The Endangerment of the Nubiin Language: Sociolinguistics, Language Policy and Literacy Perspectives

Abstract

Nubiin (Nobiin) is the language of the Nubian people (the Nubians), who live along the banks of the Nile River; mainly in far south of Egypt and far north of Sudan. Nubiin is a language of Nilo-Saharan phylum. This study aims at exploring the position or standing of Nubiin language, and evaluate whether Nubiin is endangered or not, and identifying the importance of having orthography or writing system for Nubiin in order to be used in the education and learning system. The demographic, sociolinguistic background of the region has been discussed and explained. Finally, the researchers have concluded that Nubiin is not certainly endangered unless it is investigated by applying the UNESCO’s criteria of evaluating endangerment. The researchers, furthermore, recommend Arabic script as a writing system for Nubiin for several reasons explained in the research. Therefore, they recommend further studies to be conducted to investigate the opinions and attitudes of the Nubians towards this suggestion.