Tegali (also spelled Tagale, Tegele, Tekele, Togole) is a Kordofanian language in the Rashad family, which is thought by some to belong to the hypothetical Niger–Congo phylum (Greenberg 1963, Schadeberg 1981, Williamson & Blench 2000).^[2] It is spoken in South Kordofan state, Sudan.

The Rashad family of language consists of two dialect clusters, Tegali and Tagoi, which share about 70% basic vocabulary on the 100-word Swadesh list. They are spoken on two mountain ranges to the north and north-west of Rashad.^[3] These languages are spoken in the Tegali Hills in the north-east of the Nuba Mountains, the home of the former "Tegali Kingdom".^[4] The most conspicuous difference between the two dialect clusters is that Tagoi has a complex system of noun classes while Tegali does not. Different explanations exist for why Tegali dialects lack a noun class system. Greenberg (1963) excludes the possibility of mass borrowing of basic vocabulary in Tagoi and assumes the loss of noun classes in the Tegali dialects.^[5]

Tegali has three varieties, Rashad (Gom, Kom, Kome, Ngakom), Tegali, and Tingal (Kajaja, Kajakja). Ethnologue states that Rashed and Tegali dialects are nearly identical.^[1] Tucker and Bryan list Rashad as almost identical to Tegali, "perhaps a mere variation of one language";^[6] however, Greenberg lists it as a separate language.^[7] Welmers suggests Tingal as a dialect of Tegali;^[8] Tucker and Bryan report this as different from Tegali and Rashad, but as definitely belonging to the Tegali branch.^[6]

There are 108,000 native speakers of Tegali in South Kordofan state, Sudan.^[1] Speakers are distributed in the hills between the Rashud-Rashad and Rashad-Umm Ruwaba roads, with a few outlying hills west of Rashad (including Tagoi and Tarjok) and scattered hills south of Rashad.^[9]