Puneet Varma (Editor)

Iramba language

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Native to
  
Tanzania

Native speakers
  
460,000 (2006)

Glottolog
  
nila1242

Ethnicity
  
Nilamba, Iambi

ISO 639-3
  
nim

Language family
  
Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Takama Iramba

Iramba, also known as Nilamba (there is no distinction between /r/ and /l/) is a Bantu language of spoken by the Nilamba and Iambi people of the Shinyanga Region of Tanzania.

Forms of the name occur with and without the prefix ni- or i-, as well as iki- (Swahili ki-) as the noun-class prefix for 'language', and variation of r ~ l ~ ly in the root. This results in a large number of superficial variants, including Nilamba, Niramba, Nilyamba, Nyilamba, Ikinilamba, Ikiniramba, Ilamba, Iramba, Kinilamba, Kiniramba; there is also Nilambari.

The 50,000 Iambi speak a slightly divergent dialect, sometimes listed as a distinct language. On the other hand, the Isanzu language is sometimes included as a dialect.

References

Iramba language Wikipedia