Studies On Southern Sudanese Languages: Analytic Survey

Abstract

This descriptive study aims to shed light on the contributions made by different researchers on southern Sudanese languages so that a clear picture of what is done and what is left could be provided. It focuses on languages and fields of linguistics that receive more attention, i.e. the main areas of linguistic research, the subject matters, the period of time, among others. The study rests on a data that is collected from documentary resources. It based on the study of Samira Abdalla Mirghani (1990) , Nizar Alnour Sulieman Ali (2000), the academic studies conducted in the University of Khartoum in both Institute of African and Asian Studies (IAAS) and the Department of Linguistics in the Faculty of Arts, in addition to the studies conducted at the Khartoum International Institute of Arabic Language for non-Speakers. An account is also given to the attempts of writing southern Sudanese languages in Arabic scripts. It is found that studies on southern Sudanese languages which are classified as religious, historical, empirical, legal and applied cover certain subjects, fields of study, neglecting many. Therefore, more studies on different levels of southern Sudanese languages’ structure and  function are required.