Ngasa language
m is extinct |region= |ethnicity=Ngasa people |speakers=probably extinct=2012 |ref = [1] |date=2012 |ref = e18 |familycolor=Nilo-Saharan |fam2fam1=Eastern Nilo-Saharan? |fam3fam2=Eastern NiloticSudanic? |fam3=Southern Eastern Sudanic? |fam4=Ateker-Lotuko–Maa |fam5fam4=Lotuko–MaaNilotic |fam6fam5=Ongamo-MaaEastern Nilotic |fam4fam6=Ateker-Lotuko–Maa |fam7=Lotuko–Maa |fam8=Ongamo-Maa |iso3=nsg |glotto=ngas1238 }}
Ongamo, or Ngas, is a probablyan extinct Eastern Nilotic language of Tanzania. It is closely related to the Maa languages, but more distantly than they are to each other. Ongamo has 60% of lexical similarity with Maasai, Samburu, and Camus. Speakers have shifted to Chagga, a dominant regional Bantu language.
History
[edit]History
[edit]An expansion of Ngasa speakers onto the plains north of Mount Kilimanjaro occurred in the 12th century. The language was mutually intelligible with Proto-Maasai during that period. Vocabulary retention from this time attests to the cultivation of sorghum and elusine by the Ngas. Subsequent immigration of Bantu-speaking Chagga over the next five centuries considerably reduced the extent and viability of the Ngasa language.[2]
References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- Sommer, Gabriele (1992) 'A Survey on Language Death in Africa', in Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 301–417.