Yaaku Language

Yaaku (also known as Mukogodo, Mogogodo, Mukoquodo, Siegu, Yaakua, Ndorobo) is a moribund Afroasiatic language of the Cushitic branch, spoken in Kenya. Speakers are all older adults.

The classification of Yaaku within Cushitic is disputed, though it is usually placed somewhere within East Cushitic. It is lexicostatistically distinct, having been influenced by Maasai and perhaps also by an unknown substratum, but it shows closest resemblance with the Arboroid languages. Bender (2020) includes it as a member of Arboroid.Bender, M. Lionel. (2020). Cushitic Lexicon and Phonology. ed. Grover Hudson. (Schriften zur Afrikanistik / Research in African Studies, 28). Berlin: Peter Lang.

Language situation

The Yaaku people are former hunter-gatherers and bee-keepers. They adopted the pastoralist culture of the Maasai in the first half of the twentieth century, although some still keep bees. As a result, the Yaaku almost completely gave up their language for the Maa language of the dominant Maasai tribe (including the Samburu) between 1925 and 1936. The variety of Maa they speak is called ''Mukogodo-Maasai''. Old Yaaku words are still found in bee-keeping vocabulary, for example:
* — 'honey' (cf. Maasai ''en-aisho o lotorrok'')
* — 'greater honeyguide (''Indicator indicator'')' (compare Maasai ''n-cɛshɔrɔ-î'')
* — 'wooden honey container (about 60 cm)'

A language-revival movement has started among the Yaaku in recent years, aiming to strengthen the Yaaku identity. In early 2005, Maarten Mous, Hans Stoks and Matthijs Blonk visited Doldol on the invitation of a special Yaaku committee, to determine whether there is enough knowledge of Yaaku left among the people to revive the language. This visit has shown there are few truly fluent Yaaku speakers left, all very old: two women called Roteti and Yaponay, respectively, and a man called Legunai. The latter two are both of the ''Terito'' age set, which means that they must be around a hundred years old. Knowledge of vocabulary is much wider spread in the community. Full language revival is improbable because of the scarcity of fluent speakers, but one of the possibilities for a partial revival is to use Yaaku vocabulary in the framework of Maa grammar, a strategy that is analogous to the making of Mbugu, a mixed language of the Usambara mountains in Tanzania.

Notes

References

* Brenzinger, Matthias (1992) 'Lexical retention in language shift', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) ''Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa''. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 213–254.
* Heine, Bernd (1974/75) 'Notes on the Yaaku language (Kenya)', ''Afrika und Übersee'', 58(1), 27–61; 58(2), 119–138.
* Heine, Bernd & Brenzinger, Matthias (1988) 'Notes on the Mukogodo dialect of Maasai', ''Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere'', 14, 97–131.
* Mous, Maarten & Stoks, Hans & Blonk, Matthijs (2005) 'De laatste sprekers' he last speakers in ''Indigo, tijdschrift over inheemse volken'' ournal on indigenous peoples pp. 9–13.
* Sommer, Gabriele (1992) 'A survey on language death in Africa', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) ''Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa''. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 301–417.

External links

* https://www.matthijsblonk.nl/Archief/paginas/YaakuENG.htm The last speakers – Yaaku language saved from extinction]

Yaaku Swadesh List

Western Omo–Tana languages
Languages of Kenya
Endangered languages of Africa

{{Kenya-stub