Berti language

{{Short description|Extinct Saharan language of Sudan}}

{{distinguish|Berta language}}

{{Infobox language

| name = Berti

| states = Sudan

| region = North Darfur

| extinct = by 1990s

| familycolor = Nilo-Saharan

| fam2 = Saharan

| fam3 = Eastern

| iso3 = byt

| linglist = byt.html

| glotto = bert1249

| glottorefname = Berti

| ethnicity = Berti

}}

Image:Darfur Linguistic Map.svg

Berti is an extinct Saharan language that was once spoken in northern Sudan, specifically in the Tagabo Hills, Darfur, and Kurdufan. Berti speakers migrated into the region alongside other Nilo-Saharan speakers, such as the Masalit and Daju, who were agriculturalists with varying levels of animal husbandry. They settled in two separate areas: one group north of Al-Fashir, while the other continued eastward, settling in eastern Darfur and western Kurdufan by the nineteenth century. The two groups did not appear to share a common identity, with the western group notably engaging in the cultivation of gum arabic. By the 1990s, Sudanese Arabic had largely replaced Berti as the native language.[http://countrystudies.us/sudan/38.htm Sudan: The Muslim Peoples], U.S. Library of Congress