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
Dahalo is an endangered Cushitic language spoken by at most 400 Dahalo people on the coast of Kenya, near the mouth of the Tana River. Dahalo is unusual among the world's languages in using all four airstream mechanisms found in human language ...
.
The current language of the Waata may be a dialect of
Orma Orma may refer to:
* Orma people
* Orma language
* Orma, Pella, a village in the municipality Almopia, northern Greece
* Orma Marble Palace, situated at Kothakulangara
* Orma Film Festival
* Orma, Tibet
* ''Orma'' (film), directed by K. K. Ra ...
or otherwise
Southern Oromo. However, there is evidence that they may have shifted from a
Southern Cushitic language, 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
External links
www.watha.org
References
Languages of Kenya
Hunter-gatherers of Africa
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