Gusii | |
---|---|
Ekegusii | |
Native to | Kenya |
Region | Nyanza Kenya, Kisii County & Nyamira County, Southern Rift Valley, parts of Kericho County & Bomet County |
Ethnicity | Abagusii |
Native speakers | L1: 2.2 million (2009 census) [1] L2: 500,000 |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Dialects |
|
Latin (after European contact) | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | guz |
Glottolog | gusi1247 |
JE.42 [2] | |
The Gusii language (also known as Ekegusii) is a Bantu language spoken in Kisii and Nyamira counties in Nyanza Kenya, whose headquarters is Kisii Town, (between the Kavirondo Gulf of Lake Victoria and the border with Tanzania). It is spoken natively by 2.2 million people (as of 2009), mostly among the Abagusii. Ekegusii has only two dialects: The Rogoro (upper-side) and Maate (lower-side) 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. An example of this is the word for cat. While one dialect calls a cat ekemoni, the other calls it ekebusi (a word that comes from the sound used to call a cat in Gusii culture). Another illustrating example can be found in the word for sandals. While the Rogoro word for sandals is chisiripasi (a loanword from the English word "slippers"), the Maate dialect word is chitaratara (adapted from the sound made by sandals when one walks while wearing them). Many more lexical differences manifest in the language. The Maate dialect is spoken in Tabaka and Bogirango. Most of the other regions use the Rogoro dialect, which is also the standard dialect of Ekegusii.
Gusii has seven vowels. Vowel length is contrastive, i.e. the words 'bóra' to miss and 'bóóra' to say are distinguished by vowel length only.
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Close-mid | e | o | |
Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Open | a |
In the table below, orthographic symbols are included between brackets if they differ from the IPA symbols. Note especially the use of ‘y’ for IPA /j/, common in African orthographies. When symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.
labial | alveolar | palatal | velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|
plosive | t | k | ||
affricate | tʃ | |||
fricative | β | s | ɣ | |
nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ |
tap | ɾ | |||
approximant | w | j |
labial | alveolar | palatal | velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|
plosive | p b | t d | k ɡ | |
affricate | tʃ | |||
fricative | β | s | ɣ | |
nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ |
tap | ɾ | |||
approximant | w | j |
The following morphophonological alternations occur:
The Gusii language has the consonant 'b' not realized as the bilabial stop as in 'bat' but as bilabial fricative as in words like baba, baminto, abana.
Ekegusii alphabet (Kenya) [3] [4] [5] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ekegusii Alphabet | A | B | C | D | E | Ë | G | H | I | K | M | N | O | Ö | R | S | T | U | W | Y | ei | ie | io | oi | - | - | - | - | - |
Ekegusii Consonants | Mb | Bw | mbw | Ch | Nch | Chw | Nchw | Nd | Ndw | Ng | Gw | Ngw | Ng' | Ng'w | Ny | Nyw | Nk | Kw | Nkw | Mw | Nw | Rw | Ns | Sw | Nsw | Nt | Tw | Ntw | Yw |
Ekegusii Noun Class | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Class | Singular | Gloss | Plural | Gloss | |
1 | omo-aba | omonto | person/human | abanto | people/humans |
2 | omo-eme | omotwe | head | emetwe | head |
3 | e-ch | eng'ombe | cow | chiombe | cows |
4 | ege-ebi | egekombe | cup | ebikombe | cups |
5 | ri-ama | ritunda | fruit | amatunda | fruits |
6 | o-o | obwoba | cowardness | obwoba | cowardness |
7 | e-e | ekegusii | ekegusii | ----------- | ----------- |
8 | ama-ama | amabere | milk | amabere | milk |
9 | omo-i-seke omoiseke | girl | aba-i-seke | girls | |
10 | -------------- | ------------ |
Ekegusii Numeral System | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number | Reading | Meaning | Number | Reading | Meaning |
1 | eyemo | 1 | 11 | ikomi nemo | 10+1 |
2 | ibere | 2 | 12 | ikomi na ibere | 10+2 |
3 | isato | 3 | 13 | ikomi na isato | 10+3 |
4 | inye | 4 | 14 | ikomi nainye | 10+4 |
5 | isano | 5 | 15 | ikomi na isano | 10+5 |
6 | isano nemo | 5+1 | 16 | ikomi na isano nemo | 10+5+1 |
7 | isano na ibere | 5+2 | 17 | ikomi na isano na ibere | 10+5+2 |
8 | isano na isato | 5+3 | 18 | ikomi na isano na isato | 10+5+3 |
9 | kianda | 9 | 19 | ikomi na kianda | 10+9 |
10 | ikomi | 10 | 20 | emerongo ebere | 20 |
English | Ekegusii |
---|---|
Good Morning | Bwakire buya |
Good night | Obotuko obuya |
Head | omotwe |
Ear | ogoto |
Water | amache |
evening | magoroba |
grandfather | sokoro |
to know | komanya |
to milk | gokama |
donkey | etigere/ebunda |
Earth | ense |
Dwell | menya |
Homeland | inka |
Today | rero |
Sun | risase/omobaso |
Dog | esese |
Stand | -tenena |
Know | -manya |
See | -rora |
Upperside/Hillside | rogoro |
Lake/Sea | enyancha |
Desert | eroro |
Fighter | omorwani |
Roll Over | -garagara |
Milk | amabere |
She goat | esibeni |
Cowdung | esike |
Lady | omosubati |
Harvest (verb/noun) | gesa/rigesa |
Cry | rera |
Walk | tara |
Bickmore, Lee
Cammenga, Jelle
Mreta, Abel Y.
Whiteley, Wilfred H.
The Bantu languages are a language family of about 600 languages that are spoken by the Bantu peoples of Central, Southern, Eastern and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. It unites the Mande languages, the Atlantic–Congo languages, and possibly several smaller groups of languages that are difficult to classify. If valid, Niger–Congo would be the world's largest in terms of member languages, the third-largest in terms of speakers, and Africa's largest in terms of geographical area. It is generally considered to be the world's largest language family in terms of the number of distinct languages, just ahead of Austronesian, although this is complicated by the ambiguity about what constitutes a distinct language; the number of named Niger–Congo languages listed by Ethnologue is 1,540.
Swahili, also known by its local name Kiswahili, is a Bantu language originally spoken by the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique. The number of current Swahili speakers, be they native or second-language speakers, is estimated to be over 200 million, with Tanzania known to have most of the native speakers.
Sheng is primarily a Swahili and English-based cant, perhaps a mixed language or creole, originating among the urban youth of Nairobi, Kenya, and influenced by many of the languages spoken there. While primarily a language of urban youths, it has spread across social classes and geographically to neighbouring Tanzania and Uganda.
Fang is a Central African language spoken by around 1 million people, most of them in Equatorial Guinea, and northern Gabon, where it is the dominant Bantu language; Fang is also spoken in southern Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo, and small fractions of the islands of São Tomé and Príncipe. It is related to the Bulu and Ewondo languages of southern Cameroon.
The Abagusii are a Bantu ethnic group and nation indigenous to Kisii and Nyamira counties of former Nyanza, as well as parts of Kericho and Bomet counties of the former Rift Valley province of Kenya.
ǂʼAmkoeAM-koy, formerly called by the dialectal name ǂHoan, is a severely endangered Kxʼa language of Botswana. West ǂʼAmkoe dialect, along with Taa and Gǀui, form the core of the Kalahari Basin sprachbund, and share a number of characteristic features, including the largest consonant inventories in the world. ǂʼAmkoe was shown to be related to the Juu languages by Honken and Heine (2010), and these have since been classified together in the Kxʼa language family.
Nyanza Province was one of Kenya's eight administrative provinces before the formation of the 47 counties under the 2010 constitution. Six counties were organised in the area of the former province.
Phuthi (Síphùthì) is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border. The closest substantial living relative of Phuthi is Swati, spoken in Eswatini and the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Although there is no contemporary sociocultural or political contact, Phuthi is linguistically part of a historic dialect continuum with Swati. Phuthi is heavily influenced by the surrounding Sesotho and Xhosa languages, but retains a distinct core of lexicon and grammar not found in either Xhosa or Sesotho, and found only partly in Swati to the north.
Kenya is a multilingual country.
The Dholuo dialect or Nilotic Kavirondo, is a dialect of the Luo group of Nilotic languages, spoken by about 4.2 million Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania, who occupy parts of the eastern shore of Lake Victoria and areas to the south. It is used for broadcasts on Ramogi TV and KBC.
Gogo is a Bantu language spoken by the Gogo people of Dodoma Region in Tanzania. The language is spoken throughout Dodoma Region and into the neighbouring district of Manyoni.
The phonology of Sesotho and those of the other Sotho–Tswana languages are radically different from those of "older" or more "stereotypical" Bantu languages. Modern Sesotho in particular has very mixed origins inheriting many words and idioms from non-Sotho–Tswana languages.
Yao is a Bantu language in Africa with approximately two million speakers in Malawi, and half a million each in Tanzania and Mozambique. There are also some speakers in Zambia. In Malawi, the main dialect is Mangochi, mostly spoken around Lake Malawi. In Mozambique, the main dialects are Makale and Massaninga. The language has also gone by several other names in English, including chiYao or ciYao, Achawa, Adsawa, Adsoa, Ajawa, Ayawa, Ayo, Ayao, Djao, Haiao, Hiao, Hyao, Jao, Veiao, and waJao.
Garre is a Somali language spoken by the Garre who reside in southern Somalia, Ethiopia and northern Kenya. It belongs to the family's Cushitic branch, and had an estimated 50,000 speakers in Somalia in 1992, 57,500 in 2006 and 86,000 in 2020. The total number of speakers in Kenya and Somalia was estimated at 685,600 in 2019. Garre is in the Digil classification of Somali dialects. Garre language is readily intelligible to Digil speakers, as it has some affinity with Af-Maay and Af-Boon.
The Mwani language, also known by its native name Kimwani, is a Bantu language spoken on the coast of the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique, including the Quirimbas Islands. Although it shares high lexical similarity (60%) with Swahili, it is not intelligible with it. It is spoken by around 167,150 people. Speakers also use Portuguese, Swahili and Makhuwa language. Kiwibo, the dialect of the Island of Ibo is the prestige dialect. Kimwani is also called Mwani and Ibo. According to Anthony P. Grant Kimwani of northern Mozambique appears to be the result of imperfect shift towards Swahili several centuries ago by speakers of Makonde, and Arends et al. suggest it might turn out to be a Makonde–Swahili mixed language.
Pokomo (Kipfokomo) is a Bantu language spoken primarily along the East African coast near Tana River in the Tana River District by the Pokomo people of Kenya. Kipfokomo language originated from "Kingozi" the language, which Kiswahili was built from. "Kingozi" language is the precursor of Kiswahili. Pokomos are the only tribe in the world that speak "Kingozi" and sometimes are referred to as wangozi because they used to wear skins (Ngozi). All adult speakers of Pokomo are bilingual in Swahili, parts of East Africa's lingua franca.
Kuria is a Bantu language spoken by the Kuria people of Northern Tanzania, with some speakers also residing in Kenya.
Kenyan English is a local dialect of the English language spoken by several communities and individuals in Kenya, and among some Kenyan expatriates in other countries. The dialect contains features unique to it that were derived from local Bantu languages, such as Swahili.
Gumuz is a dialect cluster spoken along the border of Ethiopia and Sudan. It has been tentatively classified within the Nilo-Saharan family. Most Ethiopian speakers live in Kamashi Zone and Metekel Zone of the Benishangul-Gumuz Region, although a group of 1,000 reportedly live outside the town of Welkite. The Sudanese speakers live in the area east of Er Roseires, around Famaka and Fazoglo on the Blue Nile, extending north along the border. Dimmendaal et al. (2019) suspect that the poorly attested varieties spoken along the river constitute a distinct language, Kadallu.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)