1. University of Gothenburg Department of Linguistics
THE LINGUISTIC SITUATION OF TIMA LANGUAGE, THE NUBA MOUNTAINS
BY Abdel Rahim Hamid Mugaddam

3. Nuba Mountains is linguistically complex: 40 different languages belonging to 3 language phyla, Niger-Cong, Nilo-Saharan and Afroasiatic
Strategic location + fertile land =attractive to people from different part of the Sudan
Most of the languages are endangered

4. Tima ethnic group
Tima ethnic group lives in Southern western fringe of the Nuba Mountains
Population 5000 living in 4 villages: Mariam, Kew, and Balool, and Tambo
Tima people have their own language Tima, known as Domurik [do-muri:k],
Domurik is spoken by about 5000 people 4000 of whom live in Tima area while 1000 live in Khartoum

5. Nuba Mountain languages

6. According to Greenberg (1963), Tima and katla form one of the five subgroups within the Kordofanian branch of Niger- Kordofanian which includes Heiban, Talodi, Rasha, and katla

7. Tima community believe that their ancestors deliberately changed their language, so that the neighboring Katla and Julud, who speak genetically-related languages, could no longer understand the Tima language.
According to Dimmendal (to appear), Whereas lexically Katla, Juld and Tima are fairly close, the grammatical differences between them are indeed considerable.

8. Dimmendal believes that the structural differences between the three languages is not a result of language manipulation, but rather of another type of contact-induced change, the imposition of structural properties from a specific source language into a target language in a language shift situation.
Contrary to the Tima people claim, Dimmendaal argues that the changes took place in katla and Julud.

9. The language committee
Tima community observed signs of language shift among young generation ( use of Arabic and English more often & code switching/code mixing)
Language committee was set up to safeguard the group’s language
The committee contacted prof. Dimmendaal asking for technical help

10. Tima Multimedia documentation project
Objectives
Writing a trilingual dictionary (Tima/Arabic/English)
A description of the phonological and syntactic structure of Tima language
Multilingual documentation of non-verbal communication activities
Sociolinguistic profile of Tima speakers

11. The Sociolinguistic survey
Objectives
To give an overview of the current linguistic situation in Tima villages
To investigate the process of language shift among Tima speech community
To examine the domains in which Tima and other languages are used
To investigate language attitudes among Tima community

12. Method
Questionnaires covered 1500 people of both sex (5 age groups from 9 to 60+)
Questions on linguistic repertoire, language use, and language attitude
Representatives from the 4 Tima villages have participated in the process (5 from each village)
The Tima language committee has supervised the survey

13. people who participated in the administering of questionnaires

14. Picture of Western Tima primary school students

15. Results
Multilingualism: a number of old people reported that they spoke four languages: Tima, Katla, Julud,Temein, and Arabic

16. Trilingualism
about 70% of the sample claim trilingualism in Tima, Arabica local language/ Tima, English, Arabic
55% of the old generation (60 years and above): Tima, Arabic, local language
75% ( years): Tima, Arabic, local language
71% (20-39 years) : Tima, Arabic, English
73 % (7- 12 years): Tima, Arabic, English

17. Bilingualism 34% of the old people (60+ years) 20% (40-59 years)
Bilingualism in Tima and Arabic (In most of the cases)

18. Monolinguals
4% of the old people (60+ years) in Tima with passive knowledge in Arabic
9% (40-59) in Tima with very poor Arabic
1% (20-39 years) in Arabic
1% (13-19 years) in Arabic
5% (7-12) in Arabic

19. Primary language
90% of the sample population use Tima as a primary language
7% use Arabic and 3% other languages
Tima is used as a primary language by:
96% of the old people (60+ years)
94% (40-59 years)
89% (20-39 years)
85% (13-19 years)
86% (7-12 years)

20. Domains of language use
Home: 90 % of the sample population use Tima exclusively in the home domain
5% of the sample use Tima and Arabic
5% of the sample use Arabic exclusively
90% (60+ years)
92% (40-59 years)
90% (20-39)
89% (13-19)
88% (7-12)
Tima assumes an absolute dominance of communication in the home domain.

21. Outside the home: streets, schools, market, etc,
The determining factor is the practical role played by language
35% only Tima
10% Tima/Arabic
11% Tima/English
23% Tima/Arabic/English
7% Arabic/English
12% Only Arabic

22. Use of Tima exclusively by age group
49% (60 + years)
38% (40-59 years)
28% (20-39 years)
25% (13-19 years)
33% (7-12 years)
Order of patterns: Tima only, Tima/Arabic/English, Arabic only, Tima English, Tima/Arabic, English only

23. Old people use more Tima (40-60+ years)
Younger generation use English and Arabic
School boys (13-19) use English more than the remainder age groups , because English is the medium of education.
Interestingly, the same group use Arabic more than the others.
Generally speaking, young generation Tima individuals tend to use English and Arabic more than their old counterpart

24. Language attitudes
Measuring people’s attitudes towards a given code may give some indications about the future of that code with regard to maintenance or shift
Two questions:
which language respondents wish learn reading and writing with?
Is it important for Tima children to learn Tima language?

25. 43% reported Tima
21% Tima/Arabic
10% Tima English
8% Arabic
2% Arabic/English
9% Arabic/English/Tima
Taking the pattern Tim, Tima/Arabic, Tima/English, and Arabic/English/Tima together, it will be evident that about 83% of the sample would like to learn reading and writing in Tima.

26. English is the least reported because it is already there as a medium of instruction at all of the Tima schools
The need for Tima and Arabic is emphasized
Many students believe that Arabic together with English will help them in the job market

27. Parental attitudes
About 90% of the parents believe that is very important for their children to learn to read and write in Tima
10% of the sample did not support the use of Tima in education because they believe that it does not have a role to play in the future of their children (e.g. job opportunities)
This suggests that parents are very keen to maintain Tima language through education

28. Conclusion Tima is still used widely in the Tima area
Used predominantly in the home domain
Facing competition from English and Arabic
Young generation used Arabic and English more often outside the home domain
There a slight shift from Tima among younger generation
Attitude towards Tima is extremely positive
Role of Arabic and English for the future of children is recognized by parents

29. There is a strong wish to use Tima in the education system in Tima area
The practice of having a non-governmental language committee set up by a group of tribal people to look after their language provides inspiration into the ways in which the masses can be involved in the process of language planning.