The official language of the country is English which was introduced in the region during the colonial era (see Anglo-Egyptian Sudan).

Prior to independence the 2005 interim constitution of the Southern Sudan Autonomous Region declared in Part 1, Chapter 1, No.

[10] South Sudan has expressed interest in adopting Swahili as a second official language in order to deepen ties with the East African Community.

[15] West Central Banda, Indri, and Njalgulgule are used commonly among the elderly, but no members of the child-bearing generation speak them actively.

An additional 9 languages are not being transferred to children, and although Bonga and Lokoya are spoken by all generations within their population, they are rapidly losing users.

[16] During the Rejaf Conference held in April 1928 during the Anglo-Egyptian condominium it was decided that schooling in the South would be in the English language.

[18] Nevertheless, South Sudan submitted an application to join the Arab League as a member state on 25 March 2014, which is still pending.

[22] In the state of Western Bahr el Ghazal, in its border region with the neighboring country of Sudan, there is an indeterminate number of Baggara Arabs (traditionally nomadic people) that resides either seasonally or permanently.

Their language is Chadian Arabic and their traditional territories are in the southern portions of the Sudanese regions of Kurdufan and Darfur.