Nubians and the Nubian Language in Contemporary Egypt: A Case of Cultural and Linguistic Contact

Abstract

The displacement of the Egyptian Nubians from their ancient lands and their resettlement deeper in the land of Egypt in 1964 had an impact on Nubian culture and the Nubian language. Contemporary Egyptian Nubian consists of two dialects, Fadicca and Matoki. After the resettlement of Nubians, the interactions between speakers of the two Nubian dialects and speakers of Arabic increased. Nubian, an East Sudanic language, came into contact with a dominant Semitic language, Arabic. How has this increased contact affected the Nubian language in Egypt? The aim of this work is to examine from the perspective of a 'language-contact situation' the impact of the resettlement on the future of the Nubian language. The comparative data on the Nubian situation will add an important contribution to our fund of knowledge on processes of language contact. This is the first sociolinguistic study of the Nubian language from such a perspective.

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