The Tagoi language is a Kordofanian language, closely related to Tegali, spoken near the town of Rashad in southern Kordofan in Sudan, about 12 N, 31 E. Unlike Tegali, it has a complex noun class system, which appears to have been borrowed from more typical Niger–Congo languages. It has several dialects, including Umali (Tumale), Goy (Tagoi proper), Moreb, and Orig (, Turjuk). Villages are Moreb, Tagoi, Tukum, Tuling, Tumale, Turjok, and Turum (Ethnologue, 22nd edition). The following describes the Orig dialect. Phonology The consonants are: Stops are automatically voiced between two non-obstruents (obstruents = stops or fricatives.) Stops and sonorants may occur geminate. Some consonant clusters are allowed (almost invariably two-consonant), most involving sonorants; prenasalised ones are particularly common. are found in some Arabic loanwords. The vowel system is unclear; phonetically, it seems to be basically: . There seem to be three phonemic tones: high, low, and occasionally falling. Grammar Nouns Each noun consists of a prefix plus a stem; the prefix identifies its noun class. It changes according to number. The genders include: w-, pl. y-: this gender seems to consist mainly of persons and animals. E.g.: wùttar "chief" > yáttar "chiefs"; wín "snake" > yínét "snakes". bilabial-, pl. yi-, including several trees; e.g. wòr "um-kaddaqi tree" > yíwóórèn, púrn "upper arm" > yìbúrn. pl. with no initial change, including a number of kinship terms; e.g. màrá "road" > màrnát, àppá "father" > àppánàt t-, pl. y-: mostly body parts; e.g. tárák "skin" > yárák, téŋlàk "tongue" > yáŋùlàk. t-, pl. ŋ-: almost exclusively body parts; e.g. téŋlàk "tongue" > ŋéŋlàk, tìɲèn "tooth" > ŋìɲèn. t- with no plural: place names, mass nouns y-, pl. ŋ-: notably fruits and body parts, but also a wide variety of others. E.g. yé "egg" > ŋíye; yìmbó "knee" > ŋìmbó. ŋ- with no plural: languages, liquids, possibly verbal nouns; e.g. ŋə̹́gdìráá "Arabic" (< kə̀dráá "Arab"), ŋàì "water". k-, pl. s-: seems to be the commonest gender, includes all sorts of semantic fields; e.g. kábà "hut" > sábà, kám "hair" > sám, kàdìrú "pig" > sàdìrú. c-, pl. ɲ-: includes a wide variety of semantic fields; derives diminutives; e.g.: cíŋ "child, boy" > ɲín; cúdén "bird" > ɲúdén. In genitive (possessive) constructions, the head noun is followed by a linking element which agrees with it in class, followed by the possessor noun; e.g. ɲín ɲi-adam "children of Adam"; kʊs ki-gai "skull (ie bone