Shatt language

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Eastern Sudanic language of Suda

title: "Shatt language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["daju-languages", "severely-endangered-languages"] description: "Eastern Sudanic language of Suda" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatt_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Eastern Sudanic language of Suda ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox language"]

Field	Value
name	Shatt
nativename	Ikä Caning
states	Sudan
region	South Kordofan
ethnicity	Shatt
speakers	30,000
date	2014
ref	e18
familycolor	Nilo-Saharan
script	Latin
fam2	Eastern Sudanic
fam3	Southern Eastern?
fam4	Daju
fam5	Eastern
map2	Lang Status 40-SE.svg
mapcaption2
iso3	shj
glotto	shat1244
glottorefname	Shatt
lingua	05-PEA-aa
::

The Shatt language is a Daju language of the Eastern Daju family spoken by the Shatt people in the Shatt Hills (part of the Nuba Mountains) southwest of Kaduqli in South Kordofan province in southern Sudan.

Villages are Shatt Daman, Shatt Safia, and Shatt Tebeldia (Ethnologue, 22nd edition).

Names

The designation "Shatt" is an Arabic word meaning "dispersed" and is applied to several distinct groups in the Nuba Mountains. "Caning" is their own name for themselves, linguistically referred to as endonym, whereas "Shatt" is considered an exonym due to its external ascription. Speakers refer to their language as ikä caning ('mouth, language').

Phonology

Consonants

::data[format=table]

Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
m	n	ɲ	ŋ
p	t	c	k	(ʔ)
b	d	ɟ	g
ɓ	ɗ	ʄ
f	s		x	h
	z
	r
w	l	j
::

/x/ may vary between velar [x] or uvular [χ] fricative sounds.
A glottal stop [ʔ] may also occur, only in intervocalic positions.

Vowels

::data[format=table]

Front	Central	Back
i		u
e	ə	o
	a
::

/ə/ is phonetically raised as [ə̝].
Sounds /e, o/ may also be heard as [ɛ, ɔ].

Alphabet

The alphabet consists of 27 letters, which are shown in the table below with the corresponding letter from the International Phonetic Alphabet chart. ::data[format=table]

IPA	Upper Case	Lower Case
[a]	[ə̝]	[ɓ]
A	Ä	B
a	ä	b
::

Grammar

The grammar in this section is primarily based on the Caning Grammar Book (Second Edition 2017).

Morphology

Types of Words

::data[format=table title="Types of Caning Words{{Cite web |last=Alfira |first=David Abbi |last2=Kafi |first2=Timothy Kuku |last3=Kaki |first3=Hassan Kuwa |last4=Hasan |first4=Ali Alaliim |last5=Anjo |first5=Anjo Kuku |last6=Jas |first6=Dayan Kuku |last7=Sarukh |first7=Sadik Kafi |year=2017 |title=Caning Grammar Book |url=https://www.webonary.org/caning/files/CaningGrammarBookNov17.pdf |website=Webonary Caning Dictionary |publisher=Sudan Workshop Program, Development and Literacy Partners International |place=South Sudan |pages=12–13 |publication-place=Yida}}"]

Type	Example	Translation	Noun	Verb	Preposition	Location	Pronoun	Adjective	Quantity	Number	Adverb	Question Word	Connector
Kig kasiy ya.	Person ate meat.
Kig kasiy ya.	Person ate meat.
Kig kasiy ya tä pumpung.	Person ate meat in bush.
Kig kasiy ya tagä pa.	Person ate meat in front of house.
Ma masiy ya.	He ate meat.
Kig kasiy yana apo.	Person ate good meat.
Kig kasiy ya käꞌday.	Person ate all the meat.
Kig kasiy aska kodos.	Person ate three fishes.
Kig kasiy ya tetex.	Person ate meat quickly.
Xänang kasiy ya?	Who ate meat?
Ndä kig kasiy ya.	Then person ate meat.
::

Nouns

A noun in Caning "can be a person, animal, place, thing, or idea."

Singular and Plural

Plurals in Caning are built in three different ways:

By adding a suffix to the singular.
By adding a suffix to the plural.
By adding a suffix to both, the singular and the plural form.

::data[format=table title="Suffixes: Singular and Plural"]

Suffix	Root	Singular	Plural	Translation
-ic / -	ux	uxic	ux	worm(s)
- / -iny	ax	ax	axiny	hut(s)
-ic / -iny	win-	winic	wininy	vulture(s)
::

When adding a singular suffix only as described in form one, the plural form remains unchanged. ::data[format=table title="Most common Singular Suffixes"]

Suffix	Singular	Plural	Translation
-c /	bebec	bebe	gourd
-dic, -tic/	gäldic	gäl	egg
-wec /	ngaluwec	ngalu	bell
-wic /	kadasuwic	kadasu	foundation
::

For the second for, when adding the plural suffix only, the singular form remains unchanged. ::data[format=table title="Some common Plural Suffxes"]

Suffix	Singular	Plural	Translation
/ -u	ux	uxu	women
/ -da, -ta	oxay	oxayda	animals
/ -di, -ti	bul	buldi	drums
/ -de, -te	jen	jende	years
::

Certain patterns occur in pairs for the respective singular and plural forms, as described in form three. ::data[format=table title="Suffix pairs"]

Pair	Singular	Plural	Translation
-ic / -iny	winic	wininy	vulture(s)
-ic / -u	banyic	banyu	light(s)
-wan/-wan	penäwan	penggäwan	son(s)
-x/-ny	osox	osony	lion(s)
-d/ -nu	'dawud	'dawunu	type of fish
::

Plural-only nouns

There are exceptions to the rule, e.g. words that change form, having a shorter plural than singular form or no singular or plural form at all.

Some nouns only occur as plurals, e.g. noncountable nouns that refer to masses or liquids: ::data[format=table title="Example: Plural-only nouns"]

Singular	Plural
/	/
/	/
/	/
::

Pronouns

::data[format=table title="Subject and Object Pronouns{{Cite web |last=Alfira |first=David Abbi |last2=Kafi |first2=Timothy Kuku |last3=Kaki |first3=Hassan Kuwa |last4=Hasan |first4=Ali Alaliim |last5=Anjo |first5=Anjo Kuku |last6=Jas |first6=Dayan Kuku |last7=Sarukh |first7=Sadik Kafi |year=2017 |title=Caning Grammar Book |url=https://www.webonary.org/caning/files/CaningGrammarBookNov17.pdf |website=Caning Grammar Book |publisher=Sudan Workshop Program, Development and Literacy Partners International |place=South Sudan |pages=36–40 |publication-place=Yida}}"]

Singular	Plural
1st Person	agä
Kog	We (and you)
2nd Person	gi
3rd Person	ma
ce	She
nya	It
::

It is noteworthy that Caning has two forms of the pronoun "we" (1st person plural) that could be distinguished by calling them inclusive and exclusive versions. One being -was (we - not you) and the other one being -kog (we - and you).

This difference is also made with the possessor and possessive pronouns us/our(s).

Possessor Pronouns

Possessor pronouns can replace the possessor (apang = man) in the sentence below.

"Kig kasax axä apang. Person refused hut of man.

Kig kasax axang. Person refused my hut." (ax = hut) ::data[format=table title="Possessor Pronouns"]

Possessor	Caning	Singular	Plural	Translation
my	-ang	axang	axinygang	my hut
your (sg)	-ägi	axägi	axinygägi	your (sg) hut
his	-äma	axäma	axinygäma	his hut
her	-äce	axäce	axinygäce	her hut
its	-änya	axgänya	axinygänya	its hut
our (not your)	-äsko	axäsko	axinygäsko	our (not your) hut
our (and your)	-og	axog	axinygog	our (and your) hut
your (pl)	-ägo	axägo	axinygägo	your (pl) hut
their	-äsa	axäsa	axinygäsa	their hut
::

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns can also replace nouns.

By using the same example, the difference between possessor and possessive pronouns become more clear.

"Kig kasax axä apang. Person refused hut of man.

Kig kasax nämanggo. Person refused his." (ax = hut)

All of the possessive pronouns below can therefore take the place of nämanggo in the above sentence. ::data[format=table title="Possessive Pronouns"]

Caning	Pronoun
nanggä	mine
nänggi	yours (sg)
nämanggo	his
näcengga	hers
nänyanggo	its
näskonga	ours (us, not you)
nänokanga	ours (us and you)
nänggonga	yours (pl)
näsanga	theirs
::

Numbers

Cardinal numbers

::data[format=table title="Cardinal numbers in Caning{{Cite web |last=Alfira |first=David Abbi |last2=Kafi |first2=Timothy Kuku |last3=Kaki |first3=Hassan Kuwa |last4=Hasan |first4=Ali Alaliim |last5=Anjo |first5=Anjo Kuku |last6=Jas |first6=Dayan Kuku |last7=Sarukh |first7=Sadik Kafi |year=2017 |title=Caning Grammar Book |url=https://www.webonary.org/caning/files/CaningGrammarBookNov17.pdf |website=Webonary Caning Dictionary |publisher=Sudan Workshop Program, Development and Literacy Partners International |place=South Sudan |pages=122–123 |publication-place=Yida}}"]

N	Text in Caning	N	Text in Caning	N	Text in Caning	N	Text in Caning
1	nuxu	11	asiny wang nuxu	21	ud wang nuxu	110	udiny mädäg wang asiny
2	pädax	12	asiny wang pädax	30	ud wang asiny	200	udiny mädäginy pädax
3	kodos	13	asiny wang kodos	31	ud wang asiny wang nuxu	300	udiny mädäginy kudos
4	tesped	14	asiny wang tesped	40	udiny pädax	400	udiny mädäginy tesped
5	mädäg	15	asiny wang mädäg	50	udiny pädax wang asiny	500	udiny mädäginy mädäg
6	aran	16	asiny wang aran	60	udiny kodos	600	udiny mädäginy aran
7	paxtänding	17	asiny wang paxtänding	70	udiny kudos wang asiny	700	udiny mädäginy paxtänding
8	tespetespe	18	asiny wang tespetespe	80	udiny tesped	800	udiny mädäginy tesped
9	paye nuxu	19	asiny wang paye nuxu	90	udiny tesped wang asiny	900	udiny mädäginy paye nuxu
10	asiny	20	ud	100	udiny mädäg	1000	päsic nuxu
::

Intermediate numbers, e.g. 785 are built similar to English, from front to end: udiny mädäginy paxtänding (700) wang (and) udiny tesped (80) wang (and) mädäg (5).

Ordinal numbers

The following table shows how ordinal numbers are built. ::data[format=table title="Ordinal numbers in Caning - Days"]

Caning	Translation	Caning	Translation
xongi näs nuxuzeneng	first day	xongondi näs paxtändingzeneng	seventh day
xongondi näs pätaxeneng	second day	xongondi näs tespetespedeneng	eighth day
xongondi näs kodoseneng	third day	xongondi näs paye nuxuzeneng	ninth day
xongondi näs tespedeneng	fourth day	xongondi näs asinygeneng	tenth day
xongondi näs mädägkeneng	fifth day	xongondi näs asiny wang nuxuzeneng	eleventh day
xongondi näs arandeneng	sixth day	xongondi näs asiny wang pätaxeneng	twelfth day
::

Numbers usually come after the noun with a modifier suffix, in this case -eneng. ::data[format=table title="Example of cardinal and ordinal numbers in the same sentence"]

Caning	English
Edekeny sawuno sasog täsa mänang tä sängga kodos, na xongondi näs kodoseneng cäläpede ta atänäce ka,	For the next three days, they came and did the same, and on the third day she said to her grandchild,
::

References

Boyeldieu, Pascal. 2011. The modified form of Shatt Damam nouns and its Daju cognates. Afrika und Übersee 91. 9-84. Available at: https://llacan.cnrs.fr/publications/Shatt_nouns.pdf
Thelwall, Robin E.W.. (1981). "The Daju Language Group". School of Humanities of the New University of Ulster.
Alfira, David Abbi. (2017). "Caning Consonant and Vowel Book". Sudan Workshop Programme, Development and Literacy Partners International.
Alfira, David Abbi. (2017). "Caning Grammar Book". Sudan Workshop Program, Development and Literacy Partners International.
Alfira, David Abbi. (2017). "Caning Grammar Book". Sudan Workshop Program, Development and Literacy Partners International.
Alfira, David Abbi. (2017). "Caning Grammar Book". Sudan Workshop Program, Development and Literacy Partners International.
Alfira, David Abbi. (2017). "Caning Grammar Book". Sudan Workshop Program, Development and Literacy Partners International.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::