| Katla | |
| Nativename: | Kaalak |
| States: | Sudan |
| Region: | Nuba Hills |
| Ethnicity: | Katla, Gulud |
| Speakers: | 25,000 Julud |
| Date: | 2009 |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Speakers2: | Possibly 14,000 Katla (1984) |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Kordofanian |
| Fam3: | Katla |
| Dia1: | Katla-Cakom |
| Dia2: | Katla-Kulharong |
| Dia3: | Julud |
| Iso3: | kcr |
| Glotto: | katl1237 |
| Glottoname: | Katla |
| Glotto2: | julu1237 |
| Glottoname2: | Julud |
Katla (also Kaalak or Kwaalak) is a Katla language, closely related to a neighbouring language called Tima. Katla is generally classified as Kordofanian, which is not a uniform branch, and is native to the Nuba Mountains. While Jalad is seen a dialect there is a clear distinction between the two groups. Similarly one can distinguish Katla into east and west Katla dialects, it is believed to be spoken in 11 villages around Jebel Katla and their ethnicity is kàlàk.
The variety Julud is mutually intelligible with Katla-Kulharong but not with Katla-Cakom.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Velar | Labial- velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Dental/ Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| Rhotic | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ |
| Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
| pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| pronounced as /link/ |
Most of the time nouns in Katla do not have a plural, either numbers are put in front of the word or a quantifier is used. Often loanwords do not follow this rule and therefore change in their plural form.
In some cases Katla places the genitive after the subject, as in other Sudanese languages: ‚u gbalana‘ " the dog’s owner ". Usually this is avoided and put in between both nouns: ‚gas i gu‘ „the dog’s head“.
The subjective case is put infringement of the verb. In the case of multiple objects each one gets a case:
‘gu šekemole retet’ “The dog bit the gazelle”
| [2] | singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Ṇ- | Ni-, N-, Ń- | |
| 2nd person | Dj- | Dj- | |
| 3rd person | Y- | Y- |
Source:[3]
Dialects and village locations: