Kresh languages
Kresh is a small language group of South Sudan. It is generally considered to be a branch of the Central [Sudanic languages]. Boyeldieu judges that this has yet to be demonstrated satisfactorily, but Starostin finds convincing evidence, and that its closest relative within that family appears to be Birri.
Kresh is generally considered a dialect cluster, but it is dialectically diverse. Blench lists five Kresh languages, four of which Ethnologue counts among seven dialects of Kresh/Gbaya. Kresh and Gbaya, however, are merely exonym and endonym, not coherent languages; they are equivalent to five varieties listed by Ethnologue. Ethnologue notes that the varieties are not mutually intelligible, but that Kresh-Ndogo is universally understood as a prestige variety, and that Naka is also commonly understood as the most populous variety. Blench also includes Furu as a Kresh language, though Ethnologue classifies it as Kara.
In addition, Aja [language (Nilo-Saharan)|Aja] is spoken by ethnic Kresh, but though it remains Kresh grammatically, it has been relexified by the unrelated Banda languages.
Languages
Several Kresh varieties are not mutually intelligible:The names Gbaya, Dongo and Ndogo are ambiguous, as they are also used for unrelated Ubangian languages.
Furu was once classified as Kresh, but is now recognized as Sara.