Current Research in Nilo-Saharan

NISA is a huge African symposium that works on a comprehensive, coherent linguistic phylum (area), which comprises Mali and Niger in West Africa up to Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania in Eastern Africa. The main purpose of the colloquium is to bring scholars of Nilo-Saharan languages together for scholarly exchange and discussion. Many Nilo-Saharan languages have little or no documentation. Only through adequate cooperation with colleagues from all over the world fundamental progress can be achieved in this vast research area. The symposium has a long tradition since the first symposium took place in Kisumu, Kenya already in 1986. The University of Vienna was given the mandate to arrange the 14th symposium which took place from the 30th of May to 1st of June 2019. Judged by the presentations and submissions at the Conference in Vienna, a number of research trends can be distinguished. Positive interest includes a) classification and genetic affiliation and b) morphosyntax. By contrast, phonology and all types of sociolinguistics appear to show reduced interest. Southern Sudan has seen a focus of activity on practical orthographies, especially for Surmic languages, and many of these circulate as unpublished manuscripts. Writing and media use are essential aspects of language conservation in the modern world. It is to be hoped that these areas will be under discussion in upcoming conferences. A very positive trend set by the Nubian panel is the contribution of first language speakers whose understanding of their language provides insight into new research areas. Much more insight is to be gained by such contributions of first language speakers and future research should encourage and establish that trend.

CONTENTS

Roger Blench / Petra Weschenfelder / Georg Ziegelmeyer: Introduction

ISOLATES
Roger M. Blench: Chabu and Kadu - Two orphan branches of Nilo-Saharan

GUMUZ
Colleen Ahland: Revisiting Komuz - New Evidence that supports an old proposal

KOMAN
Anne-Christie Hellenthal: A survey of demonstratives in Gwama

EAST SUDANIC
Tom Güldemann: The historical-comparative status of East Sudanic

Elsadig Omda Ibrahim Elnur: Tone changes in Nara (Northern East Sudanic)

EAST SUDANIC: NUBIAN
El-Shafie El-Guzuuli: Reduplication in Andaandi (Nile Nubian)

Kamal Hussein Abdallah / Marcus Jaeger: Preliminary study of deontic modality in Andaandi Nubian

Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei: A new set of subject markers in Old Nubian

Ronald Schaefer / Francis Egbokhare: Locus of number marking and its typology

EAST SUDANIC: NILOTIC
Prisca Jerono: Tugen interrogatives

Roland Kießling: Future, persistive, and negative perfect - Disentangling diachronic fusion in Datooga verbal inflection

Alice Mitchell: "Hey, bonikala" - Language contact and experiences of Swahili among rural Datooga children

Torben Andersen: Some remarkable features of Regariik (Northern Burun, Western Nilotic)

Doris L. Payne: Non-verbal predication and copular constructions in Maa (Eastern Nilotic)