Toposa language

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title: "Toposa language" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["languages-of-south-sudan", "eastern-nilotic-languages"] description: "Eastern Nilotic language of South Sudan" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toposa_language" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Eastern Nilotic language of South Sudan ::

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

Field	Value
name	Toposa
altname	Toposa–Jiye
states	South Sudan
region	Eastern Africa
ethnicity	Toposa
speakers
date	2017
ref	e25
speakers_label	Speakers
familycolor	Nilo-Saharan
fam2	Eastern Sudanic?
fam3	Southern Eastern?
fam4	Nilotic
fam5	Eastern
fam6	Ateker–Lotuko–Maa
fam7	Ateker
fam8	Turkanic
iso3	toq
glotto	topo1242
glottorefname	Toposa
script	none
notice	IPA
::

|name=Toposa |altname=Toposa–Jiye |pronunciation= |states=South Sudan |region=Eastern Africa |ethnicity=Toposa | speakers = | date = 2017 | ref = e25 | speakers2 = | speakers_label = Speakers |familycolor=Nilo-Saharan |fam2= Eastern Sudanic? |fam3=Southern Eastern? |fam4= Nilotic |fam5= Eastern |fam6=Ateker–Lotuko–Maa |fam7=Ateker |fam8=Turkanic |iso3=toq |glotto=topo1242 |glottorefname=Toposa |script=none |notice=IPA

Toposa (also Akara, Kare, Kumi, Taposa, Topotha) is a Nilo-Saharan language (Eastern Sudanic, Nilotic) spoken in South Sudan by the Toposa people. Mutually intelligible language varieties include Jiye of South Sudan, Nyangatom of Ethiopia, Karimojong, Jie and Dodos of Uganda and Turkana of Kenya. Teso (spoken in both Kenya and Uganda) is lexically more distant.

Phonology

Consonants

::data[format=table]

Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Plosive	Voiceless	Voiced	Affricate	Voiceless	Voiced	Fricative	Nasal	Flap	Approximant
::

• All consonants (except, of course, for /w/ and /j/) can occur in labialized and palatalized forms.

Vowels

::data[format=table title="+[[Advanced tongue root|ATR]]"]

Front	Central	Back	Close	Mid	Open
i		u
e		o
::

::data[format=table title="-ATR"]

Front	Central	Back	Close	Mid	Open
ɪ		ʊ
ɛ		ɔ
	a
::

• Toposa, like many Nilotic languages, has vowel harmony with two sets of vowels: a set with the tongue root advanced (+ATR) and a −ATR set. +ATR is marked. The vowel is neutral with respect to vowel harmony.
• All nine vowels also occur as devoiced, contrasting with their voiced counterparts. These voiceless vowels occur primarily in prepause contexts. Some Toposa morphemes consist only of a high voiceless vowel; the functional load appears to be much greater with the high vowels than with the lower.
• Toposa has tone, which is grammatical rather than lexical. Tone is used to mark case in nouns and tense in verbs.

Bibliography

• {{Cite journal | volume = 20 | pages = 129–142 | last = Schröder | first = Martin C. | title = The Toposa Verb in Narrative Structure | journal = Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere | year = 1989
• {{Cite journal | volume = 12 | pages = 17–26 | last = Schröder | first = Martin C. |author2=Helga Schröder | title = Voiceless Vowels in Toposa | journal = Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere | date = 1987a
• {{Cite journal | volume = 12 | pages = 27–36 | last = Schröder | first = Martin C. |author2=Helga Schröder | title = Vowel Harmony in Toposa | journal = Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere | date = 1987b

References

References

1. Jiye and Jie are the same name, but refer to different varieties
2. Schröder & Schröder 1987b, p. 27
3. Schröder & Schröder 1987a, p. 17

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