Uduk language

Uduk, also known as Twʼampa (Tʼwampa), is a Koman language spoken in Sudan near the border with Ethiopia. Nearly the entire population fled to a refugee camp in Ethiopia during the Second Sudanese Civil War, but returned to Sudan once fighting stopped. The resurgence of hostilities in the Blue Nile province after 2011 once more resulted in the Uduk community to enter refugee camps in Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Uduk
Tʼwampa
Native to	Sudan, South Sudan
Ethnicity	Uduk people
Native speakers	22,000 in the Sudans (undated; presumably after 2005)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Komuz? Koman Central Koman Komo–Uduk Uduk
Writing system	Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	udu
Glottolog	uduk1239

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Unaspirated	p pʷ	t̪ [t̪ʷ]	t		c cʷ	k kʷ	ʔ
Aspirated	pʰ pʰʷ	t̪ʰ	tʰ [tʰʷ]		cʰ cʰʷ	kʰ kʰʷ
Ejective	pʼ	t̪ʼ	tʼ tʼʷ		cʼ cʼʷ	kʼ kʼʷ
Voiced	b bʷ	d̪	d dʷ		ɟ ɟʷ	ɡ ɡʷ
Implosive	ɓ ɓʷ		ɗ ɗʷ
Fricatives	(ɸ)		s	ʃ ʃʷ		(x)	h
Nasals	m [mʷ]		n		ɲ [ɲʷ]	ŋ ŋʷ
Lateral			l
Trill			r
Approximants					j	w

1. Consonants in parentheses are allophones.
2. Consonants in brackets are rare or marginal.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

References

• Don Killian (2015) "Topics in Uduk Phonology and Morphosyntax" Ph.D. thesis. University of Helsinki.
• Don Killian and Harald Hammarström (2010) "Notes on the morphosyntax of Uduk"
• Bender, M. L. 1983. Proto-Koman phonology and lexicon. Afrika und Übersee 66, 259–297.