Central Kilimanjaro language

Central Kilimanjaro
Central Chaga
Native to	Tanzania
Region	Kilimanjaro
Ethnicity	Chaga
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Chaga–Taita Chaga Central Kilimanjaro
Dialects	Mochi Uru Mbokomu Wuunjo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: vun – Wunjo old – Mochi
Glottolog	vunj1238  Vunjo moch1256  Mochi
Guthrie code	E.622 (ex-E.62a,62b)
ELP

Central Kilimanjaro, or Central Chaga, is a Bantu language of Tanzania spoken by the Chaga people.

There are several dialects:

• Moshi (Old Moshi, Mochi, Kimochi)
• Uru
• Mbokomu
• Wuunjo (Wunjo, Vunjo, Kivunjo), including Kiruwa, Kilema, Mamba, Moramu (Marangu), Mwika

Moshi is the language of the Chaga cultural capital, Moshi, and the prestige dialect of the Chaga languages.

Phonology

Vowels

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

In orthography, long vowels are written double.

Consonants

Consonants in the Moshi dialect

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		ɲ ⟨ny⟩	ŋ ⟨ng'⟩
Stop	voiceless	p ⟨p⟩	t ⟨t⟩			k ⟨k⟩
	voiced	b ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩
	NC	mb ⟨mb⟩	nd ⟨nd⟩			ŋɡ ⟨ng⟩
Affricate	voiceless	pf ⟨pf⟩	ts ⟨ts⟩	tʃ ⟨ch⟩
	NC	mbv ⟨mpf⟩	ndz ⟨nts⟩	ndʒ ⟨nch⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩	s ⟨s⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩			h ⟨h⟩
	voiced
Rhotic	trill		r ⟨r⟩
	tap		ɾ ⟨r⟩
Lateral			l ⟨l⟩
Approximant		w ⟨w⟩		ɻ ⟨rh⟩	j ⟨y⟩

• Consonants /k, ŋɡ, l/ become palatalized to [kʲ, ŋɡʲ, lʲ] when occurring before the front vowels /i, e/.
• /w/ appears as a fricative [β] when before the front vowels /i, e/.

Consonants in the Vunjo dialect

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n̪		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	voiceless	p	t̪		c	k
	voiced	(b)	d͇			(ɡ)
	NC‡	m̩b	n̩d		ɲ̩ɟ	ŋ̍ɡ
Affricate	voiceless	pf	ts	tʃ
	NC‡	m̩bv	n̩dz	n̩dʒ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ			h
	voiced				ʝ ~ j	ɣ ~ w
Rhotic	trill		r ~ r̝†
	tap		ɺ
Lateral			ɫ̪†	(lʲ)
Approximant		w ~ β*	ɹ ~ ɻ̝†		j

• /b/ and /ɡ/ are restricted to loans. /lʲ/ is native and contrasts with the [ʎ] allophone of /ɫ̪/ but is rare.
• The consonants /k, ŋɡ, ɣ/ and /ɫ̪/ become palatal (and merge with the palatals) when occurring before the front vowels /i, e/.

* /w/ appears as a fricative [β] when before the front vowels /i, e/.

^‡ NC are not prenasalized consonants but rather consonant sequences; in initial position, the nasal is syllabic.

^† /r/, /ɹ/ and the palatal allophone of /ɫ̪/ may be pronounced as fricatives, the /ɹ/ as postalveolar/retroflex.

Tones

Vunjo dialect has two underlying tones (high /H/ and low /L/) that surface as three level and five contour tones: [xH] (extra-high), [H], [L], falling [HL] and [xHL], rising [LH] and [LxH], and peaking [LHL], plus two downstepped tones [ꜝH] and [ꜝxH].

Bibliography

• Dalgish, Gerard M. (1978) 'The syntax and semantics of the morpheme ni in kiVunjo (Chaga)', Kiswahili, 48, 1, 42–56.
• Philippson, Gérard (1984) '"Gens des bananeraies" (Tanzanie): contribution linguistique à l'histoire culturelle des Chaga du Kilimanjaro' (Cahier no. 16.) Paris: Editions Recherche sur les civilisations.