Dagik, or Dengebu, Dagig, Thakik, Buram, Reikha, is a Niger–Congo language in the Talodi family spoken in the Nuba Mountains in South Kordofan, Sudan. It is 80% lexically similar with Ngile, which is also spoken by the Mesakin people.
| Dagik | |
|---|---|
| Dhaduwa | |
| Native to | Sudan |
| Region | Nuba Hills |
| Ethnicity | Mesakin |
Native speakers | 67,000 (2022)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | dec |
| Glottolog | dagi1241 |
The most comprehensive grammar is that of Vanderelst (2016).[2]
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p | t̪ | t | k | |||
| Fricative | (f) | s | (h) | ||||
| Nasal | m | n̪ | n | ŋ | |||
| Rhotic | r | ɽ | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j |
- Sounds /p, t̪, t, k/ can have intervocalic allophones as sonorants [β, ð, ɾ, ɣ], and voiced allophones [b, d̪, d, ɡ] when after nasals.
- Sounds [f, h] only have marginal status.
- /r/ can also be heard as a tap [ɾ] allophone.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| ɪ | ʊ | ||
| Mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
| Open | a |
- /u/ can also assimilate to a close-mid [o] in different environments.[2]