Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 9, 2026

Tegem language

Tegem, also Jebel Tekeim, is a Niger–Congo language spoken in Kordofan, Sudan. It is sometimes considered a dialect of Lafofa, which is poorly attested.

Last revised
Jul 9, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
177 w
Citations
2
Source
Wikipedia ↗
Tegem
Jebel Tekeim
RegionNuba Hills, Sudan
EthnicityLafofa
Native speakers
(5,100 all Lalofa cited 1984)1
Language codes
ISO 639-3(included in Lafofa [laf])
Glottologjebe1249

Tegem, also Jebel Tekeim, is a Niger–Congo language spoken in Kordofan, Sudan. It is sometimes considered a dialect of Lafofa, which is poorly attested.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t̪ ʈ c k
voiced b d̪ ɟ ɡ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd̪ ᶯɖ ᶮɟ ᵑɡ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Rhotic r ɽ
Sonorant w l ɫ j h
  • Labialization [ʷ] is also said to occur among sounds.
  • The following sounds can occur as geminated, [bː, mː, t̪ː, d̪ː, rː, lː, ɫː, ʈː, cː, ɟː, kː].2

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
ɪ ʊ
Close-mid e o
Open-mid ɛ ʌ ɔ
Open æ a ɑ
  • Vowel length is also distinctive.
References

References

  1. Tegem at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. Sosal Altayeb Mohammed Ali, Ahmed (2018). A Phonological Study of the Tegem Language. University of Cape Town.
Sources

Sources

  • Roger Blench, 2011 (ms), "Does Kordofanian constitute a group and if not, where does its languages fit into Niger-Congo?"[1]