Samburu language
{{Short description|Dialect of the Maa language}}{{Infobox language
|name=Samburu
|nativename=Sampur, ɔl Maa
|states=Kenya
|region=Samburu district of Rift Valley Province
|speakers={{sigfig|237,000|2}}
|date=2009 census
|ethnicity=Samburu
|ref=e18
|speakers2= (including Camus)
|familycolor=Nilo-Saharan
|fam2=Eastern Sudanic
|fam3=Nilotic
|fam4=Eastern Nilotic
|iso3=saq
|glotto=samb1315
|glottorefname=Samburu
|dia1=Camus
}}
Samburu is a Maa language dialect spoken by Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus).{{when|date=April 2012}} The Samburu dialect is closely related to the Camus dialect (88% to 94% lexical similarity) and to the South Maasai dialects (77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word "Samburu" itself may derive from the Maa word saamburr for a leather bag the Samburu use.
Phonology
class="wikitable"
|+Consonant phonemes {{Cite web |title=Samburu Dictionary » Phonology – Fonolojia |url=https://www.webonary.org/samburu/language/phonology/ |access-date=2025-06-02 |language=en-US}} ! colspan="2" | |
colspan="2" |Explosives
|{{IPAslink|b}} |{{IPAslink|t}} |{{IPAslink|c}} |{{IPAslink|k}} |{{IPAslink|ʔ}} |
---|
colspan="2" |Implosives
|{{IPAslink|ɓ}} |{{IPAslink|ɗ}} |{{IPAslink|ʄ}} |{{IPAslink|ɠ}} | |
colspan="2" |Nasals
|{{IPAslink|m}} |{{IPAslink|n}} | | | |
colspan="2" |Fricatives
| |{{IPAslink|s}} | | |{{IPAslink|h}} |
colspan="2" |Laterals
| |{{IPAslink|l}} | | | |
colspan="2" |Flaps
| |{{IPAslink|ɾ}} | | | |
colspan="2" |Trills
| |{{IPAslink|r}} | | | |
rowspan="2" |Semivowels
!Weak |{{IPAslink|w}} | |{{IPAslink|j}} | | |
Strong
|{{IPAslink|wː}} | |{{IPAslink|jː}} | | |
References
{{reflist}}
Further reading
- Rainer Vossen. The Eastern Nilotes: Linguistic and Historical Reconstructions. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag 1982. {{ISBN|3-496-00698-6}}.
External links
- [http://www.uoregon.edu/~maasai/ Maa Language Project]
- [http://mammana.org/bcp/maasai_samburu1967/ Embuku E Sayiata Too Ltung'ana Pooki] Maasai-Samburu Anglican Prayer Book (1967), digitized by Richard Mammana
{{Languages of Kenya}}
{{Eastern Sudanic languages}}
{{Authority control}}
{{ns-lang-stub}}