Kisi language (Tanzania)

Kisi is a Bantu language of Tanzania. Though only half or so of the Kisi people speak the language, use is vigorous where it is still spoken.

Not to be confused with Kissi language.
Kisi
Kikisi
Native toTanzania
Ethnicity18,000 Kisi (2001?)[1]
Native speakers
10,200 (2001)[2]
Language codes
ISO 639-3kiz
Glottologkisi1243
G.67[3]
Linguasphere99-AUS-re

Phonology
Consonant phonemes in Kisi
Labial Alveolar Post-
alveolar		 Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ
voiced b d ɟ ɡ
prenasalised ᵐb ⁿd ᶮɟ ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f s h
voiced β ʝ ɣ
Affricative tʃ
Liquid l
Consonant phonemes in Kisi that occur only through morphological interaction
Bilabial Labio-dental Alveolar Post alveolar/

palatal

 Velar
Prenasalised voiceless

plosives

 mph nth ᵑkh
Prenasalised voiceless

fricatives

 ᶬf ns
Prenasalized voiceless

affricatives

 ntʃ
Aspirated nasals mh nh ɲh

Other phonemes:

  • [ɾ] and [l] are in a free variation.
  • [w] and [j] are not included in a phoneme chart in Kisi because they only occur as glide insertion between historically or morphologically adjacent vowels. [w] does not occur otherwise. For some speakers, [j] occurs as a free variant of [ʝ] which is considered incorrect by other speakers.
Vowels phoneme in Kisi
Front Central Back
High - degree 1 i

i:

 u

u:

High - degree 2 ɪ

ɪ:

 ʊ

ʊ:

Mid e

e:

 o

o:

Low a

a:

Contrastive and obligatory length is marked with /:/. This does not necessarily reflect a difference in the length of production.

Diphthongs in Kisi
Symbol Example words Meaning
[e]-[i] [bei] Swahili: bei 'price'
[a]-[o] [ᵑɡao] Swahili: ngao 'shield'

Swahili: bei, and Swahili: ngao - These Swahili words have been borrowed into Kisi and pronounced with a diphthong in Kisi

    References
    1. Kisi language (Tanzania) at Ethnologue (15th ed., 2005)
    2. Kisi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    3. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
    • Gray, Hazel (2018). "Kisi Phonology and Morphology" (PDF). SIL International. (in Kisi). Archived from the original on 2018. Retrieved 2018-12-18.


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