Midob language

Midob (also spelt Meidob) is the language of the Midob people in North Darfur. It is genetically part of the Nubian language family which is part of the Nilo-Saharan language phylum. Apart from their homeland, Midob speakers also live in the Khartoum area and Jezirat Aba. The Midob people call their language tìd-n-áal, literally "mouth of the Midob", and themselves tìddí (singular), tìd (plural). There are an estimated 50,000 Midob speakers in two main dialects, Urrti and Kaageddi.

Recent research on Midob has been done by Thelwall (1983) and Werner (1993). Both studies are concerned with the Urrti dialect.

Phonology

The following tables show the phonological consonants and vowels without phonetic variations and without more recent Arabic loans.

Vowels

Note: All vowels occur long and short. The mid central vowel ə only appears in Midob, not in other Nubian languages.

Consonants

Tone

Midob is a tonal language with two registers: High and Low. Tone is both lexical and grammatical.