Belanda Bor language

Bor
Belanda Bor
Native to	South Sudan
Native speakers	26,000 (2017)[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic? Kir–Abbaian? Nilotic Western Luo Northern Bor
Language codes
ISO 639-3	bxb
Glottolog	bela1256
ELP	Belanda Bor
Belanda Bor is classified as Definitely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Belanda Bor, or just Bor, is a Luo language of South Sudan. Most speakers also use Belanda Viri, which is a Ubangian language and not at all related.

Obtaining scientific/ linguistic information about the Belanda language posed a lot of challenges than expected. First, there were many gaps in the history of the language, also a lot of contradictories were encountered which reduced the clarity of the endeavour.

When the history of the Belanda Boor ethnic group is considered, the reason for this lack of coherence can probably be linked to the conflicts shared by the various ethnic groups, slave raids and civil wars,^[2] as most of the Belanda Boor people were forced to leave their homelands and settle in the Western Equatoria. Another possible reason leading to the lack of proper history is the independence of South Sudan which led to more contradictions and lack of proper recordings about the Belanda Boor group.

There are currently 40 – 50,000 speakers of the language in the South Sudan.

Belanda Boor – The etymology

The term Belanda Boor is used to denote both the language and the people. To distinguish between both meanings, a prefix is added.

Joo-boor – the community

Di- boor – the language.

Belanda Boor is formed from the autonym Boor and the central-Sudanic Bongo word Beerlanda. In Bongo, beer is the ethnonym for all their Lwoo speaking neighbours. The word “landa” means hills and mountains.

Classification

Belanda Boor belongs to the Nilo-Saharan group and is spoken in South Sudan. It is further classified as Nilotic, western Nilotic, and northern lawoo.

Phonology

Syllable Structure

For many western Nilotic languages, the syllabic structure is monosyllabic which is also the case for Boor. Typical for the Belanda Boor language also is that most of the nouns have no affixes in the singular form and in the plural, they maintain prefixes. The syllables in the Belanda Boor languages are either open or closed. Open Syllables can be high or heavy.