Masaba language: Difference between revisions

Masaba
Masaba
Lumasaba
Native to	Uganda
Region	Eastern, south of the Kupsabiny, Bugisu Province
Ethnicity	Masaba, Luhya
Native speakers	(1,120,000 Masaba (2002 census), 565,000 Bukusu and Tachoni cited 1987)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Masaba–Luhya (J.30) Masaba; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Gisu–Kisu–Bukusu; Syan; Tachoni; Dadiri; Buya;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously:; myx – Masaba; bxk – Bukusu; lts – Tachoni

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Masaba (Lumasaaba), sometimes known as Gisu (Lugisu) after one of its dialects, is a Bantu language spoken by some two milion people in East Africa. Gisu dialect in eastern Uganda is mutually intelligible with Bukusu, spoken by ethnic Luhya in western Kenya. Masaba is the local name of Mount Elgon and the name of the son of the ancestor of the Gisu tribe. Like other Bantu languages, Lumasaba has a large set of prefixes used as noun classifiers. This is similar to how gender is used in many Germanic and Romance languages, except that instead of the usual two or three, there are around eighteen different noun classes. The language is tonal and has a quite complex verb morphology.

Sounds

Consonants

	labial		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Plosive	p	b	t	d		k	g
Fricative	f	β	s	z
Approximant			l		j

Vowels

Masaba has a basic 5-vowel system consisting of /i, e, a, o, u/.

References

^ Masaba at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Bukusu at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Tachoni at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)

Brown, Gillian (1972) Phonological Rules and Dialectal Variation: A study of the phonology of Lumasaaba ISBN 0-521-08485-7

External links

Ethnologue: Languages of the World (unknown ed.). SIL International.^{[This citation is dated, and should be substituted with a specific edition of Ethnologue]}
Kulomba Kwikumutikinyi Portions of the Book of Common Prayer in Masaba (1907) digitized by Richard Mammana and Charles Wohlers

This Bantu language-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[e16-1] Masaba at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Bukusu at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Tachoni at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)

[1]

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 |states=[[Uganda]]
 |region=Eastern, south of the [[Kupsabiny]], [[Bugisu]] Province
-|speakers=1,500,000
+|speakers=1,120,000 Masaba (2002 census), 565,000 Bukusu and Tachoni
+|date=1987
+|ref=e16
+|ethnicity=[[Masaba people|Masaba]], [[Luhya people|Luhya]]
 |fam2=[[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
 |fam3=[[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
@@ Line 13: / Line 16: @@
 |fam7=[[Great Lakes Bantu]]
 |fam8=Masaba–Luhya (J.30)
+|dia1=Gisu–Kisu–[[Bukusu dialect|Bukusu]]
-|iso3=myx
+|dia2=Syan
-|lc1=bxk|ld1=Bukusu
+|dia3=Tachoni
-|lc2=lkb|ld2=Kabras
+|dia4=Dadiri
-|lc3=lts|ld3=Tuchoni
+|dia5=Buya
+|lc1=myx|ld1=Masaba
+|lc2=bxk|ld2=Bukusu
+|lc3=lts|ld3=Tachoni
 }}
-'''Masaba''' (''Lumasaaba''), sometimes known as '''Gisu''' (''Lugisu'') after one of its dialects, is a [[Bantu language]] spoken by about 1,500,000 people in eastern [[Uganda]] in the administrative region of [[Bugisu]] on the border to [[Kenya]]. The language is closely related to, and mutually intelligible with [[Bukusu language|Bukusu]], spoken in western [[Kenya]]. Its speakers, formerly known as the [[Bagisu]], prefer to be called [[Bamasaba]]. Masaba is the local name of Mount Elgon and the name of the son of the first settler Muntu their ancestor. Like other Bantu languages, Lumasaba has a large set of prefixes used as [[noun]] [[classifier (linguistics)|classifiers]]. This is similar to how [[grammatical gender|gender]] is used in many [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] and [[Romance languages]], except that instead of the usual two or three, there are around eighteen different noun classes, most of them rather only generally defined. The language is [[tone (linguistics)|tonal]] and has a quite complex [[verb]] morphology.
+'''Masaba''' (''Lumasaaba''), sometimes known as '''Gisu''' (''Lugisu'') after one of its dialects, is a [[Bantu language]] spoken by some two milion people in East Africa. Gisu dialect in eastern Uganda is mutually intelligible with [[Bukusu dialect|Bukusu]], spoken by ethnic [[Luhya people|Luhya]] in western Kenya. ''Masaba'' is the local name of Mount Elgon and the name of the son of the ancestor of the Gisu tribe. Like other Bantu languages, Lumasaba has a large set of prefixes used as [[noun]] [[classifier (linguistics)|classifiers]]. This is similar to how [[grammatical gender|gender]] is used in many [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] and [[Romance languages]], except that instead of the usual two or three, there are around eighteen different noun classes. The language is [[tone (linguistics)|tonal]] and has a quite complex [[verb]] morphology.
-It is believed that languages like Samya,Rukonjo,Bukusu and Lunyole are Lumasaba dialects.
-These Languages are mutually intelligible and the names of people here are related originating from Bamasaba people.
 ==Sounds==