Gusii language

Gusii
Gusii
Ekegusii
Native to	Kenya
Region	Nyanza Kenya, Kisii County & Nyamira County, Southern Rift Valley, parts of Kericho County & Bomet County
Ethnicity	Abagusii
Native speakers	L1: 2.2 million (2009 census)[1]; L2: 500,000
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Logooli-Kuria (E.40) Gusii; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	Ekegusii Proper; Girango Maate;
Writing system	Latin (after European contact)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	guz
Glottolog	gusi1247
Guthrie code	JE.42[2]

The Gusii language (also known as Ekegusii) is a Bantu language spoken in Kisii and Nyamira counties in Nyanza Kenya, whose headquarters is Kisii Town, (between the Kavirondo Gulf of Lake Victoria and the border with Tanzania). It is spoken natively by 2.2 million people (as of 2009), mostly among the Abagusii. Ekegusii has only two dialects: The Rogoro and Maate dialects. Phonologically they differ in the articulation of /t/. Most of the variations existing between the two dialects are lexical. The two dialects can refer to the same object or thing using different terms. An example of this is the word for cat. While one dialect calls a cat ekemoni, the other calls it ekebusi. Another illustrating example can be found in the word for sandals. While the Rogoro word for sandals is chidiripasi, the Maate dialect word is chitaratara. Many more lexical differences manifest in the language. The Maate dialect is spoken in Tabaka and Bogirango. Most of the other regions use the Rogoro dialect, which is also the standard dialect of Ekegusii.

Sounds

Vowels

Gusii has seven vowels. Vowel length is contrastive, i.e. the words 'bór' to miss and 'bóór' to say are distinguished by vowel length only.

Phonetic inventory of vowels in Gusii
	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

In the table below, orthographic symbols are included between brackets if they differ from the IPA symbols. Note especially the use of ‘y’ for IPA /j/, common in African orthographies. When symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.

Phonemic inventory of consonants in Gusii
	labial	alveolar	palatal	velar
plosive		t		k
affricate			tʃ
fricative	β	s		ɣ
nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
tap		ɾ
approximant	w		j

Phonetic inventory of consonants in Gusii
	labial	alveolar	palatal	velar
plosive	p b	t d		k ɡ
affricate			tʃ
fricative	β	s		ɣ
nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
tap		ɾ
approximant	w		j

The following morphophonological alternations occur:

n+r = [ⁿd]
n+b = [ᵐb]
n+g = [ᵑɡ]
n+k = [ᵑk]
n+c = [ⁿtʃ]
n+s = [ⁿs]
n+m = [mː]

The Gusii language has the consonant 'b' not realized as the bilabial stop as in 'bat' but as bilabial fricative as in words like baba, baminto, abana.

Ekegusii language Alphabet

	Ekegusii alphabet (Kenya)[3][4][5]
Ekegusii Alphabet	A	B	C	D	E	Ë	G	H	I	K	M	N	O	Ö	R	S	T	U	W	Y	ei	ie	io	oi	-	-	-	-	-
Ekegusii Consonants	Mb	Bw	mbw	Ch	Nch	Chw	Nchw	Nd	Ndw	Ng	Gw	Ngw	Ng'	Ng'w	Ny	Nyw	Nk	Kw	Nkw	Mw	Nw	Rw	Ns	Sw	Nsw	Nt	Tw	Ntw	Yw

Ekegusii Noun Classes

Samples 1

Ekegusii Noun Class
	Class	Singular	Gloss	Plural	Gloss
1	omo-aba	omonto	person/human	abanto	people/humans
2	omo-eme	omotwe	head	emetwe	head
3	e-ch	eng'ombe	cow	chiombe	cows
4	ege-ebi	egekombe	cup	ebikombe	cups
5	ri-ama	ritunda	fruit	amatunda	fruits
6	o-o	obwoba	cowardness	obwoba	cowardness
7	e-e	ekegusii	ekegusii	-----------	-----------
8	ama-ama	amabere	milk	amabere	milk
9	omo-i-seke omoiseke	girl	aba-i-seke	girls
10				--------------	------------

Ekegusii Numeral System

Sample 2

Ekegusii Numeral System
Number	Reading	Meaning	Number	Reading	Meaning
1	eyemo	1	11	ikomi nemo	10+1
2	ibere	2	12	ikomi na ibere	10+2
3	isato	3	13	ikomi na isato	10+3
4	inye	4	14	ikomi nainye	10+4
5	isano	5	15	ikomi na isano	10+5
6	isano nemo	5+1	16	ikomi na isano nemo	10+5+1
7	isano na ibere	5+2	17	ikomi na isano na ibere	10+5+2
8	isano na isato	5+3	18	ikomi na isano na isato	10+5+3
9	kianda	9	19	ikomi na kianda	10+9
10	ikomi	10	20	emerongo ebere	20

Sample phrases

English	Ekegusii
Good Morning	Bwakire buya
Good night	Obotuko obuya
Head	omotwe
Ear	ogoto
Water	amache
evening	magoroba
grandfather	sokoro
to know	komanya
to milk	gokama
donkey	etigere
Earth	ense
Dwell	menya
Homeland	inka
Today	rero
Sun	risase
Dog	esese
Stand	-tenena
Know	-manya
See	-rora
Upside/Northern/Hillside	rogoro
Lake/Sea	enyancha
Desert	eroro
Fighter	omorwani
Roll Over	-garagara
Milk	amabere
She goat	esibeni
Cowdung	esike
Lady	omosubati
Harvest	gesa
Cry	rera
Walk	tara

Bibliography

Bickmore, Lee

1997. Problems in constraining High tone spread in Ekegusii. Lingua, vol. 102, pp. 265–290.
1998. Metathesis and Dahl’s Law in Ekegusii. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences, vol. 28:2, pp. 149–168.
1999. High Tone Spreading in Ekegusii Revisited: An Optimality Theoretic Account. Lingua, vol. 109, pp. 109–153.

Cammenga, Jelle

2002 Phonology and morphology of Ekegusii: a Bantu language of Kenya. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.

Mreta, Abel Y.

2008. Kisimbiti: Msamiati wa Kisimbiti-Kiingereza-Kiswahili na Kiingereza-Kisimbiti-Kiswahili / Simbiti-English-Swahili and English-Simbiti-Swahili Lexicon. Languages of Tanzania Project, LOT Publications Lexicon Series 7, 106 pp., ISBN 9987-691-09-9.

Nash, Carlos M.

2011. Tone in Ekegusii: A Description of Nominal And Verbal Tonology. University of California, Santa Barbara.

Nyauncho, Osinde K.

1988. Ekegusii morphophonology: an analysis of the major consonantal processes. University of Nairobi.

Whiteley, Wilfred H.

1956 A practical introduction to Gusii. Dar es Salaam/Nairobi/Kampala: East African Literature Bureau. Available Here
1960 The tense system of Gusii. Kampala: East African Institute of Social Research.
1974 Language in Kenya. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.

References

Gusii at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
Rhonda L. Hartell, ed. 1993. The Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO and Summer Institute of Linguistics
Nyauma, Shem (2014). "A Phonological Reconstruction Of Ekegusii And Egekuria Nouns: A Comparative Analysis" (PDF). Masters Thesis, University of Nairobi.
Hartell, Rhonda, ed. (1993). Alphabets of Africa. UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar (BREDA). p. 186. ISBN 92-9091-020-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)

External links

Gusii.com The Gusii Language Blog
Ekegusii Encyclopedic Project & online Encyclopedia/Dictionary
American soft power has helped this Kenyan man's efforts to ensure a future for his mother tongue—report by Patrick Cox for Public Radio International (January 26, 207)

Listening

National Public Radio story about Kisii language (from All Things Considered program, April 29, 2006)

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[e22-1] Gusii at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)

[Guthrie-2] Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online

[3] Rhonda L. Hartell, ed. 1993. The Alphabets of Africa. Dakar: UNESCO and Summer Institute of Linguistics

[:0-4] Nyauma, Shem (2014). "A Phonological Reconstruction Of Ekegusii And Egekuria Nouns: A Comparative Analysis" (PDF). Masters Thesis, University of Nairobi.

[5] Hartell, Rhonda, ed. (1993). Alphabets of Africa. UNESCO Regional Office in Dakar (BREDA). p. 186. ISBN 92-9091-020-3.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)

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