etc.) are formed by use of a set of verbal suffixes in conjunction with question words. Simple interrogative utterances ('Type 2') are formed by use of another set of verbal suffixes. Some of the suffixes are similar. Possible ambiguities are resolved by the context. Some examples: (what water in live:PRES.2/3SG.Q1) 'What lives in water?' (where Nile run/flow:PRES.2/3SG.Q1) 'Where does the Nile flow?' (you soap:OB have:2/3SG.PRES.Q2) 'Do you have soap?' (soap:OB have:PRES2/3SG.Q2) 'do you sell soap?' / 'Does he/she sell soap?' (you (pl.) party.at dance:PRES1/2PL.Q2) 'Do you (pl.) dance at the party?' Writing system Old Nubian, considered ancestral to Nobiin, was written in a Coptic-like script, an uncial variety of the Greek alphabet, extended with three Coptic letters — "sh" , "h" , and "j" — and three unique to Nubian: ⳡ "ny" and ⳣ "w" , apparently derived from the Meroitic alphabet; and ⳟ "ng" , thought to be a ligature of two Greek gammas. There are three currently active proposals for the script of Nobiin (Asmaa 2004, Hashim 2004): the Arabic script, the Latin script and the Old Nubian alphabet. Since the 1950s, Latin has been used by 4 authors, Arabic by 2, and Old Nubian by 1, in the publication of various books of proverbs, dictionaries, and textbooks. For Arabic, the extended Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization system may be used to indicate vowels and consonants not found in Arabic itself. More recent educational material implements the teaching and using of the Nubian alphabet. Notes and references Notes References Abdel-Hafiz, Ahmed S.(2009) A Reference Grammar of Kunuz Nubian. Saarbrücken Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. MÜller, e.k. Adams, William Y. (1977) Nubia, Corridor to Africa. London: Allen Lane. Adams, William Y. (1982) "The coming of Nubian speakers to the Nile Valley", in Ehret, C. & Posnansky, M. (eds.) The Archeological and Linguistic Reconstruction of African History. Berkeley/Los Angeles, 11–38. Asmaa M. I. Ahmed, "Suggestions for Writing Modern Nubian Languages", and Muhammad J. A. Hashim, "Competing Orthographies for Writing Nobiin Nubian", in Occasional Papers in the Study of Sudanese Languages No. 9, SIL/Sudan, Entebbe 2004. Bechhaus-Gerst, Marianne (1996) Sprachwandel durch Sprachkontakt am Beispiel des Nubischen im Niltal. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen einer diachronen Soziolinguistik. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. Bell, Herman (1974) "Dialect in Nobíin Nubian". In Abd el-Gadir Mohmoud Abdalla (ed.) Studies in Ancient Languages of the Sudan. Khartoum. 109–122. Bell, Herman (2000) 'A survey of Nubian Place-Names', Working Paper, No. 19,