Related Research Articles
Swahili, also known by its local name Kiswahili, is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. It is a Bantu language, though Swahili has borrowed a number of words from foreign languages, particularly Arabic and Persian, but also words from Portuguese, English and German. Around forty percent of Swahili vocabulary consists of Arabic loanwords, including the name of the language. The loanwords date from the era of contact between Arab traders and the Bantu inhabitants of the east coast of Africa, which was also the time period when Swahili emerged as a lingua franca in the region. The number of Swahili speakers, be they native or second-language speakers, is estimated to be around 80 million.
The Gusii language is a Bantu language spoken in Kisii and Nyamira counties in Nyanza Kenya, whose headquarters is Kisii Town,. It is spoken natively by 2.2 million people, mostly among the Abagusii. Ekegusii has only two dialects: The Rogoro and Maate dialects. Phonologically they differ in the articulation of /t/. Most of the variations existing between the two dialects are lexical. The two dialects can refer to the same object or thing using different terms. Example Cat. While one dialect calls a cat ekemoni, the other calls it ekebusi. As well, the rogoro dialect calls sandals Chidiripasi while the maate dialect calls it chitaratara. Many more lexical differences manifest in the language. Maate Dialect is spoken in Tabaka and Bogirango. Most of the other regions use the Rogoro Dialect, which is also the standard dialect
Ogiek is a Southern Nilotic language of the Kalenjin family spoken or once spoken by the Ogiek peoples, scattered groups of hunter-gatherers in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania. Most Ogiek speakers have assimilated to cultures of surrounding peoples: the Akiek in northern Tanzania now speak Maasai and the Akiek of Kinare, Kenya now speak Gikuyu. Ndorobo is a term considered derogatory, occasionally used to refer to various groups of hunter-gatherers in this area, including the Ogiek.
The South Cushitic or Rift languages of Tanzania are a branch of the Cushitic languages. The most numerous is Iraqw, with half a million speakers. These languages are believed to have been originally spoken by Southern Cushitic agro-pastoralists from Ethiopia, who began migrating southward into the Great Rift Valley in the third millennium BC.
Haya is a Bantu language spoken by the Haya people of Tanzania, in the south and southwest coast of Lake Victoria. In 1991, the population of Haya speakers was estimated at 1,200,000 people. Its closest relative is the Nyambo language and it is also closely related to the languages of southwest Uganda such as Nkore-Kiga, Rutooro and Runyoro which all form a group called Rutara.
The Maa languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages spoken in parts of Kenya and Tanzania by more than a million speakers. They are subdivided into North and South Maa. The Maa languages are related to the Lotuko languages spoken in South Sudan.
Ongamo, or Ngas, is a probably extinct Eastern Nilotic language of Tanzania. It is closely related to the Maa languages, but more distantly than they are to each other. Ongamo has 60% of lexical similarity with Maasai, Samburu, and Camus. Speakers have shifted to Chagga, a dominant regional Bantu language.
Yaaku is an endangered Afroasiatic language spoken in Kenya. It is Cushitic, but its position within that family has been unclear. Bender 2020 [2008] concluded it was Omo–Tana ('Arboroid'). Speakers are all older adults.
Digo (Chidigo) is a Bantu language spoken primarily along the East African coast between Mombasa and Tanga by the Digo people of Kenya and Tanzania. The ethnic Digo population has been estimated at around 360,000, the majority of whom are presumably speakers of the language. All adult speakers of Digo are bilingual in Swahili, East Africa's lingua franca. The two languages are closely related, and Digo also has much vocabulary borrowed from neighbouring Swahili dialects.
Yeyi is a Bantu language spoken by many of the approximately 50,000 Yeyi people along the Okavango River in Namibia and Botswana. Yeyi, influenced by Juu languages, is one of several Bantu languages along the Okavango with clicks. Indeed, it has the largest known inventory of clicks of any Bantu language, with dental, alveolar, palatal, and lateral articulations. Though most of its older speakers prefer Yeyi in normal conversation, it is being gradually phased out in Botswana by a popular move towards Tswana, with Yeyi only being learned by children in a few villages. Yeyi speakers in the Caprivi Strip of north-eastern Namibia, however, retain Yeyi in villages, but may also speak the regional lingua franca, Lozi.
Līwa is a Khaleeji traditional dance of African origin performed in Eastern Arabia, mainly within communities of descendants of people from the Swahili Coast. It is also performed by the African-descended Sheedi community, as well as the Baloch of Makran Coast and Karachi area.
Ndali, or Chindali, is a Bantu language spoken by an increasing population in southern Tanzania of 150,000 (1987) and in northern Malawi by 70,000 (2003).
Fipa is a Bantu language of Tanzania. It is spoken by the Fipa people, who live on the Ufipa plateau in the Rukwa Region of South West Tanzania between Lake Tanganyika and Lake Rukwa. The ethnic group of the Fipa people is larger than the group of Fipa language speakers. On the Tanzanian side, people who speak Mambwe-Lungu may identify as Fipa and consider their language to be a dialect of Fipa. Lungu and Mambwe are also spoken in Zambia where they are considered languages and their speakers are considered to be ethnic groups in their own right, although linguists consider Lungu and Mambwe to be dialects of a single language. There are three dialects: Milanzi, Kwa (Ichikwa) and Nkansi.
The Zigula or Zigua language, Chizigua, is a Bantu language of Tanzania and Somalia, where the Mushunguli dialect is spoken.
Kuria is a Bantu language spoken by the Kuria people of Northern Tanzania, with some speakers also residing in Kenya.
Sumbwa is an Eastern Bantu language, classified as F.23 by Malcolm Guthrie (1948). According to this classification, the language is assumed to be related to Kinyamwezi, Kisukuma, Kinilamba, Kirimi and other languages of Zone F (Guthrie 1948; 1967-71, although Nurse and Philippson 1980 and Maselle suggested that the language has had much influence from neighbouring languages. Quick inspection of the vocabulary shows that Sisumbwa appears to be closer to Nyamwezi than to any other language in the group. In terms of contacts, Sisumbwa speakers say that for a long time they have been in contact with speakers of Kisubi, Kirongo and Kizinza and Kiha, in addition to Kinyamwezi and Kisukuma.
Taita is a Bantu language spoken in the Taita Hills of Kenya. It is closely related to the Chaga languages of Kenya and Tanzania. The Saghala variety is distinct enough to be considered a language separate from the Daw'ida and Kasigau dialects.
Kimbu is a Bantu language of Tanzania. In 1992, use of Kimbu was declining but still in regular use in certain contexts. As of 2018, most children of Kimbu speakers learn Swahili as a first language, and do not learn Kimbu well.
Chindamba is classified as a Bantu language. It is one of 87 languages spoken in Tanzania. Most Chindamba speakers are bilingual in Swahili and Chindamba.
Vinza is a Bantu language spoken by the Vinza people of Tanzania, approximately in the area of the town of Uvinza. It is closely related to the languages of Rwanda and Burundi, including the Ha language of the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika.
References
- Maho, Jouni & Bonny Sands. 2002. The languages of Tanzania: a bibliography. (Orientalia et africana gothoburgensia, no 17.) Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Pp ix, 428. ISBN 91-7346-454-6
- Sommer, Gabriele. 1992. "A survey on language death in Africa". In: Language death: factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa (Contributions to the sociology of language, vol 64), pp 301–417. Edited by Matthias Brenzinger. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
 | This article about a Tanzanian ethnicity is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |