Berti | |
---|---|
Native to | Sudan |
Region | North Darfur |
Extinct | 1990s? |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | byt |
byt.html | |
Glottolog | bert1249 |
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.[1]