Documenting Tabaq, a Hill Nubian language of the Sudan, in its sociolinguistic context

2011

Tabaq is a highly endangered Hill Nubian language that is spoken by about 800 speakers in the Nuba Mountains of the Sudan. This project takes a comparative perspective: it documents Tabaq, and collects parallel information on surrounding non-related languages (Katla, Julud, and Tima). This approach allows us to investigate the historical and sociolinguistic context in which these languages are spoken, and to trace contact influence in these languages.

The research started in 2011, and is funded by the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP). The research team consists of Birgit Hellwig (La Trobe University), Trudel Schneider-Blum and Gerrit Dimmendaal (University of Cologne, Germany) and Abdelrahim Mugaddam, Khaleel Bakheet Khaleel, and Khalifa Jabr Eldar (University of Khartoum, Sudan).