Taita language

Not to be confused with Sagala language (Tanzania) or Taita Cushitic languages.

Taita
Taita–Sagala
Native to	Kenya
Ethnicity	Taita
Native speakers	(370,000 cited 1992 – 2009 census)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Kilimanjaro-Taita Taita
Dialects	Daw'ida Sagala Kasigau
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: dav – Taita tga – Sagala
Glottolog	tait1249
Guthrie code	E.74,741
ELP

Taita is a Bantu language spoken in the Taita Hills of Kenya. It is closely related to the Chaga languages of Kenya and Tanzania. The Saghala (Northern Sagala, Sagalla) variety is distinct enough to be considered a language separate from the Daw'ida and Kasigau dialects.

Daw'ida and Saghala contain loanwords from two different South Cushitic languages, called Taita Cushitic, which are now extinct. It is likely that the Cushitic speakers were assimilated fairly recently, since lateral obstruents in the loanwords were still pronounced as such within living memory. However, those consonants have now been replaced by Bantu sounds.

The Taveta language was mistaken for Daw'ida by Jouni Maho in his (2009) classification of Bantu languages. However, it's a distinct language, lexically and grammatically closest to Chasu (Pare).

Phonology

Daw'ida Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d	tʃ dʒ	k g
Fricative	f v	s z	ʃ	ɣ	h
Nasal	m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Approximant	β	r, l	j	w

Daw'ida Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Low		a aː