The Waata (Waat, Watha), or Sanye, are an
Oromo-speaking people of Kenya and former
hunter-gatherers. They share the name ''Sanye'' with the neighboring
Dahalo.
The current language of the Waata may be a dialect of
Orma or otherwise
Southern Oromo
Southern Oromo, or Afaan Oromoo (after one of its dialects), is a variety of Oromo spoken in southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya by the Borana people. Günther Schlee also notes that it is the native language of a number of related peoples, su ...
. However, there is evidence that they may have shifted from a
Southern Cushitic language
The South Cushitic or Rift languages of Tanzania are a branch of the Cushitic languages. The most numerous is Iraqw, with half a million speakers. These languages are believed to have been originally spoken by Southern Cushitic agro-pastoralists ...
, a group that includes Dahalo.
[Martin Walsh, 1992/1993. The Vuna and the Degere: Remnants and Outcasts among the Duruma and Digo of Kenya and Tanzania. ''Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research'' 34/35: 133–147.]
See also
*
Degere
The Degere are a Mijikenda-speaking group of former hunter-gatherers of Kenya and Tanzania, now settled along the Ramisi, Mwena and Umba rivers, with a few along the coast. They may number no more than a few hundred to at most a few thousand. ...
External links
www.watha.org
References
Languages of Kenya
Hunter-gatherers of Africa
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