Misplaced Pages

Suba-Simbiti language

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Suba-Simbiti) Bantu language of Tanzania Not to be confused with Suba language (Kenya).
Suba-Simbiti
Native toTanzania
RegionMara Region
Native speakers110,000 (2011)
Language familyNiger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-3ssc
Glottologsuba1252
Guthrie codeJE.403 (shared w Kenyan Suba)

Suba-Simbiti (Kisuba, Kisimbiti) is a Bantu language of Tanzania. Suba-Simbiti is spoken by six groups in the Tarime region of Tanzania. This include Hacha, Kine, Sweta, Simbiti and Kiroba. The total number of speakers is in the region of 110,000.

Phonology

Simbiti has a seven-vowel system with the vowels /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/ attested. However, only the five vowels / i ɛ a ɔ u / are found in verb roots.

Grammar

Simbiti has a basic SVO word order and head-initial syntax. The language has 19 noun classes, including two locative classes.

There are three past tenses: a recent past, distant past and a general past. There is also a three-way distinction in the future: immediate future, a hodiernal future (used for events that will take place later the same day) and a distant future tense for events that will take place after today. Simbiti uses a range of simple and complex verb forms to encode a wide range of specific tense-aspect combinations. The progressive verb forms (past progressive, present progressive and future progressive) are all formed through the use of compound, auxiliary-based constructions, with the past progressive and the present progressive both exhibiting verb-auxiliary order.

Simbiti is one of a small set of East African Bantu languages that exhibit verb-auxiliary constituent order in restricted contexts. In Simbiti, the auxiliary appears after the verb in the past progressive and the present progressive tenses.

References

  1. Suba-Simbiti at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
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)
Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M) (by Guthrie classification)
Zone J*
D40
D50
D60
E10
E20
E30
E40
F20
Zone K
K10
K20
K30
K40
Zone L
L10
L20
L30
L40
L50
L60
Zone M
M10
M20
M30
M40
M50
M60
  • 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)


Stub icon

This Tanzania-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Stub icon

This Bantu language-related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

Categories: