Acheron language

Acheron
Asheron
ɡə-rəmɛ
Pronunciation/ɡə-rəmɛ/
Native toSudan
RegionNuba Hills
Native speakers
20,000 (2006)
9,800 in home area (2006)
Dialects
  • Gathuk
  • Gandok
  • Garong
Language codes
ISO 639-3acz
Glottologache1245
ELPAcheron
Acheron is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

Acheron (Asheron) is a 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

Consonants
BilabialDentalAlveolarPost-
alveolar		PalatalVelar
Plosivevoiceless pːt̪ːtkkː
voiced bd̪dɟggw
Fricativevoiceless ssː
voiced ðz
Nasalshort mnɲŋ
long mːnːɲːŋː
Trill rrː
Tap ɽ
Approximantshort ljw
long lːwː

Norton (2000) calls /s/ and /k/ "stiff cord" segments, saying they are always voiceless, with other short plosives and fricatives varying in voicing.

Vowels

Vowels
FrontCentralBack
Close[+ATR] iu
[-ATR] ɪʊ
Mid ɛəɔ
Open a

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

  1. 1 2 Acheron at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Norton 2013, p. 195.
  3. ↑ Stevenson 1956, p. 102, quoted in Norton 2013, p. 195
  4. 1 2 Norton 2000, p. 24.
  5. ↑ Norton 2013, pp. 208.
  6. ↑ Norton 1995, quoted in Norton 2013, p. 195

References

Further reading