Acheron language

Acheron
Asheron
Pronunciation/ɡə-rəmɛ/
Native toSudan
RegionNuba Hills
Native speakers
20,000 (2006)
9,800 in home area (2006)
Dialects
  • Gathuk
  • Gandok
  • Garong
Language codes
ISO 639-3acz
Glottologache1245
ELPAcheron
Acheron is classified as Severely Endangered by the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Acheron (Asheron) is a Niger–Congo language in the Talodi family spoken in South Kordofan, Sudan.

Acheron derives from the Arabic word aɟɟur-uun [sic] which means "innocent people", it was later "indigenised as /acʊrʊn/" and turned into /aʃərɔn/. The autoethonym in Acheron is /wɑ-rəmɛ/ for the people and /ɡə-rəmɛ/ for the language.

The number of active speakers is estimated to be 9,800. This number includes the community members and "diaspora speakers" in other Sudanese towns and abroad.