Maasai is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 900,000. It is closely related to the other Maa languages Samburu (or Sampur), the language of the Samburu people of central Kenya, and to Camus, spoken south and southeast of Lake Baringo (sometimes regarded a dialect of Samburu). The Maasai, Samburu and Camus people are historically related and all refer to their language as ɔl Maa. 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. ... 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... A Maasai tribesman The Maasai or Masai are an indigenous African tribe of semi-nomadic people located primarily in Kenya and northern Tanzania. ... 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 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. ...

Like the other Maa languages, Maasai has ATR vowel harmony. Voiced stops are realized as implosive consonants. In linguistics, a language is said to possess vowel harmony (also metaphony) when it has a phonological rule that requires all vowels in a word to belong to a single class. ... Implosive consonants are plosives (rarely affricates) with a glottalic ingressive airstream mechanism. ...

See also

• Kwavi language

The Kwavi language is the language or dialect of Maasai spoken by the Kwavi or Parakuyo (aka Baraguyu) sub-tribe of the Maasai in Tanzania. ...

Bibliography

• Mol, Frans (1995) Lessons in Maa: a grammar of Maasai language. Lemek: Maasai Centre.
• Mol, Frans (1996) Maasai dictionary: language & culture (Maasai Centre Lemek). Narok: Mill Hill Missionary.
• Tucker, Archibald N. & Mpaayei, J. Tompo Ole (1955) A Maasai grammar with vocabulary. London/New York/Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Vossen, Rainer (1982) The Eastern Nilotes. Linguistic and historical reconstructions (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 9). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.

External links

• Ethnologue report on Maasai