Languages of Kenya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Languages of Kenya
OfficialEnglish and Swahili[1]
MainSwahili (lingua franca)
SignedKenyan Sign Language
Keyboard layout
QWERTY
KB United States-NoAltGr.svg
Part of a series on the
Culture of Kenya
Flag of Kenya.svg
History
  • Pleistocene
  • Neolithic
  • African iron age
  • Swahili city states
  • Portuguese and Omani period
  • British Colonial Period
  • Early post Independence
  • Moi Era
  • Recent history
People
Historic peoples

Modern ethnicities

Diaspora

Languages
  • Niger-Congo
    • Bantu
  • Nilo-Saharan
    • Nilotic
      • Dholuo
      • Kalenjin
      • Maa
      • Turkana
  • Afroasiatic
    • Cushitic
      • Rendille
      • Somali
    • Semitic
      • Arabic
  • Indo-European
    • Germanic
      • West Germanic
      • English
      • German
      • Afrikaans
    • Indo-Iranian
    • Italic
      • French
      • Italian
Mythology and folklore
Cuisine
Festivals
Religion
Art
  • Traditional art
  • Wangechi Mutu
Literature
Music and performing arts

Performing arts

Media

Government agencies

Television

Radio

Newspapers

Sport
Monuments
Symbols
  • Flag of Kenya.svg Kenya portal
  • v
  • t

Kenya is a multilingual country. The Bantu Swahili language and English, the latter being inherited from colonial rule (see British Kenya), are widely spoken as lingua franca. They serve as the two official working languages. Including second-language speakers, there are more speakers of Swahili than English in Kenya.[2]

Overview[]

Page from the Kikuyu publication Muigwithania (1929).

According to Ethnologue, there are a total of 68 languages spoken in Kenya. This variety is a reflection of the country's diverse population that includes most major ethnoracial and linguistic groups found in Africa (see Languages of Africa).

Languages spoken locally belong to three broad language families: Niger-Congo (Bantu branch) and Nilo-Saharan (Nilotic branch), spoken by the country's Bantu, Nilotic populations and the Cushitic, Afroasiatic language family respectively. The Arab ethnic minority speak languages belonging to the separate Afroasiatic family, with the Hindustani and British residents speaking languages from the Indo-European family.[3]

Kenya's various ethnic groups typically speak their mother tongues within their own communities. The two official languages, English and Swahili, are used in varying degrees of fluency for communication with other populations.

British English is primarily used in Kenya. Additionally, a distinct local dialect, Kenyan English, is used by some communities and individuals in the country, and contains features unique to it that were derived from local Bantu languages such as Kiswahili and Kikuyu.[4] It has been developing since colonisation and also contains certain elements of American English. English is widely spoken in commerce, schooling and government.[5] Peri-urban and rural dwellers are less multilingual, with many in rural areas speaking only their native languages.[6]

Language families[]

Major languages[]

Lord's Prayer in Swahili, a Bantu language that alongside English serves as a lingua franca for many in Kenya.

The 2019 census reports the largest communities of native speakers in Kenya as follows:

  • Bantu
    • Kikuyu 8.1 million
    • Kamba 4.7 million
    • Luhya 3.3 million
      • (incl. Bukusu 1.2 million)
    • Gusii 2.7 million
    • Meru 2.0 million
    • Mijikenda/Giryama ca. 1 million
  • Nilotic
    • Dholuo 5.0 million
    • Kalenjin languages 4.6 million
      • ( 1.9 million, Naandi 940,000)
    • Maasai 1.2 (1.9 million including Tanzania)
    • Turkana 1.0 million
  • Cushitic
    • Somali 2.8 million (22 million incl. Ethiopia and Somalia)

Minor languages[]

Languages spoken by the country's ethnic minorities include:

  • Cushitic
    • Borana, 656,000 speakers in 2010[7]
    • Orma, 66,000 speakers in 2015[8]
    • Rendille, 60,000 speakers in 2015[9]
  • Semitic
    • Arabic
  • Indo-European
  • Bantu
    • Swahili

References[]

  1. ^ "The Constitution of Kenya" (PDF). Kenya Law Reports. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Kenya - Languages | Ethnologue".
  3. ^ Ethnologue - Languages of Kenya
  4. ^ Nyaggah, Lynette Behm. "Cross-linguistic influence in Kenyan English: The impact of Swahili and Kikuyu on syntax". University of California. Archived from the original on 26 December 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  5. ^ Proquest Info & Learning (COR) (2009). Culturegrams: World Edition. p. 98. ISBN 978-0977809165.
  6. ^ E. K. Brown, R. E. Asher, J. M. Y. Simpson (2006). Encyclopedia of language & linguistics, Volume 1, Edition 2. Elsevier. p. 181. ISBN 0080442994.
  7. ^ "Languages of Kenya". Ethnologue.
  8. ^ “Orma”, Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  9. ^ “Rendille”, Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)

External links[]

Retrieved from ""