Arabic, Sudanese Creole

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A language of South Sudan

ISO 639-3
pga
Alternate Names
Juba Arabic, Pidgin Arabic, Southern Sudan Arabic
Population

20,000 (1987).

Location

Equatoria region widespread, into Bahr al Ghazal and Upper Nile regions.

Language Status

3 (Wider communication).

Classification
Creole, Arabic based
Dialects

Dialectal variations in different areas due to different local vernaculars.

Typology

SVO

Language Use

At least 44,000 L2 speakers. Major language of communication in Equatoria, and south of Wau and Malakal. Used as L1 or L2 in Juba and other towns in Equatoria. Most domains except very formal situations. All ages.

Language Development
Taught in primary schools, informally. Taught in secondary schools, informally. Poetry. Dictionary. Bible portions: 1983–1985.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Arabic, Sudanese Creole
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

As a creole and lingua franca, this language varies enormously in form from place to place, and from speaker to speaker (depending on subject matter and interlocuter), and is changing rapidly. The sociolinguistic situation is also changing rapidly with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese from the North, speaking Sudanese Colloquial Arabic [apd], and others from East Africa and the rest of the world, mainly speaking English.