Keiyo language

Keiyo (Elgeyo) is a Kalenjin language spoken in western Kenya, in the southern part of the district of Elgeyo-Marakwet.[2]

Keiyo
Elgeyo
Native toKenya
RegionRift Valley Province
Native speakers
250,000 (2019 census)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3eyo
Glottologkeiy1238

The Elgeyo

The Elgeyo refer to themselves by the name /kéyaːt/ or /kéyêːk/, or in the singular, /kéyo/ or /kéyaː/. The term /kéyo/ also applies to the language.[2]

Classification

Keiyo is one of the languages spoken by the Kalenjin people, and is part of a sub-group that also includes Nandi, Markweta and Kipsigis. These languages and dialects form, along with Datooga and Omotik, the Southern Nilotic languages sub-group of the Nilotic languages.[3]

Phonology

The tables below present the vowels[4] and consonants[5] of Keiyo.

Vowels
Front Central Back
Close i [i] ɪ [ɪ] ʊ [ʊ] u [u]
Mid e [e] [ɛ] ɔ [ɔ] o [o]
Open a [a] ɑ [ɑ]

There are, additionally, ten long counterparts of each vowel.

Keiyo differentiates its vowels according to their place of articulation. They are either pronounced with the root of the tongue advanced, or with the root of the tongue retracted.[6] The vowels with the root of the tongue advanced are [i], [e], [o], [a], [u], as well as their long counterparts. The vowels with the root of the tongue contracted are [ɪ], [ɛ], [ɔ], [ɑ], [ʊ], as well as their long counterparts.

Consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m [m] n [n] ny [ɲ] ng [ŋ]
Plosive/Affricate p [p] t [t] c [t͡ʃ] k [k]
Fricative s [s]
Liquid l [l]
Rhotic r [r]
Semivowel w [w] y [j]

Tone

Keiyo is a tonal language.

References
  1. Keiyo at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  2. Rottland 1982, p. 21.
  3. Rottland 1982, pp. 19–20.
  4. Rottland 1982, pp. 73, 76.
  5. Rottland 1982, pp. 69–70.
  6. Rottland 1982, p. 74.
  • Rottland, Franz (1982). Die südnilotischen Sprachen : Beschreibung, Vergleichung und Rekonstruktion. Berlin: D. Reimer. ISBN 3-496-00162-3. OCLC 12613683.


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