South Sudan Languages

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South Sudan

Languages

Description

With over 60 indigenous languages spoken, South Sudan is a multilingual country.
English is the official language of the country which was introduced in the region during the colonial era.
Dinka, Nuer, Bari, and Zande are some of the indigenous languages with the most speakers.
Both English and Juba Arabic, an Arabic pidgin used by several thousand people, especially in the capital city of Juba, serve as lingua francas.

Word List(s)

Juba Arabic

• Juba Arabic Swadesh list (Wiktionary)

Dinka

• Dinka Word List (Forvo)

Nuer

• Nuer Sample Phrases (Wikipedia)

Bari

Zande

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Juba Arabic

• Juba Arabic Phonology (Wikipedia)

Dinka

• Dinka Phonology (Wikipedia)
• Dinka Alphabet (Wikipedia)
• Dinka Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

Nuer

• Nuer Phonology (Wikipedia)
• Nuer Writing System (Wikipedia)
• Nuer Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

Bari

• Bari Alphabet (Wikipedia)
• Bari Alphabet and Pronunciation (Omniglot)

Zande

• Zande Phonology (Wikipedia)
• Zande Alphabet (Wikipedia)

Language Aids and Dictionaries

Juba Arabic

• Smith, Ian, and Timothy Ama Morris. Juba Arabic-English dictionary = Kamuus ta Arabi Juba wa Ingliizi. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain Publishers, 2005. Available at: WorldCat.

Dinka

• English to Dinka Dictionary (Glosbe)

Nuer

• Nuer Thoknaath (Nuer language learning) (YouTube)
• English to Nuer Dictionary (Glosbe)

Bari

• Online Bari Language Course-Bari Alphabets Deep Dive (YouTube)
• Nyombe, Bureng G. V. Some aspects of Bari history : a comparative linguistic and oral tradition reconstruction. Nairobi: University of Nairobi Press, 2007. Available at: WorldCat.
• Nyombe, Bureng G. V. A unified orthography for Bari languages : (Sudan, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo - Congo). Cape Town, South Africa: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society (CASAS), 2012. Available at: WorldCat.

Zande

• English to Zande Dictionary (Glosbe)
• Languages of the Central African Republic : Sango language, Gbaya languages, Bongo-Bagirmi languages, Kaba languages, Zande language, Fer language, Aja language, Vale languages, Kara languages. Memphis, Tenn.: General Books, 2010. Available at: WorldCat.

Additional Resources

• South Sudan (Britannica)