Samburu language
Dialect of the Maa language
Samburu | |
---|---|
Sampur, ɔl Maa | |
Native to | Kenya |
Region | Samburu district of Rift Valley Province |
Ethnicity | Samburu |
Native speakers | 240,000 (2009 census)[1] (including Camus) |
Language family | Nilo-Saharan?
|
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | saq |
Glottolog | samb1315 |
Samburu is a Maa language dialect spoken by Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus).[when?] The Samburu dialect is closely related to the Camus dialect (88% to 94% lexical similarity) and to the South Maasai dialects (77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word "Samburu" itself may derive from the Maa word saamburr for a leather bag the Samburu use.
References
- ^ Samburu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
Further reading
- Rainer Vossen. The Eastern Nilotes: Linguistic and Historical Reconstructions. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag 1982. ISBN 3-496-00698-6.
External links
- Maa Language Project
- Embuku E Sayiata Too Ltung'ana Pooki Maasai-Samburu Anglican Prayer Book (1967), digitized by Richard Mammana
- v
- t
- e
Languages of Kenya
- English
- Swahili
languages
Bantu | |
---|---|
Cushitic | |
Nilo-Saharan |
This Nilo-Saharan languages–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e