Sabaot language

Sabaot
Sebei
Native to Kenya/Uganda
Region Mount Elgon
Ethnicity Sabaot people/Sebei people
Native speakers
240,000 (2009 census)[1]
Dialects
  • Bong’omeek (Bong’om)
  • Koony (Kony)
  • Book (Pok)
Language codes
ISO 639-3 spy
Glottolog saba1262[2]

Sabaot The Sabaot tribe is one of the nine sub-tribes of the Kalenjin tribe. The other eight tribes are: Sengwer, Tugen, Terik, Keiyo, Kipsigis, Pokot, Marakwet and Nandi who live in the Rift Valley Province of Kenya. According to Sabaots website , the Sabaots are the authentic Kalenjin tribe commonly referred as "Kapkugo" by the other Kalenjin sub-tribes.The Sabaots live around Mt. Elgon in both Kenya and Uganda. The hills of their homeland gradually rise from an elevation of 5,000 to 14,000 feet. The area is criss-crossed by mountain streams and spectacular waterfalls. Mount Elgon is an extinct volcano about 50 miles in diameter. The Kenya-Uganda border goes straight through the mountain-top, cutting the Sabaot homeland into two halves.The dialects of sabaot are The Pok, Somek, Mosop, Kony, Bong'omek and Sabiny(Sebei)

Grammar

Typical of Nilotic languages, Sabaot uses ATR to express some morphological operations:

kɔ̀ɔmnyɔɔnɔɔté
Morphemes: ka-a-mnyaan-aa-tɛ-ATR
Gloss: PAST-1SG-be.sick-STAT-DIR-IMPERF
Translation: "I went being sick (but I am not sick now)."
káámnyáánáátɛ́
Morphemes: ka-a-mnyaan-aa-tɛ
Gloss: PAST-1SG-be.sick-STAT-DIR
Translation: "I became sick while going away (and I'm still sick)."[3]

References

Sabaot SIDO Website:[4]

  1. Sabaot at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Sabaot". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. Payne, Thomas E. (1997). Describing morphosyntax: A guide for field linguists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 29
  4. http://www.sabaots.com
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