Hehe language

{{Short description|Bantu language}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Hehe

|nativename=Kihehe

|states=Tanzania

|ethnicity=Hehe

|speakers= {{sigfig|805,000|2}}

|date=2006

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Benue–Congo

|fam4=Southern Bantoid

|fam5=Bantu

|fam6=Northeast Bantu

|fam7=Bena–Kinga (G60)

|iso3=heh

|glotto=hehe1240

|glottorefname=Hehe

|lingua=[http://linguasphere.info/?page=linguascale&linguacode=99-AUS-ua 99-AUS-ua]

|guthrie=G.62

}}

Hehe, also known by its native name {{lang|sw|Kihehe}} {{IPA|sw|kihehe|}}, is a Bantu language that is spoken by the Hehe people of the Iringa region of Tanzania, lying south of the Great Ruaha River. It was reported to have "Ngoni" features, that is, words of a Zulu-like language introduced when conquered by a Nguni or Zulu-like people in the early 19th century.{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=August 2020}} However, other "Ngoni" speeches seem to have lost most of these distinctive features over the past 150-odd years, the language more resembling those of the neighbouring peoples.{{Citation needed|reason=Reliable source needed for the whole sentence|date=August 2020}} In the 1970s, it was estimated that 190,000 people spoke Hehe.{{cite book |last1=Voegelin |first1=C. F. |last2=Voegelin |first2=F. M. |title=Classification and Index of the World's Languages |year=1977 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=0-444-00155-7 |page=57 |entry=Bantu Proper = Narrow Bantu |url=https://archive.org/details/classificationin0000voeg/ |url-access=registration}} There has been some Bible translation (British and Foreign Bible Society). Hehe may be mutually intelligible with Bena.{{cite book |last1=Dwyer |first1=David J. |last2=Yankee |first2=Everyl |date=January 1985 |title=African Language Resource Handbook: A Resource Handbook of the Eighty-two Highest Priority African Languages |edition=Prepublication |location=East Lansing |publisher=Michigan State University |id=ED256170 |url=http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED256170.pdf}}