View source for Koalib language

{{Short description|Niger–Congo language of Sudan}}
{{Infobox language 
|name=Koalib
|nativename={{lang|kib|Rere}}
|altname=Kowalib
|region=[[Nuba Hills]]
|states=[[Sudan]]
|ethnicity=[[Koalib Nuba people|Koalib]], [[Turum people|Turum]], [[Umm Heitan people|Umm Heitan]]
|speakers=100,000
|date=2009
|ref = e25
|script=[[Latin alphabet]]
|familycolor=Niger-Congo
|fam2=[[Kordofanian languages|Kordofanian]] (geographic)
|fam3=[[Talodi–Heiban languages|Talodi–Heiban]]
|fam4=[[Heiban languages|Heiban]]
|fam5=[[Heiban languages|Central]]
|iso3=kib
|glotto=koal1240
|glottorefname=Koalib-Rere
}}

'''Koalib''' (also called '''Kwalib''', '''Abri''', '''Lgalige''', '''Nirere''' and '''Rere''') is a [[Niger–Congo]] language in the [[Heiban languages|Heiban]] family spoken in the [[Nuba Mountains]] of southern [[Sudan]].<ref name="ethkib">[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kib Ethnologue report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905162903/http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kib |date=2008-09-05 }} for language code: kib, retrieved on Apr. 12, 2010.</ref> The [[Koalib Nuba]], [[Turum]] and [[Umm Heitan people|Umm Heitan]] ethnic groups speak this language.

==Dialects and locations==
Koalib dialects and locations (''Ethnologue'', 22nd edition):
*''Nginyukwur'' dialect: Hadra, Nyukwur, and Umm Heitan
*''Ngirere'' dialect: Abri area
*''Ngunduna'' dialect: Koalib hills area
*''Nguqwurang'' dialect: Turum and Umm Berumbita

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>[[Labialization|lab.]]</small>
|-
! rowspan="3" |[[Plosive]]
!<small>[[voiceless]]</small>
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t}}
|{{IPA link|ʈ}}
|{{IPA link|c}}
|{{IPA link|k}}
|{{IPA link|kʷ}}
|-
!<small>[[voiced]]/[[Implosive consonant|imp.]]</small>
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d}}
|{{IPA link|ᶑ}}
|{{IPA link|ɟ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small>
|{{IPA link|ᵐb}}
|{{IPA link|ⁿd}}
|{{IPA link|ᶯɖ}}
|{{IPA link|ᶮɟ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑɡʷ}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|f}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|m}}
|{{IPA link|n}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɲ}}
|{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|{{IPA link|ŋʷ}}
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|{{IPA link|r}}
|{{IPA link|ɽ}}
|
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant]]
|
|{{IPA link|l}}
|
|{{IPA link|j}}
| colspan="2" |{{IPA link|w}}
|}

* The voiced retroflex equivalent is an implosive sound [ᶑ] rather than a standard plosive [ɖ].
* Gemination occurs among plosive, nasal, liquid and approximant sounds.
* Sounds /f, t, ʃ, k, kʷ/ in intervocalic or pre-consonantal position can be heard as voiced [v, ð, ʒ, ɡ, ɡʷ]. In post-consonantal position, /f, t, ʃ, k/ are heard as [v, ð, ʒ, ɡ].
* In final position, sounds /ɟ, f/ are heard as [c, p].
* Sounds /p, t, ʈ, c, k, kʷ/ in intervocalic position can be heard as tense [pː, tː, ʈː, cː, kː, kːʷ].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Quint |first=Nicolas |title=The phonology of Koalib: A Kordofanian language of the Nuba mountains (Sudan) |last2=Kokko |first2=S. Ali Karmal |publisher=Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe |year=2009}}</ref>

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!
![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]
![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
|
|{{IPA link|u}}
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
|{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|{{IPA link|ɐ}}
|{{IPA link|ɔ}}
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}

== Writing system ==
[[Image:Atletter.svg|thumb|150px|Capital and small ''at'' letters in [[Doulos SIL]] typeface]]
It is written using the [[Latin script]],<ref name="ethkib"/> but includes some unusual letters. It shares a [[R with tail|tailed R]] (Ɽ) with other Sudanese languages, and uses a letter resembling the [[at sign]] (@) for transcribing the letter [[ع]] in [[Arabic language|Arabic]] [[loanwords]]. The [[Unicode Standard]] includes R WITH TAIL at code points U+027D (lowercase) and U+2C64 (uppercase), but the [[Unicode Consortium]] in 2004 declined to encode the at sign separately as an orthographic letter due to lack of evidence of use.<ref>{{cite web |date=2004-11-08 |title=Resolved Public Review Issues (Public Review Issue #40) |url=http://www.unicode.org/review/resolved-pri.html#pri40 |access-date=2023-03-14 |website=Unicode}}</ref>

[[SIL International]] maintains a registry of [[Private Use Area]] code points in which U+F247 represents LATIN SMALL LETTER AT, and U+F248 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER AT.<ref name="Charisdoc">[http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=CharisSIL_Technical Charis SIL] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100413134141/http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=CharisSIL_Technical |date=2010-04-13 }} font documentation, retrieved on Apr. 12, 2010.</ref> However, they have marked this PUA representation as [[deprecation|deprecated]] since September 2014, and the current version of their corporate PUA character assignments package recommends using {{unichar|24D0|CIRCLED LATIN SMALL LETTER A}} and {{unichar|24B6|CIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A}} for that letter instead.<ref name="SILPUA">Constable, Peter, and Lorna A. Priest (January 17, 2019) [http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=SILPUAassignments ''SIL Corporate PUA Assignments 5.2a''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223081253/http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&item_id=SILPUAassignments |date=2010-02-23 }}. [http://www.sil.org/ SIL International] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071201070851/http://www.sil.org/ |date=2007-12-01 }}. pp. 59-60. Retrieved on July 20, 2020.</ref>

==Publications==
The New Testament was published in Koalib in 1967.

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==External links==
{{Incubator|kib}}
* [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\krd\hei&first=0 Rere Koalib basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

{{Languages of Sudan}}
{{Kordofanian languages}}

[[Category:Heiban languages]]


{{Kordofanian-lang-stub}}