View source for Elgon languages

{{More sources|date=November 2024}}{{Infobox language family
|name=Elgon
|altname=Sebei
|ethnicity=[[Sebei people]]
|region=western [[Kenya]], eastern [[Uganda]]
|familycolor=Nilo-Saharan
|fam2=[[Eastern Sudanic languages|Eastern Sudanic]]
|fam3=[[Nilotic languages|Nilotic]]
|fam4=[[Southern Nilotic languages|Southern Nilotic]]
|fam5=[[Kalenjin languages|Kalenjin]]
|child1=[[Kupsabiny language|Kupsabiny]]
|child2=[[Sabaot language|Sabaot]]
|glotto=elgo1240
|glottorefname=Elgon–Mau Kalenjin
}}

The '''Elgon languages''' are languages of the [[Southern Nilotic languages|Southern Nilotic]] [[Kalenjin languages|Kalenjin]] family spoken in the [[Mount Elgon]] area in western [[Kenya]] and eastern [[Uganda]]. According to the [[Ethnologue]], there are two main Elgon languages: [[Kupsabiny language|Kupsabiny]] (spoken by about 120,000 people) and [[Sabaot language|Sabaot]] dialects (spoken by about 134,000 people). Sabaot is a common name assumed by various related peoples, including the Koony, Sapiiny, Pook, and Bong'om (after whom the [[West]]ern [[Kenya]]n town of [[Bungoma]] is named), whose respective languages are considered separate languages by Rottland (1982).

The [[Terik people]], living east of Lake Victoria wedged in between the [[Nandi people|Nandi]], [[Luo (family of ethnic groups)|Luo]] and [[Luhya people|Luyia]], spoke or speak a dialect closely related to Pok and Bong'om.<ref>{{Citation|last=Heine|first=Bernd|title=Dialect death: The case of Terik|work=Language Death|year=1992|pages=255–272|publisher=DE GRUYTER|doi=10.1515/9783110870602.255|isbn=978-3-11-087060-2}}</ref> According to their own oral history they are "people of Mount Elgon"; this is confirmed by Bong'om traditions that "the people who later called themselves Terik were still Bong'om when they left Elgon and moved away in a southern direction" (Roeder 1986:142). Recently many of them have assimilated to neighbouring Nandi, leading to a decline in the use of the [[Terik language]] in favor of Nandi. Although they live in two countries, both groups speak the same language but with slightly different pronunciations.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Languages of Uganda}}
{{Eastern Sudanic languages}}

[[Category:Kalenjin languages]]
[[Category:Languages of Kenya]]
[[Category:Languages of Uganda]]


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