Dilling language

{{Infobox language

| name = Dilling

| nativename = Warki

| states = Sudan

| region = Nuba Hills

| ethnicity = {{sigfig|92,000|2}} Dilling (2024)

| speakers = 13,000

| date = 2022

| ref = e27

| script = Latin

| familycolor = Nilo-Saharan

| fam2 = Eastern Sudanic

| fam3 = Northern Eastern

| fam4 = Nubian

| fam5 = Central

| fam6 = Hill

| fam7 = (Unclassified)

| map2 = Lang Status 60-DE.svg

| mapcaption2 = {{center|{{small|Dilling is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger}}}}

| iso3 = dil

| glotto = dill1242

| glottorefname = Dilling

}}Dilling (also Delen, Warkimbe; autonym: Warki) is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the northwestern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 12,000 people in the town of Dilling and surrounding hills, including Kudur. Ethnologue reports that Dilling is moribund, with only older adults speaking the language and not using it with their children. All speakers also use Sudanese Arabic. The Dilling call themselves Warki, while the Dilling speakers of Kudur call themselves Kwashe. Another ethnic minority that speak Dilling are the Debri people, an ethnic group of several thousand people from South Kordofan in Sudan

Dialects

Dilling has one dialect – Debri,{{fact|date=February 2024}} which is spoken on the mountain Gebel Debri, south of Ghulfan.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P7AgAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA74|title=The Meroitic Language and Writing System|last1=Rilly|first1=Claude|last2=Voogt|first2=Alex de|date=2012-08-27|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781139560535|pages=74|language=en}}

Phonology

Dilling has 9 vowels a,e,ẹ,ḙ,i,ọ,ǒ,u and 21 consonants as following (Gebel Delen 1920:3):{{fcn|date=February 2024}}

class="wikitable"

!Explosives

voiceless voiced

!Fricatives

voiceless voiced

!Liquidates

!Nasales

Dentales

|t d

|(s)

|l r

Gutturales

|k g

|ṅ

Gutturopalatales

|ñ

Palatales

|t d

|š y

|ń

Labiales

|p b

|ƒ w

Nouns

In Dilling there is no difference grammatical gender in nouns verb forms, pronouns and relative terms, to express a gender in a person one adds expression to clarify such as for example {{lang|dil|korti}} (man) or {{lang|dil|ḙli}} (woman). These are added apposition without a connector. With animals the name classifies gender and species, ‘tẹ’ “female cow” and ‘tere’ “bull”. (Gebel Delen 1920:40-41) {{fcn|date=February 2024}}

Dilling does not have specific and non specific articles but it uses personal pronouns of the 3rd person singular or plural and is placed in front of the noun ‘{{lang|dil|tẹ id}}’ “the (mentioned) man”(Gebel Delen 1920:42).{{fcn|date=February 2024}} Exceptions are names and If the noun has an attribute afterwards it is either placed in front, between the noun and attribute or it is multiplied. (Gebel Delen 1920:42){{fcn|date=February 2024}}

Pronouns

The personal pronouns are:

e -> I

a -> You

te -> He/she/it

i -> We

u -> You

ti -> They

Often times one only puts first person pronouns in front of the verb and leaves it out when referring to the 3rd person sg/pl or if they wanted to use it as a noun when they want to stress this part, they would put it in front of the verb. (Gebel Delen 1920:96){{fcn|date=February 2024}}

Numbers

Numbers 1 to 29 are written in Dilling starting from 30 numbers are either accumulating the numbers or taken from Arabic especially starting from 100. (Gebel Delen 1920:90-92){{fcn|date=February 2024}}

1 {{lang|dil|bēn oder ben}}

2 {{lang|dil|óren}}

3 {{lang|dil|tọcuṅ (töduṅ)}}

4 {{lang|dil|kẹmíńen}}

5 {{lang|dil|tišin}}

6 {{lang|dil|kwarten}}

7 {{lang|dil|kwálān}}

8 {{lang|dil|ẹddin}}

9 {{lang|dil|wēn}}

10 {{lang|dil|búren}}

11 {{lang|dil|bure bé kǒ}}

12 {{lang|dil|bur óro kǒ}}

13 {{lang|dil|bur tẹ kǒ}}

14 {{lang|dil|bur kẹn kǒ}}

15 {{lang|dil|bur tís kǒ}}

16 {{lang|dil|bur kwártu kǒ}}

17 {{lang|dil|bur kwalā kǒ}}

18 {{lang|dil|bur ẹddu kǒ}}

19 {{lang|dil|bur wẹ kǒ}}

20 {{lang|dil|tarben}}

21 {{lang|dil|tar(be) bé kǒ}}

22 {{lang|dil|tar(be) óro kǒ}}

23 {{lang|dil|tar tē kǒ}}

24 {{lang|dil|tar kẹn kǒ}}

25 {{lang|dil|tar(be) tís kǒ}}

26 {{lang|dil|tar(be) kwártu kǒ}}

27 {{lang|dil|tar kwalā kǒ}}

28 {{lang|dil|tar(be) ẹddu kǒ}}

29 {{lang|dil|tar(be) wẹ kǒ}}

References

Category:Definitely endangered languages

Category:Languages of Sudan

Category:Nubian languages