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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Sudan
Index
Sudan's ethnic and linguistic diversity remained one of the
most complex in the world in 1991. Its nearly 600 ethnic groups
spoke more than 400 languages and dialects, many of them
intelligible to only a small number of individuals. In the 1980s
and 1990s some of these small groups became absorbed by larger
groups, while migration often caused individuals reared in one
tongue to converse only in the dominant language of the new area.
Such was the case with migrants to the Three Towns. There Arabic
was the lingua franca despite the use of English by many of the
elite. Some linguistic groups had been absorbed by accommodation,
others by conflict. Most Sudanese were, of necessity,
multilingual. Choice of language played a political role in the
ethnic and religious cleavage between the northern and southern
Sudanese. English was associated with being non-Muslim, as Arabic
was associated with Islam. Thus language was a political
instrument and a symbol of identity.
Data as of June 1991
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