The Eastern Sudanic languages form a family of languages spoken from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania, usually considered a subfamily of Nilo-Saharan, following Joseph Greenberg. Its members are:

• Nubian
• Surmic
• Nara
• Eastern Jebel
• Nyimang
• Temein
• Taman
• Daju
• Nilotic
• Kuliak

To these, Christopher Ehret controversially adds Berta. Other possible but unconfirmed members are Meroitic and Oropom.

Nubian (and possibly Meroitic) give Eastern Sudanic the earliest written attestations of any sub-Saharan African language; however, its largest branch by far is Nilotic, spread by extensive and comparatively recent conquests throughout East Africa. Before the spread of Nilotic, Eastern Sudanic was centered in present-day Sudan (although the name refers to the region of Sudan, not the country, as opposed to Central Sudanic .)

Lionel Bender (1980) proposes several Eastern Sudanic isoglosses, such as "mouth" *kutuk, "three" *(ko)TVS-(Vg), "fish" *ku-lug-ut, *kVl(t).

Subclassifications

Bender 1982 (as described by Ruhlen 1987, and followed by the Ethnologue):

• Eastern branch:
  • Nubian
  • Surma
  • Nara
  • Eastern Jebel
• Western branch:
  • Nyimang
  • Temein
  • Tama
  • Daju
• Nilotic
• Kuliak

Ehret 2001 (who terms them "Eastern Sahelian"):

• Astaboran
  • Nara
  • Western Astaboran
    • Nubian
    • Taman
• Kir-Abbaian
  • Jebel
    • Eastern Jebel
    • Berta
  • Kir
    • Nuba Mountains (ie Nyimang)
    • Daju
    • Surma-Nilotic
      • Surmic (ie Surma)
      • Nilotic
• Rub languages (ie Kuliak)

Sources

• M. L. Bender. "Some Nilo-Saharan isoglosses". ed. Thilo Schadeberg, M. L. Bender, Nilo-Saharan: Proceedings of the First Nilo-Saharan Linguistics Colloquium, Leiden, Sept. 8-10, 1980. Foris: Dordrecht 1981.