| Gusii (EkeGusii) | | Spoken in: | Kenya | | Region: | Western Kenya, Gusii district | | Total speakers: | 1,5 million | | Ranking: | Not in top 100 | | Genetic classification: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo
Volta-Congo
Benue-Congo
Bantoid
Southern Bantoid
Narrow Bantu
Central
Gusii
This page attempts to present a list of languages by total native speakers. ...
Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families (families hereforth). ...
Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages are probably the largest group of the world in terms of different languages. ...
In the classification of African languages, Atlantic-Congo is an early branch of the Niger-Congo phylum. ...
In the classification of African languages, Volta-Congo is the major branch (in terms of number of languages) of the Niger-Congo phylum. ...
The Benue-Congo group of languages constitutes the largest branch of the Niger_Congo language family, both in terms of sheer number of languages, of which 938 are known (not counting mere dialects), and in terms of speakers, numbering perhaps 550 million. ...
Bantu is a language family that belongs to the Niger-Congo group. ...
In the classification of African languages, Narrow Bantu is a term commonly used to designate the branch of Niger-Congo containing the numerous Bantu languages as recognized by Guthrie (1948) in his seminal classification of the Bantu languages. ...
| | Official status | | Official language of: | none | | Regulated by: | none | | Language codes | | ISO 639-1 | n.a. | | ISO 639-2 | n.a. (B) / bnt (T) | | SIL | GUZ | | See also: Language – List of languages | The Gusii language (also known as Ekegusii) is a Bantu language spoken in the Kisii district in western Kenya (between the Kavirondo Gulf of Lake Victoria and the border with Tanzania). It is spoken by the Gusii people, numbering about 1,5 million (SIL/Ethnologue 1994). Many Gusii are bilingual in Luo. ISO 639 is one of several international standards that lists short codes for language names. ...
SIL International is a non-profit, faith-based, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ...
This list of languages is alphabetical by English name. ...
Bantu is a language family that belongs to the Niger-Congo group. ...
Lake Victoria, as seen from space Lake Victoria or Victoria Nyanza is one of the Great Lakes of Africa. ...
SIL International is a non-profit, faith-based, scientific organization with the main purpose to study, develop and document lesser-known languages for the purpose of expanding linguistic knowledge, promoting world literacy and aiding minority language development. ...
Luo (also known als Dholuo) is a Western Nilotic language spoken by the Luo people, numbering about 3 million. ...
Classification
Gusii is classified as a Central Bantu language, part of the subfamily of Kuria languages labeled E.10 in Guthrie's zonal classification of Bantu languages. Related languages are found mainly in Tanzania, and include Ware, Ikizu, Ikoma, and Kuria. Malcolm Guthrie (1903-1972), professor of Bantu languages, is known primarily for his classification of Bantu languages (Guthrie 1971). ...
Sounds
Vowels Gusii has seven vowels. Vowel length is contrastive, i.e. the words 'bór' to miss and 'bóór' to say are distinguished by vowel length only. In linguistics, vowel length is the duration of a vowel sound. ...
A front vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ...
A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ...
A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ...
A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ...
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The open-mid vowels make a class of vowel sounds used in some spoken languages. ...
An open vowel is a vowel sound of a type used in most spoken languages. ...
Consonants In the table below, orthographic symbols are included between brackets if they differ from the IPA symbols. Note especially the use of ‘y’ for IPA [j], common in African orthographies. When symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant. The orthography of a language is the set of rules of how to write correctly in the writing system of a language. ...
The International Phonetic Alphabet is a phonetic alphabet used by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) the human vocal apparatus can produce. ...
Phonetic inventory of consonants in Gusii, IPA notation. | . | bilabial | alveo-palatal | palatal | velar | | stops | p b | t | c (c) | k g | | fricatives | | s | | | | affricates | | | cç (c) | | | nasals | m | n | ɲ (ny) | ŋ (ng') | | trills | | r | | | | approximants | w | | j (y) | | The following morphophonological alternations occur: The International Phonetic Alphabet is a phonetic alphabet used by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) the human vocal apparatus can produce. ...
Morphophonology or Morphonology is a branch of linguistics which studies: The phonological structure of morphemes. ...
- n+r = nd
- n+b = mb
- n+g = ŋg
- n+k = ŋk
- n+m = mm
Bibliography - Cammenga, Jelle (2002) Phonology and morphology of Ekegusii: a Bantu language of Kenya. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
- Whiteley, Wilfred H. (1956) A practical introduction to Gusii. Dar es Salaam/Nairobi/Kampala: East African Literature Bureau.
- Whiteley, Wilfred H. (1960) The tense system of Gusii. Kampala: East African Institute of Social Research.
- Whiteley, Wilfred H. (1974) Language in Kenia. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.
External link - Ethnologue on Gusii (http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=GUZ)
- Partial Gusii Swadesh list at Rosetta Project (http://www.rosettaproject.org/live/search/contribute/swadesh/view?ethnocode=GUZ)
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