This is the first systematic and clearly structured description of Kunuz Nubian grammar, written by a native speaker of the language. After many years of waiting, this publication presents a mile stone in the study of Nubian languages and of interest to anyone interested in African linguistics.
~ Angelika Jakobi, University of Cologne
A Reference Grammar of Kunuz Nubian is a dissertation by Ahmed Sokarno Abdel-Hafiz, completed in 1988 at SUNY, Buffalo, which has remained unpublished for nearly thirty years. Already an indispensable standard work in Nubian linguistics, owing to its wide and unofficial circulation, it tackles the phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax of Kunuz Nubian, a Nile Nubian language spoken in Egypt. It remains the only systematic overview of this language, whereas the closely related Dongolawi–Andaandi, spoken in the Sudan, has been described in Armbruster’s Dongolese: A Grammar (1960). This new edition, prepared in the context of the Dotawo: Monographs series, will give this work of scholarship its well-deserved and long overdue published form.
A Reference Grammar of Kunuz Nubian includes a new preface by the author, as well as an appendix with several essays on topics in Kunuz Nubian linguistics, including question formation and benefactives.
About the Author
Ahmed Sokarno Abdel-Hafiz completed his undergraduate studies in Egypt. In 1984, he joined the Department of Linguistics at the State University of New York, Buffalo, where he obtained an M.A. (1985) and a Ph.D. (1988). After returning to Egypt, he was appointed a lecturer at the Department of English, Assuite University. In 2002, he became the Dean of Faculty of Arts, Aswan University. Nowadays, Abdel-Hafiz is the head of English at Faculty of Arts, Aswan University. He has written several articles on Kunuz Nubian and Arabic Language. Some of these articles have been published in local periodicals, whereas others in international ones such as Languages in Contrast, Babel Journal of Translation, Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies, and Dotawo: A Journal of Nubian Studies. Also, he has translated two books on Nubian life before the Relocation into Arabic.
He taught me phonetics at the college. One of the best teachers I have ever known.
Thank you Dr.Ahmed for this great effort.As nobian and one of you study mate I am proud of you. All the best
Dr.Ahmed has taught me one semester of English Phonetics as an undergraduate student at South Valley University. This one semester was the spark that flamed my love for studying linguistics, a pursuit that is finally achieved as I’m pursuing my PhD in English Studies in the United States. Thank you for this work, and thank you for writing down a language variation that shapes the identities of not only Nubian people, but also all Southern Egyptians.
I can’t wait for this great work to come out. I can only thank Dr.Ahmad for such a valuable and genuine work of linguistic research concerning our heritage.It is something to be proud of as Egyptians not only southerns or nubians.
Life isn’t measured by our long age,money,noble families.These things are forgotton. WHAT WE OFFER TO BEBEFITE HUMANITY,WILL BE ETERNAL.THANKS DR. SOKARNO FOR EVERYTHING GOOD YOU DO