Maasai language

Maasai
ɔl Maa
Spoken in	Kenya, Tanzania
Region	Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania
Ethnicity	Maasai people
Native speakers	900,000  (date missing)
Language family	Nilo-Saharan? Eastern Sudanic Eastern Nilotic Lotuxo–Teso Lotuxo–Maa Maa Maasai
Dialects	Purko Kwavi (Baraguyu) Kaputiei Keekonyokie Matapo Laitokitok Iloodokilani Damat Loitai Siria Moitanik (Wuasinkishu) Kore Arusha Kisonko
Language codes
ISO 639-2	mas
ISO 639-3	mas

The Maasai language (sometimes misspelled Masai) (autonym: ɔl Maa) is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000. It is closely related to the other Maa varieties Samburu (or Sampur), the language of the Samburu people of central Kenya, Chamus, spoken south and southeast of Lake Baringo (sometimes regarded as a dialect of Samburu); and Parakuyu of Tanzania. The Maasai, Samburu, il-Chamus and Parakuyu peoples are historically related and all refer to their language as ɔl Maa.

Phonology

The Maasai variety of ɔl-Maa as spoken in southern Kenya and Tanzania has 30 contrastive sounds, which can be represented and alphabetized as followsː a, b, ch (a variant of sh), d, e, ɛ, g, h, i, ɨ, j, k, l, m, n, ny, ŋ, o, ɔ, p, r, rr, s, sh (with variant ch), t, u, ʉ, w, wu (or ww), y, yi (or yy), and the glottal stop ' (ʔ).

Consonants

In the table of consonant phonemes below, phonemes are represented with IPA symbols in / / brackets. When IPA conventions differ from symbols normally used in practical writing, the practical orthography symbols are given in ( ) brackets.

For some Maasai speakers the voiced stop consonants are not particularly implosive (e.g. IlKeekonyokie Maa), but for others they are lightly implosive or have a glottalic feature (e.g. Parakuyo Maa). The p consonant in Arusha Maa is pronounced differently than in other Maa varieties. In Arusha Maa it is typically a voiceless fricative [ɸ], but in some words it is even a voiced bilabial trill. People who read and write Swahili or English may think of sh and ch as separate sounds; but in Maasai varieties of Maa (at least in native Maa words) they are in complementary distribution: ch occurs after consonants, and sh elsewhere.

		Labial	Alveolar	Alveopalatal / palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		/m/	/n/	/ɲ/ (ny)	/ŋ/ (ŋ or ng')
Stop	voiceless	/p/	/t/		/k/	/ ʔ / (')
	implosive / glottalized	/ɓ/ (b)	/ɗ/ (d)	/ʄ/ or [dʒ] (j)	/ɠ/ (g)
Fricative			/s/	/ʃ/ (sh); after consonants [tʃ] (ch)		/h/
Liquid	lateral		/l/
	tap		/ɾ/ (r)
	trill		/ r̃/ (rr)
Glide	lenis	/w/		/j/ (y)
	fortis	/ww/ (wu)		/jj/ (yi)

Like the other Maa languages, Maasai has advanced tongue root vowel harmony. There are nine contrastive vowels, with the vowel /a/ being "neutral" for harmony. For some speakers the voiced stops may be realized as implosive consonants, but often the implosion is very light to non-existent. Tone is extremely important for conveying correct meaning.

Syntax

Word order is usually verb–subject–object, though order can vary because tone is the most important indicator of Subject versus Object. What really determines order in a clause is topicality; thus order in most simple clauses can be predicted according to the information structure pattern: [Verb - Most.Topical - Less.Topical]. Thus, if the Object is highly topical in the discourse (e.g. a first person pronoun), and the Subject is less topical, the Object will occur right after the verb and before the subject.

The Maasai language has only two fully grammaticalized prepositions, but can use "relational nouns" along with the most general preposition to designate specific locative ideas. Noun phrases begin with a Demonstrative or Gender-Number Prefix, followed by a quantifying noun or other head noun. Other modifiers follow the head noun, including Possessive phrases.

See also

• Kwavi language
• Sonjo language, the language of a Bantu enclave in Maasai territory
• Yaaku, a people who almost completely abandoned their own language in favor of Maasai

Bibliography

• Mol, Frans (1995) Lessons in Maa: a grammar of Maasai language. Lemek: Maasai Center.
• Mol, Frans (1996) Maasai dictionary: language & culture (Maasai Centre Lemek). Narok: Mill Hill Missionary.
• Tucker, Archibald N. & Mpaayei, J. Tompo Ole (1955) A Maasai grammar with vocabulary. London/New York/Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co.
• Vossen, Rainer (1982) The Eastern Nilotes. Linguistic and historical reconstructions (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 9). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.

External links

• Ethnologue report on Maasai
• Maa language project
• Doris L. Payne & Leonard Ole-Kotikash: English-Maasai and Maasai-English dictionary