The Dinka language

Timeline

1866
Mitterrutzner, Johannes Chrysostomus. Die Dinka-Sprache in Central-Afrika; Kurze Grammatik, Text und Worterbuch [and] Die Sprache der Bari in Central-Afrika. Brixen: A. Weger, 1866
1870
Beltrame, Giovanni. Grammatica della lingua denka. Firenze: G. Civelli, 1870.
1928
Rejaf language conference.
1920s, 1930s, and 1940s
Arthur Nebel (Catholic Missionary) documented Rek dialect.
Archdeacon Shaw (Anglican missionary) ducumented Bor and Agar dialects.
Dr. A. Trudinger documented the Padaŋ dialect.
1938
Cueibet language conference.
A.N. Tucker commissioned by the British Administration to prepare an orthography for Dinka.
1939
Final draft of Tucker’s Dinka orthography.
1948
Nebel, A. Dinka Grammar (Rek-Malual dialect) with texts and vocabulary. Instituto Missioni Africane, Verona, 1948.
1954
Nebel, A. Dinka-English, English-Dinka dictionary. 1st. ed.
1975
Institute of Regional Languages established.
1978
Institute of Regional Languages and Sumer Institute of Linguistics (know known as SIL International) collaborated on the development of a new Dinka orthography, which identified breathy vowels by using a diaeresis on the vowels.
1979
Nebel, A. Dinka-English, English-Dinka dictionary. 2nd. ed. Editrice Missionaria Italiana, Bologna, 1979.
1980s and 1990s
The new orthography was adopted by the Catholic bible translators working on the Rek and Agar Old Testaments. The orthography was later adopted by the Bible Society of Sudan.
1990
Dinka Cultural Society started Dinka literacy classes and adopted the new orthography for its curriculum.
1991
University of Khartoum, Faculty of Afro-asian Studies, established a Dinka language course.
1995
Dinka Language Institute established in Cairo, Egypt, by the Dinka refugee community in Egypt. The institute established Dinka literacy courses.
2000
DInka Language Institute (Australia) established. The institute promotes Dinka literacy and Dinka language and culture maintenance in Australia, and within the Dinka diaspora.

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