- Maa languages
Infobox Language family
name=Maa
region=Kenya and northernTanzania
familycolor=Nilo-Saharan
fam2=Eastern Sudanic
fam3=Nilotic
fam4=Eastern Nilotic
fam5=Teso-Lotuko-Maa
fam6=Lotuko-Maa
child1=Samburu
child2=Camus
child3=Maasai
child4=Ongamo (extinct)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 ofKenya andTanzania by more than a million speakers altogether. They are subdivided into North and South Maa. The Maa languages are related to theLotuko languages spoken in SouthernSudan .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 theElmolo , former hunter-gatherers who spokeCushitic languages , and theMukogodo-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.*Northern Maa
**Samburu (spoken by theSamburu people)
**Camus (or il-Chamus, the preferred autonym; sometimes considered a dialect of Samburu)
*Southern Maa
**Maasai (spoken by theMaasai people)
**Ngasa or Ongamo (extinct or at least endangered; most speakers have shifted to Chaga) (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 bySomali 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 toLamu island in the second half of the 20th century, where they live nowadays.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 3-496-00698-6.
* 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 links
* [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90131 Maa languages on the Ethnologue]
* [http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~dlpayne/maasai/mcclang.htm#top The Maa (Maasai) language] , a website maintained by Doris L. Payne.
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