Ogiek language

Ogiek
Native to Kenya, Tanzania
Region Kinare: Kinare, Kenya, on the eastern slope of the Rift Valley.
Sogoo: Kenya, southern Mau forest between the Amala and Ewas Ng'iro rivers.
Akiek: Tanzania, southern part of Arusha Region.
Ethnicity Okiek
Native speakers
79,000 in Kenya (2009 census)[1]
A few older speakers in Tanzania
Dialects
Kinare (extinct)
Sogoo (endangered)
Akiek (endangered)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 oki
Glottolog okie1245[2]

Ogiek (also known as Okiek or Akiek; pronounced [oɡiɛk]) is a Southern Nilotic language cluster of the Kalenjin family spoken or once spoken by the Ogiek peoples, scattered groups of hunter-gatherers in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania. Most if not all Ogiek speakers have assimilated to cultures of surrounding peoples: the Akiek in northern Tanzania now speak Maasai and the Akiek of Kinare, Kenya now speak Gikuyu. Ndorobo is a term considered derogatory, occasionally used to refer to various groups of hunter-gatherers in this area, including the Ogiek.

Dialects

There are three main Ogiek varieties that have been documented, though there are several dozen named local Ogiek groups:

See also

References

  1. Ogiek at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Okiek". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

External links

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