| Yulu | |
|---|---|
| Binga | |
| Native to | Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Sudan |
| Ethnicity | Yulu, Binga |
Native speakers | (13,000 cited 1987–2011)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | yul |
| Glottolog | yulu1243 |
| ELP | Yulu |
 Yulu is classified as Vulnerable by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger | |
Yulu (also spelled Youlou, pronounced [juːluː]) is a Central Sudanic language spoken by the Yulu people of South Sudan and the Central African Republic (CAR). It has an estimated 7,000–13,000 speakers.[2]
Yulu is classified as a Central Sudanic language of the Bongo–Bagirmi branch. It has been written using Latin script (with adjustments for sounds with no corresponding letters) since the Rejaf Language Conference in 1928 attempted to standardize a writing system for the region's indigenous languages.
Many Sudanese people prefer to speak Arabic; however, there is a new movement to promote the instruction of local languages in school. This is particularly because a large proportion of speakers are not literate in Yulu.[3] Between 30 and 50 languages are spoken in South Sudan; Yulu was not recommended by the Rejaf Language Conference to be taught in schools, possibly contributing to its endangerment.[4]
Yulu has four tones in speech: high, mid, low and extra-low. One of its defining features is the use of compound verbs. Compound verbs are a cluster of between two and four related verbs that create meaning when combined.[5] Some of the most comprehensive linguistic information on Yulu was written by Stefano Santandrea, a Catholic priest from Rome who lived in Bahr al-Ghazal for several decades.[4]
- ^ Yulu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Frawley, W. (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: AAVE-Esperanto. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press.
- ^ (19 November 2015). W. Bahr el-Ghazal pushes for local languages in schools. Sudan Tribune.
- ^ a b Gabjanda 1976.
- ^ Boyeldieu, P. (2007). Compound Verbs and Modalities of Process in Yulu (Central Sudanic). In Advances in Nilo-Saharan Linguistics. Proceedings of the 8th Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, University of Hamburg, August 22–25, 2001 (pp. p-25). Rüdiger Köppe.