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Languages in Sudan

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Under the 2005 Constitution of Sudan, Arabic and English are the official languages, as well as the working languages of the national government, with all the indigenous languages to be respected and considered as national languages that need to be developed and promoted by all the Sudanese people. About 142 individual languages exist in the country with 133 considered as living languages and five are believed extinct.

Arabic is spoken by about 15 million Sudanese people primarily in North Sudan. Also used in religious services in several towns, including Juba, and in Central government, the printed media and radio Omdurman, it is classified as Creole Arabic based, with alternate names of Juba Arabic, Pidgin Arabic, and Southern Sudan Arabic. It is also a member of the Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family consisting of different divisions, including the Cushitic which is represented by the Bedawiye language spoken by about 950,000 people in Hadenasa and Bisharin areas in the northeast along the Red Sea coast.

Dinka is another language spoken in many villages in South Sudan, as well as in the country’s northwestern, northeastern, south central, southwestern and southeastern parts of the country. The other languages spoken in the north include the Nubian and Beja or Bedawi languages. The languages with no known speakers include Gule, San and Roro Hills, Baygo in the north and southern Darfur, Birked in the north Darfur, and Berti in Tagabo Hills. The extinct languages include Tarona, Togoyo, Nding, Mittu and Homa, which were in use in many areas in the past, while El Huzeirat is the only known nearly-extinct language in west Kordofan.