbal bases in Nobiin end in a consonant (e.g. nèèr- ‘sleep’, kàb- ‘eat’, tíg- ‘follow’, fìyyí- ‘lie’); notable exceptions are júú- ‘go’ and níí- ‘drink’. Verbal bases are mono- or disyllabic. The verbal base carries one of three or four tonal patterns. The main verb carries person, number, tense, and aspect information.
- ày féjírkà sàllìr (I morning.prayer pray:I.PRESENT) 'I pray the morning prayer.'
Only rarely do verbal bases occur without appended morphemes. One such case is the use of the verb júú- 'go' in a serial verb-like construction.
- áríj wèèkà fà júú jáánìr (meat one:OB FUTURE go buy:IPRESENT) 'I'm going to buy a piece of meat.'
Grammar
The basic word order in a Nobiin sentence is Subject Object Verb. Objects are marked by an object suffix -gá, often assimilating to the final consonant of the word (e.g. kìtááb 'book', kìtááppá 'book-OBJECT' as seen below). In a sentence containing both an indirect and a direct object, the object marker is suffixed to both.
- kám íwgà kàbì (camel corn-OB eat:he.PRESENT) 'The camel eats corn.'
- ày ìkkà ìn kìtááppá tèèr (I you-OB this book-OB give:I.PRESENT) 'I give you this book.'
Questions
Questions can be constructed in various ways in Nobiin. Constituent questions ('Type 1', questions about 'who?', 'what?', etc.) are formed by use of a set of verbal suffixes in conjunction with question words. Simple interrogative utterances ('Type 2') are formed by use of another set of verbal suffixes.
| | Type 1 | Type 2
|
| I | -re/-le | -réè
|
| you | -i | -náà
|
| s/he | -i | -náà
|
| we | -ro/-lo | -lóò
|
| you (pl) | -ro/-lo | -lóò
|
| they | -(i)nna | -(ì)nnànáà
|
Note that some of the suffixes are similar; possible ambiguities are solved by the context in which the question is asked. Some examples (question words and question markers are underlined):
- mìn ámán túúl áányì? (what water in live:PRES.2/3SG.Q1) 'What lives in water?'
- híddó nííl mìrì? (where Nile run/flow:PRES.2/3SG.Q1) 'Where does the Nile flow?'
- ìr sààbúúngà jáánnáà? (you soap:OB have:2/3SG.PRES.Q2) 'Do you have soap?'
- sàbúúngà jáánnáà? (soap:OB have:PRES2/3SG.Q2) 'do you sell soap?' / 'Does he/she sell soap?'
- úr báléél árágróò? (you (pl.) party.at dance:PRES1/2PL.Q2) 'Do you (pl.) dance at the party?'
References
- Bell, H. (1974) 'Dialect in Nobíin Nubian'. In Abd el-Gadir Mohmoud Abdalla (ed.) Studies in Ancient Languages of the Sudan. Khartoum. 109—122.
- Burckhardt, Johann Ludwig (or John Lewis) (1819) Travels in Nubia. London.
- Thelwall, Robin (1978) 'Lexicostatistical relations between Nubian, Daju and Dinka', Études nubiennes: colloque de Chantilly, 2-6 juillet 1975, 265—286.
- Werner, Roland (1987) Grammatik des Nobiin (Nilo-Saharan Studies vol. 1). Hambürg: Helmut Buske Verlag. ISBN 0932-1993
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