Acheron language
Acheron (Asheron) is a Niger–Congo language in the Talodi family spoken in South Kordofan, Sudan.
Acheron derives from the Arabic word aɟɟur-uun [sic] which means "innocent people", it was later "indigenised as /acʊrʊn/" and turned into /aʃərɔn/. The autoethonym in Acheron is /wɑ-rəmɛ/ for the people and /ɡə-rəmɛ/ for the language.
The number of active speakers is estimated to be 9,800. This number includes the community members and "diaspora speakers" in other Sudanese towns and abroad.
Phonology
Consonants
Norton (2000) calls /s/ and /k/ "stiff cord" segments, saying they are always voiceless, with other short plosives and fricatives varying in voicing.
Vowels
Norton (1995) posited 10 vowels: 5 [-ATR] /ɪ, ɛ, a, ɔ ʊ/ and 5 [+ATR] /i, e, ɜ, o, u/. However, Norton (2013) has 8 vowels: [-ATR] /ɪ, ɛ, ə, ɑ, ɔ, ʊ/ and [+ATR] /i u/.
Notes
References
- Norton, Russell (1995). Variation and change in the phonology of Asheron (MA thesis). University of Essex.
- Norton, Russell (2000). "The noun classes of Asheron". Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages. 8: 23–55.
- Norton, Russell (2013). "The Acheron vowel system: a participatory approach". In Blench, Roger; Schadeberg, Thilo (eds.). Nuba Mountain Language Studies. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 195–217. ISBN 978-3-89645-427-0.
- Stevenson, Roland C. (1956). "A survey of the phonetics and grammatical structure of the Nuba Mountain languages, with particular reference to Otoro, Katcha and Nyimang". Afrika und Übersee. 40: 73–84, 93–115.
Further reading
- Stirtz, Timothy M. (1 January 2015). "Schadeberg, Thilo C. and Roger M. Blench: Nuba Mountain Language Studies". Journal of African Languages and Linguistics. 36 (1). doi:10.1515/jall-2015-0006. ISSN 0167-6164. S2CID 151944262.