Isanzu Language
Isanzu is a Bantu language spoken by the Isanzu people south of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania.
| Isanzu | |
|---|---|
| Kinyihanzu | |
| Native to | Tanzania |
| Ethnicity | Anyihanzu |
Native speakers | 26,000 (2009) |
Niger–Congo?
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | isn |
| Glottolog | isan1243 |
F.31B | |
| ELP | Isanzu |
| Isanzu | |
|---|---|
| People | Anyihanzu |
| Language | Kinyihanzu |
| Country | Ihanzu |
The position of Isanzu within the Bantu family is uncertain. It is rather distinct in certain features from other Bantu languages of the area, such as Nyaturu, but is quite close in others. One easily recognizable feature is /h/ in words where neighboring languages have /s/ or /tʃ/, as in the name Isanzu ~ Ihanzu, a feature it shares with Iramba, and a reason it is commonly classified with Iramba.
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ||
| Affricate | dz | dʒ | |||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | x | h |
| Nasal | m̥ m | n̥ n | ɲ | ŋ̊ ŋ | |
| Approximant | w | r, l | j |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i iː | u uː | |
| Mid-high | e eː | o oː | |
| Mid-low | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Low | a aː |
Additionally, Isanzu distinguishes between high tone and low tone.
References
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Isanzu language, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
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