Amdang language - Definition

Amdang (autonym: sìmí amdangtí) is a language closely related to Fur spoken in Chad by about 5,000 people (as of 1983). It is mainly spoken in Chad north of Biltine, and sporadically elsewhere in Wadai. 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. It is also termed Mimi, Mima, or Biltine. (The term "Mimi" is also applied, however, to several other languages of the area.)

Geographic distribution of Amdang

Amdang is one of the two Fur languages, which together constitute a branch of Nilo-Saharan.

The Ethnologue regards "Mimi" as possibly distinct from "Amdang"; however, the source they quote in support of the existence of Mimi (Doornbos & Bender 1983) regards the two as identical, seeing "Amdang" as simply a name given to "Mimi" in the Biltine area.

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 H. 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.
• A. N. Tucker and M. A. Bryan. 1956. The Non-Bantu Languages of North-Eastern Africa. International African Institute, Oxford University Press.
• 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.

External link

• Ethnologue report on Amdang (http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=AMJ)