Katla language

Katla (also Kaalak or Kwaalak) is a Katla language, closely related to a neighbouring language called Tima. Katla is generally classified as Kordofanian, which is not a uniform branch, and is native to the Nuba Mountains.[citation not found] While Jalad is seen a dialect there is a clear distinction between the two groups. Similarly one can distinguish Katla into east and west Katla dialects,[citation not found] it is believed to be spoken in 11 villages around Jebel Katla and their ethnicity is kàlàk.[citation not found]

The variety Julud is mutually intelligible with Katla-Kulharong but not with Katla-Cakom.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar	Labial- velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless		t̪	t	(c)	k	k͡p	(ʔ)
voiced	b	d̪	d	ɟ	ɡ	ɡ͡b
prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd̪	ⁿd	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Fricative			s	(ʃ)			h
Nasal	m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Rhotic			r	ɽ
Approximant	w		l	j

Sounds [c] and [ʃ] occur as realizations of /s/.

Consonants in the Julut dialect
	Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Labial-velar
Plosive	voiceless		t̪	ʈ		k	k͡p
voiced	b	d̪	ɖ	ɟ	ɡ	ɡ͡b
prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd̪	ᶯɖ	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	f	s		ʃ
Nasal	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Rhotic		r	ɽ
Approximant	w	l		j

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
ɛ	ɔ
Open		a

/i, u/ can also be realized as [ɪ, ʊ].

Vowels in the Julut dialect
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
ɪ		ʊ
Mid	e	ə	o
ɛ	ɔ
Open		ɐ
	a

Nouns

Plural

Most of the time nouns in Katla do not have a plural, either numbers are put in front of the word or a quantifier is used. Often loanwords do not follow this rule and therefore change in their plural form.

Genitive case

In some cases Katla places the genitive after the subject, as in other Sudanese languages: ‚u gbalana‘ " the dog’s owner ". Usually this is avoided and put in between both nouns: ‚gas i gu‘ „the dog’s head“.

Subjective case

The subjective case is put infringement of the verb. In the case of multiple objects each one gets a case:

‘gu šekemole retet’ “The dog bit the gazelle”

Pronouns

	singular	plural
1st person	Ṇ-	Ni-, N-, Ń-
2nd person	Dj-	Dj-
3rd person	Y-	Y-

Numbers

Source:

tẹták
sẹk
hātẹd
agálam
jẹgwūlẹn
djọltẹn
djolēk
taṅgẹl
djalbatẹn
rākwẹs

Dialects and locations

Dialects and village locations:

Julud dialect: Kabog, Kabog North, Kabosh, Kambai, Karkando, Karkarya, Kary, Kimndang, Kitanngo, Kolbi, Koto Kork, Octiang, Rumber, Sabba, and Tolot
Katla dialect: Bombori, Karoka, Kateik, Kiddu, Kirkpong, and Koldrong

Bibliography

Meinhof, Carl (1917). Sprachstudien im egyptischen Sudan 14: Katla. Zeitschrift für Kolonialsprachen VII.