Nilotic · ISO 639-3 shk
Shilluk Language
Shilluk is a Nilotic language spoken by about 2.0 million people in 2 countries. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Shilluk is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Shilluk
Language family
- Nilotic
- Western Nilotic
- Lwoo
- Northern Lwoo
- Shilluk
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Shilluk language
Shilluk is spoken by about 2.0 million people, which makes it the 312th most spoken language in the world — just behind K'iche' (2.0 million) and ahead of Shahmirzadi (2.0 million). It belongs to the Nilotic language family and, more precisely, to the Northern Lwoo group within the Lwoo branch.
Where is Shilluk spoken?
Shilluk is used in 2 countries. The largest communities live in Sudan (180,000) and South Sudan (180,000).
Share of the population that speaks Shilluk: Sudan 0.4% (180,000) and South Sudan 1.4% (180,000).
Shilluk is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Shilluk is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Luo (Kenya and Tanzania), Lango (Uganda), Alur and Acoli.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 shk.
Frequently asked questions about Shilluk
How many people speak Shilluk?
Where is Shilluk spoken?
What language family does Shilluk belong to?
Is Shilluk an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.