Soo or So is the
Kuliak language of the
Tepes people of northeastern
Uganda. The language is
moribund, with most of the population of 5,000 having shifted to
Karamojong, and only a few dozen elderly individuals are still able to speak Soo. Soo is divided into three major dialects: Tepes, Kadam (Katam), and Napak (Yog Toŋi).
There are between 3,000 and 10,000 ethnic Soo people (Carlin 1993). They were historically hunter-gatherers, but have recently shifted to pastoralism and subsistence farming like their Nilotic and Bantu neighbors.[2] Beer (2009: 2) found that most Soo villages have only one speaker remaining. Thus, the speakers rarely have a chance to actively use the Soo language.
Dialects
Soo dialects are spoken on the slopes of the following three mountains in east-central Uganda just to the north of
Mount Elgon.[3]
Tepes dialect (also called Tepeth), on the slopes of
Mount Moroto in
Moroto District, Uganda. It is spoken in the Kakingol, Lea, and Tapac valleys on the slopes the Mount Moroto.[4] The dominant language in the area is Karimojong. Most Tepes people have assimilated both linguistically and culturally with the
Karimojong people.[5] Villages include Akeme, Nabuin, and Mokora,[6] as well as Naripo Kakole.[4]
Kadam dialect, on the slopes of
Mount Kadam in
Nakapiripirit District, Uganda. Villages include Nakapeliethe and Nakaapiripirit.[7] Kadam data is primarily available in Heine (m.s.).[8] The dominant language in the area is
Pokot.[5] According to Carlin (1993), Mount Kadam has the highest concentration of ethnic So people.
Napak dialect, on the slopes of
Mount Napak in
Napak District, Uganda (no speakers found as of 1993).
There are fewer than 60 elderly speakers of all three dialects combined.[2]
Carlin (1993: 2-3) notes that there are only minor differences between the Tepes and Kadam dialects, which are mutually intelligible.
Grammar
So grammar has been described by Beer, et al. (2009).[9]