Keliko language

For the language of Papua New Guinea, see Kaliko language (Papuan).

Keliko (Kaliko) is a Central Sudanic language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan.

Keliko
Region	South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Native speakers	(42,500 cited 1989–2018)[1]
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Central Sudanic East Moru–Madi Central Keliko
Language codes
ISO 639-3	kbo
Glottolog	keli1248

Omi was once considered a dialect.

Locations

A 2013 survey reported that ethnic Keliko reside in the following bomas of Morobo County, South Sudan. (Morobo County was reported to have a majority of ethnic Kakwa people.)^[2]

• Alutu Boma (Wudabi Payam)
• Nyei Boma (Wudabi Payam)
• Yugufe Boma (Lujule Payam)
• Kendre Boma (Lujule Payam)
• Kembe Boma (Lujule Payam)

Ethnic Keliko are also found in Yei County, in Asole Boma (Lasu Payam).^[2]

Writing

Keliko is written in a Latin-based alphabet with frequent use of apostrophe, as well as the extra letters ẹ, ị, ŋ, ọ, and ụ and several digraphs and trigraphs.^[3] Diacritical marks are frequently used for marking tone.

Small	Capital
a	A
b	B
ꞌb	ꞌB
c	C
d	D
ꞌd	ꞌD
dr	Dr
e	E
ẹ	Ẹ
f	F
g	G
gb	Gb
h	H
i	I
ị	Ị
j	J
k	K
kp	Kp
l	L
m	M
mb	Mb
mgb	Mgb
mb	Mv
n	N
nd	Nd
ndr	Ndr
ng	Ng
nj	Nj
ny	Ny
ŋ	Ŋ
ŋm	Ŋm
o	O
ọ	Ọ
p	P
r	R
s	S
t	T
tr	Tr
u	U
ụ	Ụ
v	V
w	W
ꞌw	ꞌW
y	Y
ꞌy	ꞌY
z	Z
ꞌ

Marking tone

• High tone: marked by acute accent, e.g. tị.
• Mid tone: unmarked
• Low tone: marked by tilde above, e.g. drã

References

1. Keliko at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. "Village Assessment Survey". International Organization for Migration South Sudan. 2013.
3. "Búkũ Tãfí Ụ̃nị̃zú Ni Kẹ̃lị̃kọ́ Tị Sĩ Ímbápi Vé Búkũ" [Keliko Alphabet Book Teacher’s Guide]. SIL Global (in kbo). 2024-07-20. Retrieved 2024-10-25.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)