Taita language

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Not to be confused with Sagala language (Tanzania).
Taita
Kidawida
Native toKenya
EthnicityTaita people
Native speakers
(400,000 cited 1992 – 2009 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Taveta
  • Sagala
  • Kasigau
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
dav – Taita
tvs – Taveta
tga – Sagala
Glottologtait1249  Taita–Sagalla
tave1240  Taveta
E.74,741 (G.21)[2]

Taita, or Dawida, is a Bantu language spoken in the Taita Hills of Kenya. It is closely related to the Chaga languages of Kenya and Tanzania. The Taveta (Dabida) dialect was once erroneously classified as close to Pare. The Saghala (Northern Sagala, Sagalla) variety is distinct enough to be considered a language separate from Taveta.[2]

The Dawida[clarification needed] and Saghala varieties of Taita contain loanwords from two different South Cushitic languages, called Taita Cushitic, which are now extinct.[3] It is likely that the Cushitic speakers were assimilated fairly recently, since lateral obstruents in the loanwords were still pronounced as such within living memory. However, those consonants have now been replaced by Bantu sounds.[4]

References

  1. ^ Taita at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Taveta at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Sagala at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ a b Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Gabriele Sommer, Matthias Brenzinger (ed.) (1992). Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference - "A survey of language death in Africa". Walter de Gruyter. pp. 392–394. ISBN 3110870606. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  4. ^ Marianne Bechhaus-Gerst, Fritz Serzisko (ed.) (1988). Cushitic-Omotic: Papers from the International Symposium on Cushitic and Omotic Languages, Cologne, January 6-9, 1986. Buske Verlag. p. 99. ISBN 3871188905. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)


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