Southern Sudanese Arabic and the Churches

This paper examines how Churches in Southern Sudan have used different varieties of Arabic, including Arabic-based P/C in both written and oral productions. Whereas Churches have been important agents of the linguistic British colonial policy and have acted as main agents for the defence of Southern Sudanese languages, they have also relied heavily on various forms of Arabic. 3 types of data are compared: two written published documents (text book from the Catholic mission in Wao in 1929 and a small booklet of Religious Hymns by the African Inland Church in Juba in 1979) and one oral recording (Preaches in an Anglican Churches in Juba in 1984). Comparison between the two written documents shows that the use of Latin script is common but that the levels and styles are very different. One is close to the oral level and indicates that the Churches have developed a specific form of Juba-Arabic. Cet article étudie comment les églises sud soudanaises ont utilisé différents niveaux d'arabe en se basant sur trois types de documents (livres scolaires de la mission catholique de WAo de 1929, livret de prière publié par la African Inland Church à Juba en 1979 et des enregistrements de prière à Juba en 1984).