Central Kilimanjaro language explained

Central Kilimanjaro
Nativename:	Central Chaga
States:	Tanzania
Region:	Kilimanjaro
Ethnicity:	Chaga
Familycolor:	Niger-Congo
Fam2:	Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:	Volta-Congo
Fam4:	Benue–Congo
Fam5:	Bantoid
Fam6:	Southern Bantoid
Fam7:	Bantu
Fam8:	Northeast Bantu
Fam9:	Chaga–Taita
Fam10:	Chaga
Lc1:	vun
Ld1:	Wunjo
Lc2:	old
Ld2:	Mochi
Guthrie:	E.622 (ex-E.62a,62b)
Glotto:	vunj1238
Glottoname:	Vunjo
Glotto2:	moch1256
Glottoname2:	Mochi
Dia1:	Mochi
Dia2:	Uru
Dia3:	Mbokomu
Dia4:	Wuunjo

Central Kilimanjaro, or Central Chaga, is a Bantu language of Tanzania spoken by the Chaga people.

There are several dialects:

• Moshi (Old Moshi, Mochi, Kimochi)
• Uru
• Mbokomu
• Wuunjo (Wunjo, Vunjo, Kivunjo), including Kiruwa, Kilema, Mamba, Moramu (Marangu), Mwika

Moshi is the language of the Chaga cultural capital, Moshi, and the prestige dialect of the Chaga languages.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Low		a aː

Consonants

!Labial!Alveolar!Post-
alveolar!Palatal!Velar!Glottal

Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t			k
	voiced	b	d
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd			ᵑɡ
Affricate	voiceless	pf	ts	tʃ
	prenasal	ᵐbv	ⁿdz	ᶮdʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ			h
	voiced	(β)
Rhotic	trill		r
	tap		ɾ
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		ɻ	j

• Sounds /k, ᵑɡ, l/ become palatalized as [kʲ, ᵑɡʲ, lʲ] when occurring before front vowels /i, e/.
• /w/ is heard as a fricative [β] when before front vowels /i, e/.

!Labial!Alveolar!Palatal!Velar!Glottal

Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t		k
	voiced	b	d		ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd		ᵑɡ
Affricate	voiceless	pf	ts	tʃ
	prenasal	ᵐbv	ⁿdz	ᶮdʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ		h
	voiced	(β)			ɣ
Rhotic	trill		r
	tap		ɾ
Lateral			l	(ʎ)
Approximant		w	ɹ	j

• Sounds /k, ᵑɡ, ɣ, l/ become palatalized as [kʲ, ᵑɡʲ, ɣʲ, lʲ] when occurring before front vowels /i, e/.
• /l/ when palatalized as [lʲ] can also have a palatal lateral allophone [ʎ] in the Vunjo dialect.
• /w/ is heard as a fricative [β] when before front vowels /i, e/.^{[1] [2]}

Bibliography

• Dalgish, Gerard M. (1978) 'The syntax and semantics of the morpheme ni in kiVunjo (Chaga)', Kiswahili, 48, 1, 42 - 56.
• Philippson, Gérard (1984) '"Gens des bananeraies" (Tanzanie): contribution linguistique à l'histoire culturelle des Chaga du Kilimanjaro' (Cahier no. 16.) Paris: Editions Recherche sur les civilisations.

Notes and References

1. Book: McHugh, Brian David . Cyclicity in the phrasal phonology of KiVunjo Chaga . University of California at Los Angeles . 1990.
2. Book: Philippson . Gérard . Kilimanjaro Bantu (E60 and E74) . Montlahuc . Marie-Laure . London & New York: Routledge. . 2003 . In Nurse, Derek and Philippson, Gérard (eds.), The Bantu Languages . 475–500.