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
ʼb	ʼB
c	C
d	D
ʼd	ʼD
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
ʼw	ʼW
y	Y
ʼy	ʼY
z	Z
ʼ

Marking tone

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