The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western
Kenya
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and northern
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
(with one of them,
Kupsabiny or Sapiny, being spoken on the
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...
n side of
Mount Elgon
Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda. ). They form a division of the larger
Nilotic language family, along with the
Western Nilotic languages
The Western Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, along with the Eastern Nilotic languages and Southern Nilotic languages; Themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan. The abo ...
and the
Eastern Nilotic languages
The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have sprea ...
.
Subdivisions
The Southern Nilotic languages are generally divided into two groups,
Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
and Tatogoa, although there is some uncertainty as to the internal coherence of the Kalenjin branch. Southern Nilotic languages appear to have been influenced considerably by
Cushitic
The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and the Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As o ...
(
Afro-Asiatic
The Afroasiatic languages (or Afro-Asiatic), also known as Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic, and sometimes also as Afrasian, Erythraean or Lisramic, are a language family of about 300 languages that are spoken predominantly in the geographic s ...
) languages. The Kalenjin languages are spoken by the
Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tanzania and Malawi. In contrast, their desig ...
. This family spreads all around
Uganda
}), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...
and to some of
Kenya
)
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, ...
. The Tatoga languages consist of the
Omotik language and of the larger
Datooga language
Datooga (also Datog, Datoga, Taturu, Mang'ati, Tatoga or Tatog'')'' is a Nilotic language or dialect cluster of the Southern Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Datooga people of the Great Rift Valley of Tanzania. The Sukuma name ''Taturu'' is a ...
, or more fitting, Datooga dialect cluster.
*
Kalenjin Kalenjin may refer to:
* Kalenjin people
The Kalenjin are a group of tribes designated as Highland Nilotes and are descended from Maliri people ''(thus related to Daasanach of Ethiopia.)'' The Kalenjin are cousins with Datooga people of Tan ...
(see)
*Tatoga:
Omotik
Omotik (Sawas) is a moribund Nilotic language of Kenya. It is spoken by the hunter-gatherer Omotik people of the Great Rift Valley among the Maasai; most of the Omotik population has shifted to the Maasai language
Maasai (previously sp ...
,
Datooga
Languages
*
Datooga
*
Omotik
Omotik (Sawas) is a moribund Nilotic language of Kenya. It is spoken by the hunter-gatherer Omotik people of the Great Rift Valley among the Maasai; most of the Omotik population has shifted to the Maasai language
Maasai (previously sp ...
*
Kupsabiny
*
Sabaot
*
Okiek Okiek or Ogiek may refer to:
*the Okiek people
*the Ogiek language
Ogiek (also Okiek and Akiek)The initial vowel varies by dialect. The first consonant is , but is pronounced or between vowels. is a Southern Nilotic language of the Kalenjin fa ...
*
Kipsigis
Reconstruction
Proto-Kalenjin has been reconstructed by
Franz Rottland (1979).
Cushitic influences
Historically, Southern Nilotic has undergone extensive contact with a "missing" branch of
East Cushitic that Heine (1979) refers to as ''Baz''.
Proto-Baz reconstructions proposed by Heine (1979):
[Heine, Bernd, Franz Rottland & Rainer Voßen. 1979. Proto-Baz: Some aspects of early Nilotic-Cushitic contacts. ''Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika'' 1. 75‒92.]
See also
*
Languages of Kenya
Kenya is a multilingual country. Swahili, a Bantu language, and English are widely spoken as lingua francas and serve as the two official languages. English was inherited from colonial rule (''see British Kenya''). Including second-language ...
*
Languages of Tanzania
Tanzania is a multilingual country. There are many languages spoken in the country, but no one language is spoken natively by a majority or a large plurality of the population. Swahili and English, the latter of which was inherited from colonial ...
*
Languages of Uganda
In Uganda the most spoken local language is Luganda as the Baganda tribe occupies the southern central part of Uganda and the capital city of the country, followed by English (also the official language since 1962), as all schools in Uganda use i ...
*
Serengeti-Dorobo language, of which at least the numeral system is Southern or Eastern Nilotic
*
List of Proto-Southern Nilotic reconstructions (Wiktionary)
References
{{Eastern Sudanic languages