Amdang language

Amdang
sìmí amdangtí
Native to	Chad, Sudan
Region	Biltine, Wadi Fira
Ethnicity	Amdang
Native speakers	170,000 (2024)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Fur Amdang
Language codes
ISO 639-3	amj
Glottolog	amda1238
ELP	Amdang
Language map of Amdang (in grey)

Amdang (also Biltine; autonym: sìmí amdangtí) is a language closely related to Fur, which together constitute a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. It is mainly spoken in Chad, north of the town of Biltine, and sporadically elsewhere in Ouaddaï Region. There are also small colonies of speakers in Darfur near Woda'a and Fafa, and in Kordofan in the Abu Daza district and at Magrur north of Bara. Most of the ethnic group now speaks Arabic.

The language is also called Mimi, Mima or Biltine; the name "Mimi", however, is also applied to two extinct Maban languages of the area; Mimi of Nachtigal and Mimi of Decorse.

Wolf (2010) provides lexical data for the Kouchane, Sounta, Yaouada, and Tere dialects of Amdang.

Bibliography

• Paul Doornbos & M. Lionel Bender. 1983. "Languages of Wadai-Darfur", in ed. M. Lionel Bender, Nilo-Saharan Language Studies, African Studies Center, Michigan State University
• Joseph Greenberg. 1972. "On the identity of Jungraithmayr's Mimi", Africana Marburgensia 5.2: 45–49. Mouton, The Hague.
• H. Jungraithmayr. 1971. "How many Mimi Languages are there?", Africana Marburgensia 4.2: 62–69.
• H. MacMichael. 1967 (1922). A History of the Arabs in the Sudan. Barnes and Noble, New York.
• H. Carbou. 1912. La Région du Tchad et du Ouadai. Leroux, Paris.
• M. Gaudefroy-Demombynes. 1907. Documents sur Les Langues de l'Oubangui–Chari, Actes du XIVe Congres des Orientalistes (Alger 1905). Paris.

See also

• Amdang word list (Wiktionary)