ISO 639-3 nsg | Ethnicity Ngas people Glottolog ngas1238 | |
Native speakers probably extinct (2012) Language family Nilo-Saharan?Eastern SaharanEastern NiloticLotuxo–TesoLotuxo–MaaMaaNgas | ||
Ongamo, or Ngas, is probably 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
An expansion of Ngas 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.
References
Ngasa language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA