Datooga language
| Datooga | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Tanzania |
| Region | East African Rift |
| Ethnicity | Datooga |
|
Native speakers
|
88,000 (2000) |
|
Nilo-Saharan?
|
|
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | dato1239 |
The Datooga language is a Nilotic language, or actually a dialect cluster, of the Southern group. It is spoken by the Datooga people of the Great Rift Valley of Tanzania.
The name is variously spelled Datog, Datoga, Tatoga, or Tatog. The Sukuma name Taturu is also sometimes used in English; the Swahili name Mang'ati comes from Maasai, where it means "enemy". However, it is not considered offensive to the Datooga, as there is a degree of pride in being the historic enemy of the Maasai and Mang'ati has become the standard name for the group in Swahili. In addition, numerous tribal and dialectal names may be found for the people or language as a whole.
The Datooga have been claimed to be one of the least educated peoples in Tanzania, and there is almost no literacy in the language; literacy in Swahili has been reported to be very low in some communities. However, the Barabaig and Gisamjang dialects have been written and some work is being done on Asimjeeg.
Dialect diversity is great enough to make mutual intelligibility difficult, and Blench (2000) lists East Datooga and West Datooga as distinct languages. Dialects are often assumed to correspond to the seven Datooga tribes, but the speech of the Gisamjanga (Kisamajeng, Gisamjang) and the Barabaig, for example, are very close, and can be considered a single dialect. The other dialects, with alternate spellings, are:
Ethnologue 16 mentions several other varieties of uncertain nature: Darorajega, Gidang'odiga, Bisiyeda, Daragwajega, Salawajega, Ghumbiega, Mangatiga, the last presumably just the Maasai and Swahili name. The suffixes -da and -ga on these names and many Datooga nouns are equivalent to English the .
Datooga has been strongly influenced by South Cushitic languages previously spoken in the area where Datooga has taken over. In turn, Datooga has strongly influenced the Iraqw language which has occupied much former Datooga territory and has absorbed Datooga through intermarriage; for example, the Iraqw use Datooga vocabulary for poetic language.
...
Wikipedia