- Bukusu language
language
name=LuBukusu
familycolor=Niger-Congo
states=Kenya
region=East Africa
speakers=800,000
fam2=Atlantic-Congo
fam3=Volta-Congo
fam4=Benue-Congo
fam5=Bantoid
fam6=Southern
fam7=Narrow Bantu
fam8=Central
fam9=Masaba-Luyia
fam10=Luyia
iso3=bxkBukusu (native name: "Lubukusu") is a Bantu language spoken by the
Bukusu people of westernKenya . It is one of the related languages of theLuhya people. The language is, however, more closely related to the Gisu and Masaaba languages of EasternUganda , and is mutually intelligible with those two languages.Variations
The language has three main variations:
*The dialect spokennorth ofKimilili area, with its heaviest influence being noted in the region aroundKitale
*The dialect spokenwest ofWebuye town, with its purest form being in the region around, and to the west of,Bungoma
*The dialect spokeneast ofWebuye town, extending into Kakamega and Lugari districts.Of these, the language spoken around
Kitale town is usually considered the purest form - this is because the other two dialects are significantly influenced by other dialects of theLuhya languages .Influences
The Bukusu people live in Bungoma district, which borders
Uganda to the west and Kakamega district ofKenya to theeast . Across the border inUganda live theBaMasaaba and theBaGisu , both closely related to the Bukusu by a shared language and a common culture. Intermarriage between the Bukusu and these Ugandan tribes is very common and is, in fact, encouraged by the respective communities. As a result, many Bukusu have close relatives among theBaGisu andBaMasaaba , and vice versa.During the Ugandan
civil war s of the 1970s, many of the BaGisu and BaMasaaba left Uganda for Kenya, mainly to live with Bukusu relatives around the Bungoma area. After the wars ended, a large number did not return to Uganda, having already started new lives in Kenya. Their large dispersal among the Bukusu in that area has had a discernible influence on the Bukusu language in the Bungoma region. Native speakers of the language will easily identify someone from the area based on their speech. Of particular note is the substitution of R with L, so that, for example, the verb 'khuufwara' (xuufwara) - to wear [clothes] is now pronounced 'khuufwala', as it is in the Gisu and Masaaba languages.The dialect spoken east of
Webuye town is influenced by the neighbouringKabras andTachoni dialects of the Luhya language. This is particularly noticeable in the changes in noun prefixes: in the original Bukusu language, for example, the term 'something' would be rendered as 'siSindu'. In the Kabras language, the term is rendered as 'eShindu'. The Bukusu east of Webuye town will usually say 'eSindu', thus adopting the prefix of the Kabras language while retaining the Bukusu root word 'Sindu' (as opposed to the Kabras root word, 'Shindu').Because it borders the nilotic
Kalenjin languages of thePokot , Nandi andSebei to the north, east and west, the Bukusu language spoken inKitale area has largely retained its original form, save for a number of loan words from those languages. It is markedly different from the other dialects discussed above, to the extent that it takes a while for a native speaker of one of the other two dialects to adopt it as their daily speech.ee also
*
Luhya languages Bibliography
* De Blois, Kornelis Frans (1975) 'Bukusu generative phonology and aspects of Bantu structure' (Annales de MRAC, no. 85). Tervuren: Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale.
External links
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=bxk Bukusu on Ethnologue]
* [http://reference.allrefer.com/country-guide-study/uganda/uganda36.html The Gisu people]
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