Hehe, also known by its native name , is a
Bantu language
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 t ...
that is spoken by the
Hehe people of the
Iringa
Iringa is a city in Tanzania with a population of 151,345 (). It is situated at a latitude of 7.77°S and longitude of 35.69°E. The name is derived from the Hehe language, Hehe word ''lilinga'', meaning fort. Iringa is the administrative capita ...
region of
Tanzania, lying south of the
Great Ruaha River
The Great Ruaha River is a river in south-central Tanzania that flows through the Usangu wetlands and the Ruaha National Park east into the Rufiji River. It traverses and marks the borders between Iringa Region, Dodoma Region and Morogoro Region. ...
.
[ It was reported to have "Ngoni" features, that is, words of a Zulu-like language introduced when conquered by a Nguni or Zulu-like people in the early 19th century. However, other "Ngoni" speeches seem to have lost most of these distinctive features over the past 150-odd years, the language more resembling those of the neighbouring peoples. In 1977 it was estimated that 190,000 people spoke Hehe. There has been some Bible translation (British and Foreign Bible Society). Hehe may be mutually intelligible with Bena.][Dwyer, D. J., Yankee, E., & Michigan State Univ., E. r. (1985). African Language Resource Handbook: A Resource Handbook of the Eighty-two Highest Priority African Languages. Prepublication Edition. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED256170.pdf]
Grammar
Hehe has 15 noun classes, marked with prefixes.
Hehe has a complex tense-aspect-mood system.
Phonology
Consonants
* can be heard as an allophone of /w/ among speakers in free variation.
* occurs in the language, but is mainly heard as an allophone of /s/ after nasal sounds, or as a result of Swahili loanwords.
Vowels
References
Languages of Tanzania
Northeast Bantu languages
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