Koman Languages

The Koman languages are a small close-knit family of languages located along the Sudan–Ethiopia border with about 50,000 speakers. They are commonly believed to belong to the Nilo-Saharan family, but evidence is slight, and among scholars who do accept inclusion, opinions vary as to their position within it.

• Koman
  • Uduk, or T’wampa, (formerly in South Sudan)—about 20,000 speakers, most at a large refugee camp at Bonga, near Gambela
  • Kwama (Ethiopia)—about 15,000 speakers, mainly in Benishangul-Gumuz
  • Komo (Sudan)—about 12,000 speakers mainly in An Nil al Azraq
  • Opuuo, or Shita (Ethiopia)—spoken in 5 villages north of the Nuer by about 300 people
  • Gule (Sudan)—extinct

The poorly known Shabo language (600 speakers) shows strong Koman influence, and it has been suggested (on little evidence) that it may be a Koman language.

Dimmendaal (2008) notes that mounting grammatical evidence has made the Nilo-Saharan proposal as a whole more sound since Greenberg proposed it in 1963, but that such evidence has not been forthcoming for Songhay, Gumuz, and Koman: very few of the more widespread nominal and verbal morphological markers of Nilo-Saharan are attested in the Coman languages plus Gumuz ... Their genetic status remains debatable, mainly due to lack of more extensive data. (2008:843) And later, In summarizing the current state of knowledge, ... the following language families or phyla can be identified — ... Mande, Songhai, Ubangian, Kadu, and the Coman languages plus Gumuz. (2008:844) However, Ahland (2010) reports that with better attestation, both Koman and Gumuz do appear to be Nilo-Saharan, and perhaps closest to each other.