Samburu language

Samburu is a Maa language dialect spoken by Samburu pastoralists in northern Kenya. The Samburu number about 128,000 (or 147,000 including the Camus/Chamus).Template:When The Samburu dialect is closely related to the Camus dialect (88% to 94% lexical similarity) and to the South Maasai dialects (77% to 89% lexical similarity). The word "Samburu" itself may derive from the Maa word saamburr for a leather bag the Samburu use.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Explosives		Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink
Implosives		Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink
Nasals		Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink
Fricatives			Template:IPAslink			Template:IPAslink
Laterals			Template:IPAslink
Flaps			Template:IPAslink
Trills			Template:IPAslink
Semivowels	Weak	Template:IPAslink		Template:IPAslink
	Strong	Template:IPAslink		Template:IPAslink

Further reading

• Rainer Vossen. The Eastern Nilotes: Linguistic and Historical Reconstructions. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag 1982. Template:ISBN.

External links

• Maa Language Project
• Embuku E Sayiata Too Ltung'ana Pooki Maasai-Samburu Anglican Prayer Book (1967), digitized by Richard Mammana

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