EASTERN SUDANIC LANGUAGES

group of languages representing the most diverse of the four subbranches of the Chari-Nile branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. The Eastern Sudanic branch is composed, according to many scholars, of the Murle-Didinga, Nara (Barea), Merarit, Gaam (Ingassana), Daju, Nyangiya, Temein, Nyima, Nilotic, and Nubian language groups. These languages are spoken from southern Egypt in the north to Tanzania in the south and from Ethiopia in the east to Chad in the west. Nilotic and Nubian are the two most important of the Eastern Sudanic language groups. The term Eastern Sudanic has also been applied by some scholars to the group of languages usually called Central Sudanic. See also Nilotic languages; Nubian languages; Central Sudanic languages.