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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 groups of people have abandoned their languages in favor of a Maa language, usually following a period of intensive cultural and economic contact. Among groups that have assimilated to Maa peoples are the Aasáx (Asa) and the El Molo people, El Molo, former hunter-gatherers who spoke Cushitic languages, and the Mukogodo-Maasai (Yaaku), former bee-keepers and hunter-gatherers (Eastern Cushitic languages, Eastern Cushitic). The Okiek language, Okiek of northern Tanzania, speakers of a Southern Nilotic languages, Southern Nilotic Kalenjin languages, Kalenjin tongue, are under heavy influence from Maasai ... [...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] |
Mukogodo-Maasai
The Yaaku are a people who are said to have lived in regions of southern Ethiopia and central Kenya, possibly through to the 18th century. The language they spoke is today called Yaakunte. The Yaaku assimilated a hunter-gathering population, whom they called Mukogodo, when they first settled in their place of origin and the Mukogodo adopted the Yaakunte language. However, the Yaaku were later assimilated by a food producing population and they lost their way of life. The Yaakunte language was kept alive for sometime by the Mukogodo who maintained their own hunter-gathering way of life, but they were later immersed in Maasai culture and adopted the Maa language and way of life. The Yaakunte language is today facing extinction but is undergoing a revival movement. In the present time, the terms Yaaku and Mukogodo (sometimes Mukogodo Maasai), are used to refer to a population living in Mukogodo forest west of Mount Kenya. Etymology The name Yaaku is said to be a Southern Nilotic ter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lamu
Lamu or Lamu Town is a small town on Lamu Island, which in turn is a part of the Lamu Archipelago in Kenya. Situated by road northeast of Mombasa that ends at Mokowe Jetty, from where the sea channel has to be crossed to reach Lamu Island, it is the headquarter of Lamu County and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town contains the Lamu Fort on the seafront, constructed under Fumo Madi ibn Abi Bakr, the Sultan of Pate, and was completed after his death in the early 1820s. Lamu is also home to 23 mosques, including the Riyadha Mosque, built in 1900, and a donkey sanctuary. History Early history The original name of the town is Amu, which the Arabs termed Al-Amu (الآمو) and the Portuguese "Lamon". The Portuguese applied the name to the entire island as Amu was the chief settlement. Lamu Town on Lamu Island is Kenya's oldest continually inhabited town, and was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa, believed to have been established in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somali Language
Somali is an Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language belonging to the Cushitic languages, Cushitic branch, primarily spoken by the Somalis, Somali people, native to Greater Somalia. It is an official language in Somalia, Somaliland, and Ethiopia; one of the two national languages in Djibouti; and a recognised minority language in Kenya. Somali is officially written in the Latin script (Somali Latin alphabet), with the Arabic script (Wadaad's writing) and several local scripts (Osmanya script, Osmanya, Kaddare script, Kaddare and Gadabuursi Somali Script, Borama scripts) being informally used.Lewis, I.M. (1958)The Gadabuursi Somali Script ''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'', University of London, Vol. 21, pp. 134–156. Classification Somali is classified within the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic family, specifically, Lowland East Cushitic languages, Lowland East Cushitic in addition to Afar language, Afar and Saho language, Saho. Somali is the bes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Somali People
The Somali people (, Wadaad: , Arabic: ) are a Cushitic ethnic group and nation native to the Somali Peninsula. who share a common ancestry, culture and history. The East Cushitic Somali language is the shared mother tongue of ethnic Somalis, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are predominantly Sunni Muslim.Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi, ''Culture and Customs of Somalia'', (Greenwood Press: 2001), p.1 Forming one of the largest ethnic groups on the continent, they cover one of the most expansive landmasses by a single ethnic group in Africa. According to most scholars, the ancient Land of Punt and its native inhabitants formed part of the ethnogenesis of the Somali people. This ancient historical kingdom is where a great portion of their cultural traditions and ancestry are said to derive from.Egypt: 3000 Years of Civilization Brought to Life By Christine El MahdyAncient perspectives on Egypt By Roger Matthews, Cornelia Roemer, Un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kore People
The Kore of Lamu are a small people living on Lamu Island Lamu Island is a port, city, and island just off the shore of Kenya in the Indian Ocean approximately 150 miles from Mombasa. It is a part of the East African country of Kenya. Lamu was founded in the 12th century. Lamu is one of the longest-est ... on the northern Kenya coast. In 1985 they numbered between 200 and 250 people (Curtin 1985). Their history before 1870 lies with the other Maa peoples in central Kenya. After being defeated by the Purko Maasai in the 1870s, the Kore fled to north-eastern Kenya where they were taken captive by Somali people. After functioning for years as clients or slaves in Somali households, they were set free by British imperial forces around the end of the 19th century. Loss of cattle brought them to Lamu island in the second half of the 20th century. They have lost their own language, a Maa variety, and speak Somali nowadays. They have adopted many Somali customs. References * Heine, B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaga Language
Chaga, also ''Kichaga'' or ''Kichagga'', is a Bantu dialect continuum spoken by the Chaga people of northern Tanzania, south of Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world, at above sea level and above its plateau base. It is also the highest volcano i .... 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 * Gweno References Languages of Tanzania {{Tanzania-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endangered Language
An endangered language or moribund language is a language that is at risk of disappearing as its speakers die out or shift to speaking other languages. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers and becomes a " dead language". If no one can speak the language at all, it becomes an " extinct language". A dead language may still be studied through recordings or writings, but it is still dead or extinct unless there are fluent speakers left. Although languages have always become extinct throughout human history, endangered languages are currently dying at an accelerated rate because of globalization, mass migration, cultural replacement, imperialism, neocolonialism and linguicide (language killing). Language shift most commonly occurs when speakers switch to a language associated with social or economic power or one spoken more widely, leading to the gradual decline and eventual death of the endangered language. The process of language shift is often infl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ongamo Language
Ongamo, or Ngas, is an extinct 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, Samburu, and Camus. Speakers have shifted to Chagga, a dominant regional Bantu language 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, South .... 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 eleusine by the Ngas. Subsequent immigration of Bantu-speaking Chagga over the next five centuries considerably reduced the extent and viability of the Ngasa language.L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maasai People
The Maasai (;) are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region.Maasai - Introduction Jens Fincke, 2000–2003 Their native language is the Maasai language, a Nilotic languages, Nilotic language related to Dinka language, Dinka, Kalenjin languages, Kalenjin and Nuer language, Nuer. Except for some elders living in rural areas, most Maasai people speak the official languages of Kenya and Tanzania—Swahili language, Swahili and English language, English. The Maasai population has been reported as numbering 1,189,522 in Kenya in the 2019 census compared to 377,089 in the 1989 census. However, many Maasai view the census as government meddling and either refuse to participate or actively pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samburu People
The Samburu are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic people of north-central Kenya. Traditionally, they are semi-nomadic pastoralists who primarily herd cattle but also keep sheep, goats and camels. They refer to themselves as Lokop or Loikop, a term with varied interpretations among the Samburu. Some believe it means "owners of the land" ("lo" meaning ownership and "nkop" meaning land) while others have different interpretations. The Samburu speak the Samburu dialect of the Maasai language, Maa language, a Nilotic languages, Nilotic language which is also spoken by 22 other sub tribes of the Maa community commonly known as the Maasai people, Maasai. Some suggest that the Samburu are a distinct tribe separate from the Maasai, a view that some Samburu people accept today. Samburu National Reserve is one of the well known wildlife conservation areas in Kenya. Within the Maa community of Kenya and Tanzania, the Samburu sub-tribe is the third largest, following the Kisonko (Isikirari) of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kalenjin Languages
The Kalenjin languages are a family of a dozen Southern Nilotic languages spoken in Kenya, eastern Uganda and northern Tanzania. The term ''Kalenjin'' comes from an expression meaning 'I say (to you)' or 'I have told you' (present participle tense). ''Kalenjin'' in this broad linguistic sense should not be confused with ''Kalenjin'' as a term for the common identity the Nandi-speaking peoples of Kenya assumed halfway through the twentieth century; see Kalenjin people and Kalenjin language. Branches The Kalenjin languages are classified within the Glottolog ''Glottolog'' is an open-access online bibliographic database of the world's languages. In addition to listing linguistic materials ( grammars, articles, dictionaries) describing individual languages, the database also contains the most up-to-d ... database as follows: * Kalenjin ** Central Kalenjin *** Kipsigis *** Plateau Central Kalenjin **** Tugen **** Western Plateau Central Kalenjin ***** Keiyo ***** Nandi *** ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
