Overview
Akie is a Kalenjin language spoken in Tanzania. It is a moribund endangered language, with only a few elders who speak it. The Akie people have adopted Maasai and Swahili, and it was reported in 1981 that younger generations are becoming less fluent in Akie. No more than 200 people speak Akie as of 2015.
| Akie | |
|---|---|
| Akiek, Mosiro | |
| kuuti táá akie | |
| Native to | Tanzania |
| Region | Manyara Region |
| Ethnicity | Akie |
Native speakers | <200 (2015)[1][2] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | mwy (retired)[3][4] |
| Glottolog | mosi1247 |
Akie (Mosiro, Nandi, "(N)dorobo",[5] Akie: kuuti táá akie 'mouth of the Akie people'[2][6]) is a Kalenjin language spoken in Tanzania. It is a moribund endangered language, with only a few elders who speak it. The Akie people have adopted Maasai and Swahili, and it was reported in 1981 that younger generations are becoming less fluent in Akie.[7] No more than 200 people speak Akie as of 2015.[1]
Dialects
There is no dialectal variation in Akie.[2]
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | plain | p | t | c ⟨ch⟩ | k | ||
| geminated | tː ⟨tt⟩ | cː ⟨cch⟩ | kː ⟨kk⟩ | ||||
| implosive | ɓ ⟨b⟩ | ɗ ⟨d⟩ | ʄ ⟨j⟩ | ɠ ⟨g⟩ | |||
| Fricative | (f) | s | ʃ ⟨sh⟩ | ||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ ⟨ng'⟩ | ||
| geminated | mː ⟨mm⟩ | nː ⟨nn⟩ | |||||
| Tap/Flap | ɾ ⟨r⟩ | ɽ ⟨rr⟩ | |||||
| Lateral | plain | l | |||||
| geminated | lː ⟨ll⟩ | ||||||
| Approximant | plain | w | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||
| geminated | ⁱj ⟨yy⟩ | ||||||
Geminated consonants /tː/, /cː/, /kː/, /mː/, /nː/ are not always distinguished by all speakers. /p/ is often realized as [ɸ], and also as [β] between vowels, but also as its basic value of [p] in all positions. Voiceless stops are typically realized as weak fortis consonants, however after nasals and intervocalically, they are voiced. [f] is only found in loanwords.[2]
Vowels
| +ATR | -ATR | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Central | Back | Front | Central | Back | |
| Close | i | u | ɪ | ʊ | ||
| Mid | e | o | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Open | a | |||||
Vowel length is distinctive.[2]
References
- 1 2 Heine, Bernd; König, Christa; Legère, Karsten (2014), "What does it mean to be an endangered language? The state of Akie, a Tanzanian language", Current Research in African Studies: Papers in Honour of Mwalimu Dr. Eugeniusz Rzewuski, Warsaw: Dom Wydawniczy Elipsa, pp. 107–122, retrieved 2026-04-07
- 1 2 3 4 5 Heine, Bernd; König, Christa; Legère, Karsten (2015). The Akie Language of Tanzania: A Sketch of Discourse Grammar (PDF). Tokyo: Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa.
- ↑ "Change Request Documentation: 2016-029". SIL International.
- ↑ Legère, Karsten (2016-08-31). "Change Request Number: 2016-029" (PDF). SIL International.
Mosiro is known among the current Akie community in Tanzania as a clan name, and not as a linguistic variety mentioned by Maguire in his Il-Torobo 1948 paper, If this language variety has ever existed, it must have been some 80 years ago, but today Mosiro should only be retained as a clan name within the Akie ethnic group.
- ↑ "Glottolog 5.3 - Akie". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2026-04-07.
- ↑ König, Christa; Heine, Bernd; Legère, Karsten (2024-05-15). "Akie as a Language Island". Journal of Language Contact. 16 (2–3): 198–215. doi:10.1163/19552629-01602004. ISSN 1877-4091.
- ↑ "UNESCO Communication and Information: Akie". Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2018-10-06.
Further reading
- Legère, Karsten; König, Christa (2013), Akie: A heavily endangered hunter‐gatherers’ language in Central Tanzania (PDF)