Sambaa
kisambaa
Native toTanzania
EthnicitySambaa people
Native speakers
660,000 (2001)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ksb
Glottologsham1280
G.23[2]

Sambaa or Shambaa or Shambala is a Bantu language of Tanzania.

Overview

Sambaa, also Kisambaa, (ki)Shambaa, (ki)Shambala is spoken by the Shambaa in the Usambara mountains in the Lushoto District and Muheza District, Tanga Region, of northern Tanzania. Some dialectal variation exists between the language as spoken in the area around Lushoto and the areas around Mlalo and Mtae, possibly also between the Shambaa of the Western Usambara Mountains and the Eastern Usambara Mountains.

Phonology

Vowels

Five vowels are noted as [i, ɛ, a, ɔ, u].

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive/
Affricate 		voiceless p t tʃ k
voiced b d ɟ ɡ
vl. prenasal ᵐ̥p ⁿ̥t ᵑ̊k
vd. prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᶮɟ ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced v z ɣ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Approximant w l j

The diacritics within prenasal voiceless plosives are devoiced as [ᵐ̥ ⁿ̥ ᵑ̊].[3]

References

  1. ^ Sambaa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Riedel, Kristina (2009). The syntax of object marking in Sambaa: A comparative Bantu perspective. University of Leiden.

External links


Languages of Tanzania
Narrow Bantu languages (by Guthrie classification)
Authority control databases
Categories