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Ongamo Language
Ongamo, or Ngas, is a probably extinct Eastern Nilotic languages, 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 language, Maasai, Samburu language, Samburu, and Camus language, Camus. Speakers have shifted to Chaga languages, Chagga, a dominant regional Bantu languages, Bantu language. History An expansion of Ngasa speakers onto the plains north of Mount Kilimanjaro occurred in the 12th century. The language was mutually intelligible with Proto-Maasai during that period. Vocabulary retention from this time attests to the cultivation of sorghum and elusine by the Ngas. Subsequent immigration of Bantu-speaking Chagga over the next five centuries considerably reduced the extent and viability of the Ngasa language.Leeman, Bernard and informants. (1994). 'Ongamoi (KiNgassa): a Nilotic remnant of Kilimanjaro'. Cymru UK: Cyhoeddwr Joseph Biddulph Publisher ...
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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 ...
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Ngasa People
The Ngasa or Ngas also known as Ongamo are an ethnic and linguistic group based on the northeastern slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Rombo District, Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania. In 2000 the Nilotic ethnic Ngasa population was estimated to number 4,285, with only 200 to 300 members continuing to speak the Ngasa language]
Speakers have shifted to Chaga languages, Chagga, a dominant regional Bantu languages, Bantu language. Ethnic groups in Tanzania Indigenous peoples of East Africa {{tanzania-ethno-group-stub ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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Otuho Language
Otuho, also known as Lotuko (Lotuxo), is the language of the Otuho people. It is an Eastern Nilotic language, and has several other Otuho speaking dialectic groups. Language varieties Dongotono is related. Other related varieties may be: *Logir The Low-Cost Guided Imaging Rocket was a weapons system under development for the US Navy as part of Office of Naval Research, ONR's Low-Cost Imaging Terminal Seeker (LCITS) Future Naval Capabilities, FNC. It transitioned as the weapon used in the ... * Ifoto * Imatong References Eastern Nilotic languages Languages of South Sudan {{ns-lang-stub ...
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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 ...
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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'', ...
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Samburu Language
Samburu is a Maa language dialect spoken by Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus). The Samburu dialect is closely related to Camus dialect (88% to 94% lexical similarity) and to the South Maasai dialects (77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word "Samburu" itself may derive from the Maa word ''saamburr'' for a leather bag the Samburu use. References Further reading * Rainer Vossen Rainer Vossen (German: Rainer Voßen; born December 6, 1951 in Düsseldorf, Germany) is a German linguist and Africanist. His research interests include the historical linguistics of Nilotic languages and Khoisan languages. Biography From 1972 to .... ''The Eastern Nilotes: Linguistic and Historical Reconstructions''. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag 1982. . External linksMaa Language Project
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Camus Language
The Ilchamus (sometimes spelled Iltiamus, also known as Njemps), are a Maa-speaking people living south and southeast of Lake Baringo, Kenya. They numbered approximately 32,949 people in 2019 and are closely related to the Samburu living more to the north-east in the Rift Valley Province. They are one of the smallest ethnic groups in Kenya. In their oral traditions, the Ilchamus economy underwent a succession of elaborations: from foraging and fishing to a sophisticated system of irrigation, and then this was mixed with pastoralism under the influence of Samburu immigrants and neighbouring Maasai. These changes involved a series of embellishments in their culture and social organization. However, this evolving system did not survive the challenges of the capitalist economy in post-colonial Kenya, leading to a more polarized society with diminishing prospects for the majority of Ilchamus. Language Camus or Chamus (autonym: il-Chamus) is classified under the Maa languages i ...
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Chaga Languages
Chaga, also ''Kichaga'' or ''Kichagga'', is a Bantu dialect continuum spoken by the Chaga people of northern Tanzania, south of Mount Kilimanjaro. They also speak 9 dialects: Kivunjo, Kimarangu, Kirombo, Kimachame, Kisiha, Kikibosho, Kiuru, Kioldimoshi and Kingassa. The Chaga languages are:Maho (2009) * West Kilimanjaro (West Chaga), including Meru and Machame * Central Kilimanjaro (Central Chaga), including Mochi (Old Moshi) and Wunjo * Rombo * Rusha (Arusha-Chini) * Kahe Kahe may refer to: Places * Kahe, Tanzania, a group of wards in northeastern Tanzania ** Battle of Kahe, fought during the East African Campaign of World War I * Kahe Mashariki, a town and ward in northeastern Tanzania * Kahak, Razavi Khorasan, ... * Gweno References Languages of Tanzania {{Tanzania-stub ...
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Bantu Languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The total number of Bantu languages ranges in the hundreds, depending on the definition of "language" versus "dialect", and is estimated at between 440 and 680 distinct languages."Guthrie (1967-71) names some 440 Bantu 'varieties', Grimes (2000) has 501 (minus a few 'extinct' or 'almost extinct'), Bastin ''et al.'' (1999) have 542, Maho (this volume) has some 660, and Mann ''et al.'' (1987) have ''c.'' 680." Derek Nurse, 2006, "Bantu Languages", in the ''Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics'', p. 2:Ethnologue report for Southern Bantoid" lists a total of 535 languages. The count includes 13 Mbam languages, which are not always included under "Narrow Bantu". For Bantuic, Linguasphere has 260 outer languages (which are equivalent to languages ...
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