Central Kilimanjaro language

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

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)

Dialects

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		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

In orthography, long vowels are written double. However, while older works suggest vowel length contrast may have formerly been phonemic, more recent works suggest the distinction has been partially or completely neutralized, unlike in West Kilimanjaro.

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⟩
Rhotic	trill		r ⟨r⟩
	tap		ɾ ⟨r⟩
Lateral			l ⟨l⟩
Approximant		w ~ β ⟨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	Dental/ Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n̪ ⟨n⟩		ɲ ⟨ny⟩	ŋ ⟨ng'⟩
Stop	voiceless	p ⟨p⟩	t̪ ⟨t⟩		c ⟨ky⟩	k ⟨k⟩
	voiced	(b) ⟨b⟩	d ⟨d⟩			(ɡ) ⟨g⟩
	NC‡	m̩b ⟨mb⟩	n̩d ⟨nd⟩		ɲ̍ɟ ⟨ngy⟩	ŋ̍ɡ ⟨ng⟩
Affricate	voiceless	pf ⟨pf⟩	ts ⟨ts⟩	tʃ ⟨c⟩
	NC‡	m̩bv ⟨mv⟩	n̩dz ⟨nz⟩	n̩dʒ ⟨nj⟩
Fricative	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩	s ⟨s⟩	ʃ ⟨sh⟩			h ⟨h⟩
	voiced				ʝ ~ j ⟨ghy⟩	ɣ ~ w ⟨gh⟩
Rhotic	trill		r ⟨r⟩†
	tap		ɺ ⟨lr⟩
Lateral			l̪ ⟨l⟩†	l̠ʲ ⟨ly⟩
Approximant		w ~ β ⟨w⟩	ɹ ⟨zr⟩†		j ⟨y⟩

• /b/ and /ɡ/ are restricted to loans. /l̠ʲ/ is native and contrasts with the [ʎ] allophone of /l̪/ but is rare.
• /t n l/ are dental, /d/ et al. are alveolar.
• The consonants /k, ŋɡ, ɣ/ and /l̪/ 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/.
• The dental lateral /l̪/ is usually velarized as [ɫ̪].
• /ɹ/ is also heard as postalveolar [ɹ̠].

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

^† /r/, /ɹ/ and /l̠ʲ/ may be pronounced as fricatives. /r/ being heard as an alveolar fricative trill [r̝], the /ɹ/ being heard as a retroflex fricative [ɻ̝], with an extent of frication on the palatalized lateral /l̠ʲ/ as [l̠̝ʲ].

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.