22/07/2025
HOW THE ALIAB'S SPELLING ENDING WITH “B” IS THE CORRECT SPELLING OF THE ALIAB AS PEOPLE AND ALIAB LAND?
By: Manyang Chapa II
The spelling of Aliab, that ends with the letter ‘B’ being confused for that which ends with the letter “P” by those who are happy and good at advancing conspiracy has to be look at critically by all the Aliab's intellectuals, most all those who have had the knowledge of the Aliab Dinka's dialect. In my opinion as in the opinions of those who are correcting Aliab's misconceived dialectical patterns or intonations correction of a misplaced or miscopied, we agree that, accurate and correct spelling for Aliab as people and as a land is Aliab, ending with “B,” not the other which ends with the letter “P,” as some claimed.
This is the reason I simply agree with the branding of “Aliab, the land and the people,” a similar narrative aligning or that go hand in hand with how the Bor denote their Bor, the people and the land. Aliab spelling which ends with the letter ‘B’ has been and is the original spelling for the Aliab land and the Aliab people. There are historical significants in both the Aliab's historical realm and corridor of anything related to the Aliab, their land and culture to justify that, Aliab spelling that ends with “B,” is the Aliab's original and correct spelling.
In many of the old books written by the British and Arab writers who have either studied or wrote about the Aliab Dinka, their land and culture; Aliab, not Aliap is what these writers have written and was what they must have known and recorded down from the ancient Aliab to be what they were. This is why, Aliab both as a land and the people is so different from Aliap misspelling being subscribe to by some.
Aliab's correct spelling is Aliab and ends with the letter ’B’ as it has been, not Aliap, ending with letter ’P’ as some are ignorantly portraying and which is foreign to the Aliab. For some years now, I had been so hard on some of my friends and other elements who disagree with me on almost everything concerning or related to Aliab for one reason or another. My advise to them had been that, they are free to disagree with me on almost everything related or in regard to Aliab but not on the misspelling of Aliab as Aliap alternatively.
However, even if the Dinka's (Jieng) audible accents, especially the variety of tone that makes the sound of the letter “B” in the Aliab to sound as if it is the letter “P” which I think, is what has confused those who are pointlessly objecting the correct spelling, they must understand that, Aliab's spoken and written dialect in term of words usage is the dialectical features that distinguishes Aliab spelling from how others spell it to be. For example, this spelling is what distinguishes the Aliap-tɔc of the Agaar from Aliab as a Dinka's section just as the Agaar or from notable usage of Aliap as a name by some Dinka's section, mostly the Cic and the Atuot.
Though these people continue to mistake the former for the later and despite simple and numerous clarifications by some of us, I believed that, the worst is that, there is a foreign power outside behind this conspiracy. This power has recruited critics within and without. The agencies and their agents of this particular power must be inform that, they are wrong. And also that, those within must be confronted as agents of the foreign power drive to go against their own heritage, history and identity.
To me, no foreign power, whatsoever, no matter how powerful such a foreign power is thought or thought to be, no matter how hard such a foreign power would try to interfere with the Aliab's history and civility will ever win the conspiracy of distorting Aliab's history, or to the extent of renaming Aliab name to his or her or its own preference and above all, to the maximum of challenging the Aliab Dinka's dialect of speaking and spelling some of the Dinka's words different from himself or herself etc.
These are the outstanding thoughtful thoughts we must reflect on ourselves as Aliab intellectuals to encountering such a foreign power and his or her or its agents and agencies. It doesn't need a rocket scientist or a linguist to affirm the truth that, every Dinka's section has its own way of spelling and pronouncing some different Dinka (Jieng) words, from Verb to Noun as well as from Adjective to Adverb. The Padang Dinka, for example spell the name ‘Arop’ as Arob. Likewise, the Ngok spell the names Manyang, Majok, Majak, Mabek etc., as Minyang, Mijok, Mijak and Miabek or so.
The Aliab in this respect spell the names Marial and Marol etc., as Mariar and Maror.
This is not a mistake in the spelling or pronunciation of the mentioned words or names but a reflection of how the Padang, the Ngok and the Aliab and the many of the other Dinka's sections truly speak, spell and pronounce in their own Dinka's dialect different Dinka's words in their own way.
Dr. John Garang in one of his speeches acknowledged how he was bullied at Tonj Intermediate School by some of his class and school mates when he pronounced the Arabic word “Lamsha,” as “Namsha.” According to the late hero, the Twi dialect he spoke pronounces “L” as letter “N.” And so this pronunciation has forced him to replace ‘L’ with ‘N.’ Though he was bullied from time to time as such by his mates, he knows that, he wasn't what his friends tried to paint or baptize him. For he knows himself, he was John Garang de Mabior.
The point is, all the Dinka's sections have their unique ways of speaking and spelling different Dinka's dialectical phrases. The spelling of Aliab to those who do not know ends with P, but such an assumption is misleading, unrelatable and unhistorical. The letter “L” of the Arabic word “Lamsha,” in the story of Dr. John Garang above in Tonj above is Twi's pronunciation for letter “N,” not Dr. John's own error. And that is why we must know that, different Jieng sections speak different Dinka's words and phrases in their own way and manner, and it is the real part of Dinka's language formation and development.
In addition to this example, the Aliab Dinka spell and pronounce the name of the Atuot town of Yirol as “Yiru” or “Yiron.” The Aliab, like the Twi Dinka for letters L and N, or like Dr. John at Tonj Intermediate School for his Arabic word “Lamsha,” silent the letter “L” of the noun Yirol, the name of the Atuot's town or administrative unit. Whether it is a linguistic problem related to accent or the because the name Yirol to the Aliab is foreign to them itself is a justification that, different Dinka's sections speak and spell some Dinka's phrases differently.
Last but not the least, another important account I would like to add to how the Aliab spelling, that ends with “B” is the correct and historical spelling for the Aliab people and the Aliab land and as another proof to my referencing of different old books ever written about the Aliab Dinka, their culture and history is the account of the Mundari. The Mundari, Aliab's main neighbor from the West, Southwest, South to the Southeast call and do refer to the Aliab aa “Aliaba.” Mundari, even if they as Bari-speaking group generally call the Dinka people and Aliab in particular, “Jeŋö” or “Jeŋe,” a Bari-speaking translation for the name Jieng or for Jieng people. But, separately they refered to Aliab as “Aliaba.”
To the Mundari per now and as for decades or centuries ago, Aliab are known as “Aliaba. The Mundari inference hasn't only preserved the Aliab's written spelling but also their historical and original spelling of what Aliab ought to be. It has as a matter of clarity added letter “A” at the end of the name Aliab to conform to the Mundari and Bari-speaking lingual accents or phonetics.
Arguably, the Aliab in return refer to their Mundari neighbor as “Medar” (Mundari), and “Meder” (Mundari land). The suffix “Der,” added to other two prefixes Dinka's nouns of Kur and Gel by the Aliab to form the name Derkur (Mundari of the hill) and Dergel (Mundari of the river) is derived from the Aliab's word “Meder,” meaning ‘something concerning or related to the Mundari people or something that has everything to do with the Mundari.’ Indeed, to the Mundari, Aliaba is the name of they refered to the Aliab people and Aliab land.
In short, if I were to voluntarily ask the conspirators of the Aliap misspelling, I could have ask them to tell us their historical source, references or where have they got it written that Aliab is misspelled as Aliap. I had lot to ask, but I can't ask anymore without an answer to this my one and single alternative question. Most of all, I urge the foreign power behind this conspiracy that, he or she or it, is going to fail. The truth is against him or her. History is against his or her distortion of the Aliab's identity. That, no matter how powerful he or she thinks or no matter how influencial he or she is, or thought to be, he or she got no power to question Aliab's dialect or to challenge how the Aliab spell different Dinka's words against his or her own linguistic accent. This is my stand point.
