Kipsigis language

Kipsigis (or Kipsikii, Kipsikiis) is part of the Kenyan Kalenjin dialect cluster, It is spoken mainly in Kericho and Bomet counties in Kenya. The Kipsigis people are the most numerous tribe of the Kalenjin in Kenya, accounting for 60% of all Kalenjin speakers. Kipsigis is closely related to Nandi, Keiyo (Keyo, Elgeyo), South Tugen (Tuken), and Cherangany.

Kipsigis
Native toKenya
EthnicityKipsigis
Native speakers
1.9 million (2009 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3sgc
Glottologkips1239

The Kipsigis territory is bordered to the south and southeast by the Maasai. To the west, Gusii (a Bantu language) is spoken. To the north-east, other Kalenjin people are found, mainly the Nandi. East from the Kipsigis, in the Mau forests, live some Okiek speaking tribes.

The Kipsigis language has two lengths of vowel sounds. When spoken, a single vowel has a short sound of that vowel whereas the duplication of a vowel indicates an elongated sound of that vowel. Most common nouns in the Kipsigis language end with a consonant when a common noun ends with a vowel; it will either be an a or o. Proper nouns such as names of places and people can end in any vowel.

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Stop p t (c) k
Affricate tʃ
Fricative s
Rhotic r
Lateral l
Approximant j w
  • /r/ can be heard as either a trill [r] or a tap [ɾ].
  • /tʃ/ may also be realized as a palatal stop [c].
  • /k/ may also have a voiced allophone [ɡ], as well as become spirantized as a voiced fricative [ɣ].[2]

Vowels
+ATR -ATR
Front Back Front Back
Close i iː u uː i̙ i̙ː u̙ u̙ː
Mid e eː o oː e̙ e̙ː o̙ o̙ː
Open a aː a̙ a̙ː

Double vowels

Usually, the pronunciation of a double vowel does not mean a repetition of that vowel sound but rather an elongation of that particular vowel sound. An exception to that generalization shows up with the double ee.

Normally, the elongated vowel sounds follow the Latin vowel sounds. A few examples are given in the table below

Vowel As Kipsigis As in English
aa Kaap mama, mark, margin, sharp
ii Asiis piece, peace, freeze, sneeze
oo igoondiit

roopta

 gone

robe

uu piyuut root, boot

The sound of the double ee may vary in pronunciation. For example:

As in Kipsigis As in English
akweet 'flock' wet
beek 'water' bake
meet 'death' for this word, there are two sounds, as in lay-ette

Pronunciation of ng' and ng

ng' has the sound of ng at the end of the English word sing.

ng, without the apostrophe, is pronounced as two separate syllables: n and g – as in the English word anger.

Aap

The Kipsigis word -aap is an integral part of the Kipsigis language with an equivocated status and usage as the English conjunction of. -aap, usually used as a cervix of a word with an hyphen implicates the subject matter with a possessive relation.

See also
Kipsigis language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator

Notes
  1. ^ See Kalenjin languages and Nandi–Markweta languages for a clarification of the Nandi/Kalenjin nomenclature.

References
  1. Kipsigis at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Kouneli, Maria (2019). The Syntax of Number and Modification: An Investigation of the Kipsigis DP. New York University.


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