Gogo is a
Bantu language
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantÊŠÌ€), 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 ...
spoken by the
Gogo people of
Dodoma Region
Dodoma Region (''Mkoa wa Dodoma'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions. The regional capital is the city of Dodoma, which is also the capital of Tanzania. Dodoma region is located in c ...
in
Tanzania
Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...
. The language is spoken throughout Dodoma Region and into the neighbouring district of
Manyoni.
The language is considered to have three
dialect
A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
s: Nyambwa (Cinyambwa or West Gogo), spoken to the west of Dodoma and in Manyoni; Nyaugogo (Cinyaugogo or Central Gogo), spoken in the environs of Dodoma; and Tumba (Citumba or East Gogo), spoken to the east. The Gogo group is grouped with
Kagulu, which has a 56%
lexical similarity
In linguistics, lexical similarity is a measure of the degree to which the word sets of two given languages are similar. A lexical similarity of 1 (or 100%) would mean a total overlap between vocabularies, whereas 0 means there are no common words. ...
with Gogo proper. Gogo has about 50% lexical similarity with
Hehe and
Sangu (both
Bena–Kinga languages (G.60), 48% with
Kimbu and 45% with
Nilamba. These last two are both in Guthrie's
Zone F.
Gogo is spoken by both
Christians
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...
and
Muslim
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
s and is a major language of the
Anglican Church of Tanzania.
Phonology
Consonants
* /k, É¡/ are heard as palatal consonant sounds when preceding /i, e/;
, ÉŸ
* /z/ can also be heard as an affricate
z
* Nasal consonants when preceding voiceless stops are devoiced;
̥ n̥ ɳ̊ ŋ̊
* Voiceless consonants are mostly aspirated occurring after nasals;
Ê° tÊ° cÊ° kÊ°
Vowels
External links
PanAfrican L10n page on Gogo
References
* Rugemalira, Josephat M. (2009). ''Cigogo, Kamusi ya Kigogo-Kiswahili-Kiingereza / Kiingereza-Kigogo, na Kiswahili-Kigogo / Gogo-Swahili-English, English-Gogo, and Swahili-Gogo Dictionary''. .
*Nurse, Derek and S. M. Mazengo. 1979. Gogo. African languages/Langues africaines 5. 70–76, 101–104.
Languages of Tanzania
Northeast Coast Bantu languages
{{Bantu-lang-stub