Talodi–Heiban languages

Talodi–Heiban
Geographic distribution	Nuba Hills, Sudan
Linguistic classification	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Talodi–Heiban
Subdivisions	Talodi Heiban
Language codes

The Talodi–Heiban languages are two relatively closely related language families of the erstwhile Kordofanian branch of Niger–Congo posited by Joseph Greenberg (1963): Talodi, also called Talodi–Masakin, and Heiban, also called Koalib or Koalib–Moro.

Roger Blench notes that the Talodi and Heiban families have the noun-class systems characteristic of the Atlantic–Congo core of Niger–Congo, but that the Katla languages (another putative branch of Kordofanian) have no trace of ever having had such a system, whereas the Kadu languages and some of the Rashad languages appear to have acquired noun classes as part of a Sprachbund, rather than having inherited them. He concludes that the Kordofanian languages do not form a genealogical group, but that Talodi–Heiban is core Niger–Congo, whereas Katla and Rashad form a peripheral branch (or perhaps branches) along the lines of Mande. The Kadu languages may be Nilo-Saharan.

Lafofa (Tegem), sometimes classified as a divergent Talodi language, has a different set of cognates with other Niger–Congo and has been placed in its own branch.

Talodi–Heiban	Heiban   East  Ko (Fungor, Kau, Nyaro) Warnang (Werni)  Central  Kwalib (Koalib, Rere) Logol (Lukha) Laro–Ebang (Heiban) Utoro (Otoro) Shirumba (Shwai)  West  Tiro (Tira) Moro  Talodi  Nding (Eliri) Jomang (Talodi)  Tocho  Tocho (Tacho), Acheron (Asheron), Lumun, Torona  Masakin  Ngile (Daloka), Dengebu (Dagik)

See also

• Heiban Nuba people
• Talodi people

Notes

• Roger Blench. Unpublished. Kordofanian and Niger–Congo: new and revised lexical evidence.
• Roger Blench, 2011, Should Kordofanian be split up?, Nuba Hills Conference, Leiden