| Southern Nilotic | |
| Region: | western Kenya, eastern Uganda, northern Tanzania |
| Familycolor: | Nilo-Saharan |
| Fam2: | Eastern Sudanic |
| Fam3: | Southern Eastern |
| Fam4: | Nilotic |
| Child1: | Kalenjin |
| Child2: | Omotik–Datooga |
| Glotto: | sout2830 |
| Glottorefname: | Southern Nilotic |
The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya and northern Tanzania (with one of them, Kupsabiny or Sapiny, being spoken on the Ugandan side of Mount Elgon). They form a division of the larger Nilotic language family, along with the Western Nilotic languages and the Eastern Nilotic languages.
The Southern Nilotic languages are generally divided into two groups, Kalenjin and Tatogoa, although there is some uncertainty as to the internal coherence of the Kalenjin branch. Southern Nilotic languages appear to have been influenced considerably by Cushitic (Afro-Asiatic) languages.[1] The Kalenjin languages are spoken by the Kalenjin people. This family spreads all around Uganda and to some of Kenya. The Tatoga languages consist of the Omotik language and of the larger Datooga language, or more fitting, Datooga dialect cluster.
Proto-Kalenjin has been reconstructed by Franz Rottland (1979).[2]
Historically, Southern Nilotic has undergone extensive contact with a "missing" branch of East Cushitic that Heine (1979) refers to as Baz.[3] Proto-Baz reconstructions proposed by Heine (1979),[4] with notes about corresponding East Cushitic and Proto-East Cushitic forms from Sasse (1979):[5]
| Gloss | Proto-Baz | Proto-East Cushitic | Example cognates | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bat |
| |||
| bell |
| |||
| bovine, male |
|
| Saho and Somali awr, Oromo ooroo | |
| calf |
| |||
| cow dung, mud |
| |||
| curse (n.) |
|
| Saho and Oromo abaar, Somali habaar | |
| eat, to |
| |||
| eight |
| |||
| ewe, virgin |
| |||
| feathers, fur |
| |||
| fifty |
|
| Konso ken, Oromo shani, Somali shan | |
| fingernail, claw |
| |||
| forty |
|
| Afar affara, Somali afar, Oromo afur | |
| goat, male |
| |||
| goat/sheep, young |
| |||
| grass |
|
| Afar qayso, Somali caws, Oromo ees | |
| head |
|
| Arbore mete, Somali madax, Oromo mataa | |
| honey |
|
| Afar–Saho and Somali malab | |
| hundred |
|
| Saho bool, Somali boqol | |
| lake, sea |
|
| Afar–Saho and Somali bad, Daasanach baz | |
| look, to |
|
| Saho and Oromo ilaal | |
| lost, to get |
|
| Afar–Saho, Somali and Oromo bad- | |
| louse |
| |||
| lover |
| |||
| nine |
| Afar and Somali sagaal, Oromo sagal | ||
| pot, clay |
| |||
| rain |
|
| Oromo rooba, Somali roob | |
| red |
| |||
| scratch, to |
| |||
| see, to |
| |||
| seven |
| Arbore tuzba | ||
| six |
|
| Daasanach li, Oromo jaha, Somali lix | |
| smoke |
| |||
| spear |
| |||
| suck, to |
|
| Oromo luug, Rendille nug, Somali nuug | |
| ten |
|
| Arbore tomon, Saho tamman, Somali toban | |
| thirty |
|
| Arbore sezze, Oromo sadii', Somali saddex |