The Maa languages, are a group of closely related Eastern Nilotic languages (or from a linguistic perspective, dialects, as they appear to be mutually-intelligible) spoken in parts of Kenya and Tanzania by more than a million speakers altogether. They are subdivided into North and South Maa. The Maa languages are related to the Lotuxo languages spoken in Southern Sudan. The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic subfamily of Nilo-Saharan; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in the...

In the past, several peoples have abandoned their language in favor of a Maa language, usually following a period of intensive cultural and economic contact. Among peoples that have assimilated to Maa peoples are the Aasáx (Asa) and the Elmolo, former hunter-gatherers who spoke Cushitic languages, and the Mukogodo-Maasai (Yaaku), former bee-keepers and hunter-gatherers (Eastern Cushitic). The Akiek of northern Tanzania, speakers of a Southern Nilotic Kalenjin tongue, are under heavy influence from Maasai. Aasáx is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Tanzania. ... The Cushitic languages are a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic languages phylum, named after the Biblical figure Cush by analogy with Semitic. ... The Mukogodo-Maasai (formerly Yaaku) are a people living in the Mukogodo Division of the Laikipia District of Rift Valley Province, Kenya. ... The East Cushitic languages comprise more than thirty languages belonging to the Cushitic family within the Afro-Asiatic phylum. ... Okiek (also known as Akiek) is a Southern Nilotic language cluster of the Kalenjin family spoken or once spoken by the Okiek peoples, scattered groups of hunter-gatherers in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania. ... The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya and northern Tanzania (with one of them, Kupsabiny or Sapiny, being spoken on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon). ... The Kalenjin languages are a group of twelve related Southern Nilotic languages spoken in Kenya, eastern Uganda and northern Tanzania. ...

• Northern Maa
  • Samburu (spoken by the Samburu people)
  • Camus (or il-Chamus, the preferred autonym; sometimes considered a dialect of Samburu)
• Southern Maa
  • Maasai (spoken by the Maasai people)
  • Ngasa or Ongamo (extinct or at least endangered; most speakers have shifted to Chagga) (Sommer 1992:380).

Another Kenyan Maa variety once existed, Kore. After being defeated by the Purko Maasai in the 1870s, the Kore fled to north-eastern Kenya where they were taken captive by Somali people. After functioning for years as clients or slaves in Somali households, they were set free by British imperial forces around the end of the 19th century. They have lost their own language and speak Somali. Loss of cattle brought them to Lamu island in the second half of the 20th century, where they live nowadays. Samburu is the Eastern Nilotic, North Maa language spoken by the Samburu in the highlands of northern Kenya. ... The Samburu are an ethnic tribe in north central Kenya related to the Maasai. ... The Camus (sometimes spelled Chamus or Tiamus, also known as Njemps), are a Maa people living south and southeast of Lake Baringo, Kenya. ... Maasai is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 900,000. ... A Maasai tribesman The Maasai or Masai, an indigenous African tribe of semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania, are probably one of the most familiar tribes of East Africa. ... Ongamo (or Ngasa) is an endangered or extinct Eastern Nilotic language of Tanzania. ... An endangered language is a language with so few surviving speakers that it is in danger of falling out of use. ... Lamu is an island city in the Lamu archipelago in Kenya. ...

References

• Heine, Bernd & Vossen, Rainer (1980) 'The Kore of Lamu: A contribution to Maa dialectology', Afrika und übersee, 62, 272–288.
• Vossen, Rainer (1982) The Eastern Nilotes: Linguistic and Historical Reconstructions. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag. ISBN 3-496-000698-6.
• Vossen, Rainer (1988) Towards a comparative study of the Maa dialects of Kenya and Tanzania (Nilo-Saharan 2.) Hamburg: Helmut Buske Verlag.
• Sommer, Gabriele {1992) 'A survey on language death in Africa', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 301–417.

External link

• Maa languages on the Ethnologue
• The Maa (Maasai) language, a website maintained by Doris L. Payne.