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Kwavi Language
Kwavi is the dialect of Maasai spoken by the Kwavi people (a.k.a. Parakuyo or Baraguyu) of Tanzania. According to Hurskainen (1994), "The Parakuyo (earlier also called Ilparakuyo, Baraguyu, Kwavi, Lumbwa, and Iloikop) are a Maa-speaking ethnic group scattered over a large area in the northeastern and central parts of Tanzania", while Beidelman (1960) confirms that "Kwavi" and "Baraguyu" are synonymous. Bibliography * T.O. Beidelman. "The Baraguyu", in ''Tanganyika notes and records'', 1960, no. 55, p. 244–278. * Arvi Hurskainen Arvi Johannes Hurskainen (born January 25, 1941 in Kitee) is a Finnish scholar of language technology and linguistics. Since 1985 he has developed rule-based language technology mainly for Swahili, but also for other languages, including machine .... "Plant taxonomy of the Parakuyo (Tanzania)" in ''Nordic Journal of African Studies'', 1994, vol. 3, no. 2, p. 117–162 * Karsten Legère. 2002The "Languages of Tanzania" Project: background, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to the south; Zambia to the southwest; and Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west. Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain, is in northeastern Tanzania. According to the United Nations, Tanzania has a population of million, making it the most populous country located entirely south of the equator. Many important hominid fossils have been found in Tanzania, such as 6-million-year-old Pliocene hominid fossils. The genus Australopithecus ranged across Africa between 4 and 2 million years ago, and the oldest remains of the genus ''Homo'' are found near Lake Olduvai. Following the rise of '' Homo erectus'' 1.8 million years ago, humanity spread ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kwavi People
The Kwavi people were a community commonly spoken of in the folklore of a number of Kenyan and Tanzanian communities that inhabited regions of south-central Kenya and north-central Tanzania at various points in history. The conflicts between the Uasin Gishu/Masai and Kwavi form much of the literature of what are now known as the Iloikop wars. Etymology Krapf's (1854) account on the Kwavi was the earliest and for a long time influenced accounts about the Kwavi community. On their name, he states; Later writers, writing a few decades later by which point the community had collapsed seemed to indicate that Krapf's designation was not quite accurate. None provided an alternative however. Johnston writing in 1886 for instance, noted that "'Kwavi' is supposed to be a corrupted version of 'El-oigob'"(i.e. Loikop). He also noted that the term Loikop at the time implied settled residence. In another account (1902) he states "...'Kwavi',a name that no Masai can recognise or explain, but w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Sudanic Languages
In most classifications, the Eastern Sudanic languages are a group of nine families of languages that may constitute a branch of the Nilo-Saharan language family. Eastern Sudanic languages are spoken from southern Egypt to northern Tanzania. Nubian (and possibly Meroitic) gives Eastern Sudanic some of the earliest written attestations of African languages. However, the largest branch by far is Nilotic, spread by extensive and comparatively recent conquests throughout East Africa. Before the spread of Nilotic, Eastern Sudanic was centered in present-day Sudan. The name "East Sudanic" refers to the eastern part of the region of Sudan where the country of Sudan is located, and contrasts with Central Sudanic and Western Sudanic (modern Mande, in the Niger–Congo family). Lionel Bender (1980) proposes several Eastern Sudanic isoglosses (defining words), such as ''*kutuk'' "mouth", ''*(ko)TVS-(Vg)'' "three", and ''*ku-lug-ut'' or ''*kVl(t)'' "fish". In older classifications, s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Nilotic Languages
The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in South Sudan. They are spoken across a large area in East Africa, ranging from Equatoria to the highlands of Tanzania. Their speakers are mostly cattle herders living in semi-arid or arid plains. Classification According to Vossen (1982), the Eastern Nilotic languages are basically classified as follows by the comparative method. Vossen (1982) also provides a reconstruction of Proto-Eastern Nilotic. ;Eastern Nilotic * Bari languages * Teso–Lotuko–Maa: ** Teso–Turkana (or Ateker; incl. Karimojong) **Lotuko–Maa: ***Lotuko languages ****Lango language ****Lopit language ****Lokoya language **** Lotuko language ****Dongotono language ***Ongamo–Maa **** Ongamo language **** Maa la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maa Languages
The Maa languages are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages (or from a linguistic perspective, dialects, as they appear to be mutually intelligible) 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. History In the past, several peoples have abandoned their languages in favor of a Maa language, usually following a period of intensive cultural and economic contact. Among peoples that have assimilated to Maa peoples are the Aasáx (Asa) and the El Molo, former hunter-gatherers who spoke Cushitic languages, and the Mukogodo-Maasai (Yaaku), former bee-keepers and hunter-gatherers ( Eastern Cushitic). The Okiek of northern Tanzania, speakers of a Southern Nilotic Kalenjin tongue, are under heavy influence from Maasai. Languages *Northern Maa ** Samburu (spoken by the Samburu people) **Camus (or il-Chamus, the preferred autony ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maasai Language
Maasai (previously spelled ''Masai'') or Maa (; autonym: ''ɔl Maa'') is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000. It is closely related to the other Maa varieties: Samburu (or Sampur), the language of the Samburu people of central Kenya, Chamus, spoken south and southeast of Lake Baringo (sometimes regarded as a dialect of Samburu); and Parakuyu of Tanzania. The Maasai, Samburu, il-Chamus and Parakuyu peoples are historically related and all refer to their language as ''ɔl Maa''. Properly speaking, "Maa" refers to the language and the culture and "Maasai" refers to the people "who speak Maa." Phonology The Maasai variety of ''ɔl Maa'' as spoken in southern Kenya and Tanzania has 30 contrasting sounds, which can be represented and alphabetized as follows: ''a'', ''b'', ''ch'' (a variant of ''sh''), ''d'', ''e'', ''ɛ'', ''g'', ''h'', ''i'', ''ɨ'', ''j'', ''k'', ''l'', ''m'', ''n'', ''ny'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maa Language
Maasai (previously spelled ''Masai'') or Maa (; autonym: ''ɔl Maa'') is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000. It is closely related to the other Maa varieties: Samburu (or Sampur), the language of the Samburu people of central Kenya, Chamus, spoken south and southeast of Lake Baringo (sometimes regarded as a dialect of Samburu); and Parakuyu of Tanzania. The Maasai, Samburu, il-Chamus and Parakuyu peoples are historically related and all refer to their language as ''ɔl Maa''. Properly speaking, "Maa" refers to the language and the culture and "Maasai" refers to the people "who speak Maa." Phonology The Maasai variety of ''ɔl Maa'' as spoken in southern Kenya and Tanzania has 30 contrasting sounds, which can be represented and alphabetized as follows: ''a'', ''b'', ''ch'' (a variant of ''sh''), ''d'', ''e'', ''ɛ'', ''g'', ''h'', ''i'', ''ɨ'', ''j'', ''k'', ''l'', ''m'', ''n'', ''ny'', ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arvi Hurskainen
Arvi Johannes Hurskainen (born January 25, 1941 in Kitee) is a Finnish scholar of language technology and linguistics. Since 1985 he has developed rule-based language technology mainly for Swahili, but also for other languages, including machine translation from English to Finnish. He has created a development environment called SALAMA (acronym for Swahili Language Manager), but it suits to any language. The major applications developed so far include the following: the spell checker for Swahili, the annotator of corpus texts, an advanced dictionary between Swahili and English and translators from Swahili to English, from English to Swahili, and from English to Finnish. He has also developed an advanced learning system for Swahili and a system for producing targeted vocabularies for language learners. Hurskainen has compiled two annotated corpora, Helsinki Corpus of Swahili 1.0 and Helsinki Corpus of Swahili 2.0. Study and work history He first studied theology at the Univers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
