Fipa (Fipa: ''Ichifipa'') is a Bantu language of

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 ...

. It is spoken by the

Fipa people The Fipa (or Wafipa) are a Bantu ethno-linguistic group based in the Sumbawanga Rural and Nkasi districts of Rukwa Region in southwestern Tanzania speaking the Fipa and Mambwe languages. In 1992, the Fipa population was estimated to number 2 ...

, who live on the

Ufipa plateau The Ufipa Plateau is a highland in southwestern Tanzania. It lies mostly in Rukwa Region, near the border with Zambia. The plateau is named for the Fipa people who inhabit it. Geography The plateau extends northwest-southeast, rising between two se ...

in the Rukwa Region of South West

between Lake Tanganyika and

Lake Rukwa Lake Rukwa is an endorheic lake located the Rukwa Valley of Rukwa Region, Songwe Region and Katavi Region in southwestern Tanzania. The lake is the third largest inland body of water in the country. Geography The alkaline Lake Rukwa lies midw ...

. The ethnic group of the

is larger than the group of Fipa language speakers. On the Tanzanian side, people who speak Mambwe-Lungu may identify as Fipa and consider their language to be a dialect of Fipa. Lungu and Mambwe are also spoken in Zambia where they are considered languages and their speakers are considered to be ethnic groups in their own right, although linguists consider Lungu and Mambwe to be dialects of a single language. There are three dialects: Milanzi (also referred to as IchiSukuuma), Kwa (Ichikwa) and Nkansi. Maho (2009) classifies M.131 Kulwe (Kuulwe, no ISO code) as closest to Fipa. Otherwise the dialects are Milanzi (Fipa-Sukuma, ''Icisukuuma''), South Fipa, Kandaasi (''Icikandaasi''), Siiwa (''Icisiiwa''), Nkwaamba (''Icinkwaamba''), Kwa (''Icikwa''), Kwaafi (''Icikwaafi''), Ntile (''Icintile,'' Cile), Peemba (''Icipeemba'').

Notes

References

* Labroussi, Catherine. 1998. ''Le couloir de lacs: Contributions linguistique à l’histoire des populations du sud-ouest de la Tanzanie''. Doctoral Dissertation, INALCO. * Labroussi, Catherine. 1999. Vowel systems and spirantization in S.W. Tanzania. In ''Bantu historical linguistics'', ed. Jean-Marie Hombert and Larry M. Hyman, 335–377. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. * Struck, Bernhard. 1911. ''Die Fipasprache''. Anthropos 6:951–994. * Walsh, Martin T., and Imani N. Swilla. 2000. ''Linguistics in the corridor: A review of research on the Bantu languages of south-west Tanzania, north-east Zambia and north Malawi''. Ms, Dar es Salaam. * Whiteley, W. H. 1964. Suggestions for recording a Bantu language in the field. ''Tanganyika Notes and Records'' 62:1–19. * Willis, Roy G. 1966. ''The Fipa and related peoples of south-west Tanzania and north-east Zambia''. London: International African Institute. * Willis, Roy G. 1968. The Fipa. In ''Tanzania before 1900'', ed. Andrew Roberts, 82–95. Nairobi: East African Publishing House. * Willis, Roy G. 1978. ''There was a certain man: Spoken art of the Fipa''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Woodward, Mark, Anna-Lena Lindfors, and Louise Nagler. 2008. ''A sociolinguistic survey of the Fipa language community: Ethnic diversity and dialect diversity''. SIL Electronic Survey Report, SIL International.

External links

SIL sociolinguistic survey of the Fipa language community
Languages of Tanzania Rukwa languages {{Bantu-lang-stub