Karko language (Sudan)

Karko
Kakenbi
Native toSudan
RegionNuba Mountains
Native speakers
15,000 (2013)[1]
Dialects
  • Karko
  • Kasha
  • Shifir
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3kko
Glottologkark1256
ELPKarko (Sudan)
Karko is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Karko (also Garko, Kaak, Karme, Kithonirishe; autonym: Kakenbi) is a Hill Nubian language spoken in the northwestern Nuba Mountains in the south of Sudan. It is spoken by around 7,000 people in the Karko hills, 35 km west of Dilling, including Dulman, although Jakobi Angelika & Hamdan Ahma estimate the Karko population at up to 15,000 individuals, mostly in urban centers. Ethnologue reports that speakers of Karko are shifting to Sudanese Arabic.[2]

The language is referred to in Karko as "Kàâŋg" or "káákmbἑἑ", which means "Karko ́s language". They also write that "Karko is part of Kordofan Nubian, a group of closely related languages which are also known as Hill Nubian" and descend from the Nubian language family.[3]

  1. ^ Karko at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ^ "Karko". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-06-25.
  3. ^ Jakobi Angelika & Hamdan Ahmad, "Number Marking on Karko Nouns", _Dotawo: a Journal of Nubian Studies_: Volume 2, 2015. p. 271.