Kalenjin languages
Encyclopedia : K : KA : KAL : Kalenjin languages
The Kalenjin languages are a group of twelve related Southern Nilotic languages spoken in Kenya, eastern Uganda and northern Tanzania. The term Kalenjin comes from a Nandi expression meaning 'I say (to you)'. 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 the twentieth century; see Kalenjin.
The Kalenjin languages are generally distinguished into four sub-branches. There is less certainty regarding internal relationships within those four main branches. The following internal classification is based on the Ethnologue, 15th edition (2005):
- Elgon languages
- * Kupsabiny (Uganda)
- * Sabaot (Kenya)
- Nandi-Markweta languages
- * Markweta languages
- ** Endo language (Kenya)
- ** Talai language (Kenya)
- * Nandi languages
- ** Aramanik language (Kenya)
- ** Kalenjin language (Kenya)
- *** (including Kipsigis, Nandi, Terik, and Keiyo dialects)
- ** Kisankasa language (Tanzania)
- ** Mediak language (Tanzania)
- ** Mosiro language (Tanzania)
- ** Tugen language (Kenya)
- Okiek language (Kenya, Tanzania)
- * Kinare dialect (extinct)
- * Sogoo dialect (endangered)
- * Akiek dialect (endangered)
- Pökoot language (Kenya)
References
- Rottland, Franz (1982) Die Südnilotischen Sprachen: Beschreibung, Vergleichung und Rekonstruktion (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik vol. 7). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. (See esp. map 1 on p. 31, and the 'Sprachbeschreibung' of the Kalenjin languages on pp. 69–143.)
External links
- [Kalenjin branch] on the Ethnologue.
- [Endo phonology]
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