Berta Languages

Berta languages, group of languages that form a part of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Some 125,000 Berta speakers live in Ethiopia; approximately 22,000 live in Sudan. Two of the main varieties of Berta are Berta proper (also known by the derogatory name Beni Shangul), which is spoken in western Ethiopia in a corner formed by the Blue Nile River and the Sudanese border, and Gobato, also spoken in western Ethiopia. The Berta languages were assigned by Joseph H. Greenberg as a subgroup of Chari-Nile within Nilo-Saharan, but Chari-Nile is no longer considered a valid genetic unit.