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Thagiicu Languages
The Thagiicu or Central Kenya Bantu languages are a group of closely related Northeast Bantu languages spoken in the central regions of Kenya and parts of northern Tanzania. History Proto-Thagiicu originated on the southern slopes of Mount Kenya in 1100AD. The thagiicu languages have received influence from cushitic, Nilotic and Kuliak speakers whom the Thagiicu community have absorbed over the millennia. Classification The Thagiicu languages are classified by Glottolog as follows: *Thagiicu **Eastern Kirinyaga ***Chuka ***Northern Kirinyaga ****Nithi-Meru ***** Meru *****Mwimbu-Muthambi ****Tharaka **Embu **Kikuyu-Temi ***Kikuyu *** Temi **Kamba-Dhaiso ***Dhaiso ***Kamba Kamba may refer to: *Kamba African Rainforest Experiences, a collection of eco-luxury lodges in the Republic of Congo *Kamba people of Kenya *Bena-Kamba, a community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo *Khampa, also spelled Kamba, Tibetan peop ... References {{reflist Languages of Kenya ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. Kenya's capital and largest city is Nairobi. Its second-largest and oldest city is Mombasa, a major port city located on Mombasa Island. Other major cities within the country include Kisumu, Nakuru & Eldoret. Going clockwise, Kenya is bordered by South Sudan to the northwest (though much of that border includes the disputed Ilemi Triangle), Ethiopia to the north, Somalia to the east, the Indian Ocean to the southeast, Tanzania to the southwest, and Lake Victoria and Uganda to the west. Kenya's geography, climate and population vary widely. In western, rift valley counties, the landscape includes cold, snow-capped mountaintops (such as Batian, Nelion and Point Lenana on Mount Kenya) with vast surrounding forests, wildlife and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantoid Languages
Bantoid is a major branch of the Benue–Congo language family. It consists of the Northern Bantoid languages and the Southern Bantoid languages, a division which also includes the Bantu languages that constitute the overwhelming majority and after which Bantoid is named. History The term "Bantoid" was first used by Krause in 1895 for languages that showed resemblances in vocabulary to Bantu. Joseph Greenberg, in his 1963 ''The Languages of Africa'', defined Bantoid as the group to which Bantu belongs together with its closest relatives; this is the sense in which the term is still used today. However, according to Roger Blench, the Bantoid languages probably do not actually form a coherent group. Internal classification A proposal that divided Bantoid into Northern Bantoid languages, North Bantoid and Southern Bantoid languages, South Bantoid was introduced by Williamson. In this proposal, the Mambiloid and Dakoid languages (and later Tikar language, Tikar) are grouped together ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonjo Language
Sonjo, or Temi, is a Bantu language spoken in northern Tanzania, west of Lake Natron. Ethnolinguistically, it is a displaced member of Guthrie’s E50 group, most other members of which are found in Central Kenya. Within that group, it is most closely related to Gikuyu. The Sonjo people number about 30,000 (2002 SIL); many of them are bilingual in Swahili, the local language of education. Sonjo is largely undescribed. The Sonjo have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai territory. They are known for their use of irrigation systems in agriculture, a rare trait which causes some historians to link them to the hitherto unexplained ruined irrigation systems of Engaruka, to the southeast. The term ''Sonjo'' is the name given to the people by the Maasai; they call themselves ''batɛmi'' (sg. ''motɛmi'') and their language ''ketɛmi''. Apart from inevitable Maasai (Eastern Nilotic) influence, Sonjo shows influence from Chaga (Bantu E40), various Southern Cushitic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kikuyu Language
Kikuyu or Gikuyu ( ) (also known as Gĩgĩkũyũ) is a Bantu language spoken by the Gĩkũyũ (''Agĩkũyũ'') of Kenya. Kikuyu is mainly spoken in the area between Nyeri, Kiambu, Nairobi and Nakuru. The Kikuyu people usually identify their lands by the surrounding mountain ranges in Central Kenya, including Mount Kenya, which they call ''Kĩrĩnyaga''. Phonology Symbols shown in angle brackets replace the IPA symbols which are not in the orthography. Vowels Consonants The prenasalised consonants are often pronounced without prenasalisation, and thus are often realised as . Tones Kikuyu has two level tones (high and low), a low-high rising tone, and downstep. Grammar Gĩkũyũ has subject–verb–object word order. It uses prepositions rather than postpositions. Nouns are followed by possessive and demonstrative pronouns, which can coexist in that order, and subsequently adjectives, quantifiers, and numerals, which have no order among themselves. Noun cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Embu Language
Embu, also known as Kîembu, is a Bantu language of Kenya. It is spoken by the Embu people, also known as the Aembu (sg. Muembu). Speakers of the Embu language can also be found in neighboring districts/counties and in the diaspora. The language is closely related to the Kikuyu and Kimeru languages. Dialects Embu has two known dialects; Mbeere (Mbere, Kimbeere) and Embu proper. Native Embu speakers can also tell apart a speaker from areas close to Mount Kenya Mount Kenya (Meru people, Meru: ''Kĩrĩmaara,'' Kikuyu people, Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba language, Kamba: ''Ki nyaa'', Embu language, Embu: ''Kĩ nyaga'') is an extinct volcano in Kenya and the Highest mountain peaks of Africa, second-highe ..., because they speak with a slight dialect locally called Kiruguru (Kirũgũrũ). Sample Translations Sample translations of words from English to Kiembu. Note: Accented characters or diacritical mark are not shown in the following two tables. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Meru Language
Meru is a Bantu language spoken by the Meru people (''Ameru'') who live on the Eastern and Northern slopes of Mount Kenya and on the Nyambene ranges. They settled in this area after centuries of migration from the north. The Meru people are a fairly homogeneous community and all share a common ancestry. They speak the same language, ''Kimeru'', with slight regional differences in accent and local words. The community comprises the following subdivisions, from the north to south: *Igembe *Tigania (Tiania) (culture close to neighbouring Cushitic and Nilotic communities) *Imenti *Tharaka (Saraka) *Igoji *Mwimbi–Muthambi *Chuka (Gicuka) As the Meru language is similar to its surrounding neighbors, the Kikuyu and Embu could have possibly adopted parts of Meru. Sample phrases I want a cassava, , Ndũmia mũanga/mĩanga Dialects Kimeru has seven main mutually intelligible dialects. The dialects include Kiimenti widely used by the Imenti section of the Ameru, Tiania/gitiania used ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kuliak
The Kuliak languages, also called the Rub languages,Ehret, Christopher (2001) ''A Historical-Comparative Reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan'' (SUGIA, Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika: Beihefte 12), Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag, . or Nyangiyan languages are a group of languages spoken by small relict communities in the mountainous Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda. Nyang'i and Soo are moribund, with a handful of elderly speakers. However, Ik is vigorous and growing. Word order in Kuliak languages is verb-initial.Beer, Sam, Amber McKinney, Lokiru Kosma 2009. ''The So Language: A Grammar Sketch''. m.s. Names The Kuliak languages are also called the Rub languages by Ehret (1981), since Ehret reconstructed "Rub" to mean 'person' in Proto-Kuliak. He suggests that "Kuliak" may actually be a derogatory term used by neighboring Nilotic-speaking peoples to disparage Kuliak speakers as "poor," hence his preference for using Rub instead. However, Kuliak continues to be the most w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mount Kenya
Mount Kenya (Meru people, Meru: ''Kĩrĩmaara,'' Kikuyu people, Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba language, Kamba: ''Ki nyaa'', Embu language, Embu: ''Kĩ nyaga'') is an extinct volcano in Kenya and the Highest mountain peaks of Africa, second-highest peak in Africa, after Mount Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is located in the former Eastern Province (Kenya), Eastern and Central Province (Kenya), Central provinces of Kenya; its peak is now the intersection of Meru County, Meru, Embu County, Embu, Kirinyaga County, Kirinyaga, Nyeri County, Nyeri and Tharaka Nithi County, Tharaka Nithi counties, about south of the equator, around north-northeast of the capital Nairobi. Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya. Mount Kenya is a volcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African Rift. Before glaciation, it was high. It was covered by an ice cap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northeast Bantu
The Northeast Bantu languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in East Africa. In Guthrie's geographic classification, they fall within Bantu zones E50 plus E46 (Sonjo), E60 plus E74a (Taita), F21–22, J, G60, plus Northeast Coast Bantu (of zones E & G).Derek Nurse, 2003, ''The Bantu Languages'' Some of these languages (F21, most of E50, and some of J) share a phonological innovation called Dahl's law that is unlikely to be borrowed as a productive process, though individual words reflecting Dahl's law have been borrowed into neighboring languages. The languages, or clusters, are: *Northeast Bantu languages **Kikuyu–Kamba Thagiicu (primarily E50): *** Sonjo (E40) *** Cuka *** Meru (incl. Tharaka, Mwimbi-Muthambi) ***South ****Kamba, Daisu **** Gikuyu, Embu **Chaga–Taita *** Taita (Dawida; E70) – Sagalla *** Chaga languages (E60) ** Northeast Coast Bantu (G10-G40): Swahili (E70), ''etc.'' ** Takama: Sukuma– Nyamwezi (+ Konongo–Ruwila), Kimbu (F20), Iram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bantu Languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. The total number of Bantu languages is estimated at between 440 and 680 distinct languages, depending on the definition of Dialect#Dialect or language, "language" versus "dialect"."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". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Bantoid
Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid) is a branch of the Bantoid language family. It consists of the Bantu languages along with several small branches and isolates of eastern Nigeria and west-central Cameroon (though the affiliation of some branches is uncertain). Since the Bantu languages are spoken across most of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Bantoid comprises 643 languages as counted by ''Ethnologue'', though many of these are mutually intelligible. History Southern Bantoid was first introduced by Williamson in a proposal that divided Bantoid into North and South branches. The unity of the North Bantoid group was subsequently called into question, and Bantoid itself may be polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ..., but the work did establish Southern Banto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benue–Congo Languages
Benue–Congo (sometimes called East Benue–Congo) is a major branch of the Volta-Congo languages which covers most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Subdivisions Central Nigerian (or Platoid) contains the Plateau languages, Plateau, Jukunoid languages, Jukunoid and Kainji languages, Kainji families, and Bantoid–Cross combines the Bantoid languages, Bantoid and Cross River languages, Cross River groups. Bantoid is only a collective term for every subfamily of Bantoid–Cross except Cross River, and this is no longer seen as forming a valid branch, however one of the subfamilies, Southern Bantoid, is still considered valid. It is Southern Bantoid which contains the Bantu languages, which are spoken across most of Sub-Saharan Africa. This makes Benue–Congo one of the largest subdivisions of the Niger–Congo language family, both in number of languages, of which ''Ethnologue'' counts 976 (2017), and in speakers, numbering perhaps 350 million. Benue–Congo also includes a few minor Languag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
