Native speakers 460,000 (2006) Glottolog nila1242 | Ethnicity Nilamba, Iambi ISO 639-3 nim | |
Language family Niger–CongoAtlantic–CongoBenue–CongoSouthern BantoidBantuNortheast BantuTakamaIramba |
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(Text) CC BY-SA