Dongolawi language


Dongolawi is a Nubian language of northern Sudan. It is spoken by a minority of the Danagla in the Nile Valley, from roughly the 3rd cataract upstream to the bend in the Nile near ed Debba. With population displacement due to the Aswan High Dam there are communities of speakers in eastern Sudan.
Dongolawi is an Arabic term based on the town of Old Dongola, the centre of the historic Christian kingdom of Makuria. Today's Dongola was founded during the 19th century on the western side of the Nile. The Dongolawi call their language Andaandi " of our home".
Nearly all Dongolawi speakers are also speakers of Sudanese Arabic, the lingua franca of Sudan. Arabic-Dongolawi bilingualism is replacive in the sense that Dongolawi is threatened by complete replacement by Arabic.
Dongolawi is closely related to Kenzi, spoken in southern Egypt. They were once considered dialects of a single language, Kenzi-Dongolawi. More recent research recognises them as distinct languages without a "particularly close genetic relationship." Apart from these two languages spoken along the Nile, three extinct varieties were included under Kenzi-Dongolawi.