MOTHER TONGUE
Newsletter of the Association for the Study of Language In PrehistoryIssue 25 · Summer 1995
Ehret Alters Nilo-Saharan Taxonomy
Courtesy of Franz Rottland, we have a report of a new scheme for internal taxonomy of N-S. Chris Ehret presented it in Los Angeles in March. (Let -> mean 'rewrite')
N-S -> Koman + Sudanic
Sudanic -> Central + North
North -> Kunama + Saharo-Sahelian
Saharo-Sahelian -> Saharan + Sahel
Sahelian -> For + Trans-Sahel
Trans-Sahel -> Central Sahelian + Eastern Sudanic
Central Sahelian -> Songhay + Maban
Eastern Sudanic -> Astaborean + Kuliak + Kir/Abbaian
Astaborean -> Nara + Nubian Tama
Kir/Abbaian -> Jebel + Kir
Jebel -> Gaam + Bertha
Kir -> Temein + Daju + Surma/Nilotic
Surma/Nilotic -> Surma + NiloticThere are some surprises in this. Koman does deserve its special status, as do Central Sudanic and Kunama. Songhay is startling because so many people are trying to get it out of N-S into a group with Basque or Niger-Congo. Outside of Koman, the group I know best is Eastern Sudanic where I find Ehret's scheme entirely credible, especially the placing of the Kuliak group.
The weights of the branches in N-S suggest that the Sudan (Republic) and the Nile system are the homeland of this great phylum. This repeats a conclusion I reached in 1965; it was less well supported.
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