Dahalo (language)

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Dahalo (also: Sanye)

Spoken in

Kenya
speaker approx. 400 (as of 1992)
Linguistic
classification
Language codes
ISO 639-3

dal

Dahalo (more precisely: [ɗaháálo], own name of the language: [ʔáfo gúħooni] "the language of the people"; also: Sanye) is a Kushitic language in Kenya that is threatened with extinction and is still spoken by around 400 people (status from 1992 ). The second language is Swahili (see bilingualism ).

The term Dahalo is understood by the members of this ethnic group , but not used themselves. Some of the Dahalo call themselves [ɗáko].

The classification of the Dahalo within the Kushitic language family is controversial; it is counted to the South Kushite or to the East Cushite subunit.

The consonant system of this language is quite extensive. It is particularly noticeable that there are two dental clicks in the Dahalo , which is actually characteristic of Khoisan languages : [ ǀ ] and [ n ǀ ].

Examples (from Tosco 1991):

  • [ ǀ í n giliʕe] "star"
  • [ n ǀ aba] "forest"

literature

  • ED Elderkin: The verb in Dahalo , University of Nairobi, 1972.
  • Mauro Tosco: A grammatical sketch of Dahalo, including text and glossary , Buske, Hamburg 1991.

Web links