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Hehe language

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(Redirected from Kihehe) Bantu language
Hehe
Kihehe
Native toTanzania
EthnicityHehe
Native speakers810,000 (2006)
Language familyNiger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3heh
Glottologhehe1240
Guthrie codeG.62
Linguasphere99-AUS-ua

Hehe, also known by its native name Kihehe [kihehe], is a Bantu language that is spoken by the Hehe people of the Iringa region of Tanzania, lying south of the Great Ruaha River. It was reported to have "Ngoni" features, that is, words of a Zulu-like language introduced when conquered by a Nguni or Zulu-like people in the early 19th century. However, other "Ngoni" speeches seem to have lost most of these distinctive features over the past 150-odd years, the language more resembling those of the neighbouring peoples. In the 1970s, it was estimated that 190,000 people spoke Hehe. There has been some Bible translation (British and Foreign Bible Society). Hehe may be mutually intelligible with Bena.

Grammar

Hehe has 15 noun classes, marked with prefixes.

Hehe has a complex tense-aspect-mood system.

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced v (z)
prenasal ⁿz
Approximant l j w
  • [ʍ] can be heard as an allophone of /w/ among speakers in free variation.
  • [z] occurs in the language, but is mainly heard as an allophone of /s/ after nasal sounds, or as a result of Swahili loanwords.
  • /ki/ becomes [t͡ʃ] before a vowel, e.g., chakulya 'food' from /ki-akulya/.

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

References

  1. Hehe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Dwyer, David J.; Yankee, Everyl (January 1985). African Language Resource Handbook: A Resource Handbook of the Eighty-two Highest Priority African Languages (PDF) (Prepublication ed.). East Lansing: Michigan State University. ED256170.
  4. Voegelin, C. F.; Voegelin, F. M. (1977). "Bantu Proper = Narrow Bantu". Classification and Index of the World's Languages. Elsevier. p. 57. ISBN 0-444-00155-7.
  5. Odden, David (2005). "Doing an Analysis". Introducing Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 177. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511808869.009. ISBN 978-0-521-53404-8.
  6. Mtavangu, Norbert (2008). "Tense and aspect in Ikihehe". Occasional Papers in Linguistics. 3: 34–41.
  7. ^ Johnson, Martha B. (2015). A Contribution toward a Kihehe Grammar (Report).
Languages of Tanzania
Official languages
Indigenous
languages
Bantu
Northeast
Bantu
Bena–Kinga
Chaga
Great Lakes
Kikuyu–Kamba
Northeast Coast
Takama
Kilombero
Rufiji–Ruvuma
Rukwa
Other Bantu
Cushitic
Nilotic
Isolates/unclassified
Sign languages
Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H) (by Guthrie classification)
Zone E
E10
E20
E30
E40
E50
E60
E70
Zone F
F10
F20
F30
Zone G
G10
G20
G30
G40
G50
G60
Zone H
H10
H20
H30
H40
  • The Guthrie classification is geographic and its groupings do not imply a relationship between the languages within them.
Narrow Bantu languages by Guthrie classification zone templates
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones C–D)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones N–S)


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