Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Pokomo language

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Native to
  
Native speakers
  
95,000 (2009 census)

Glottolog
  
poko1261

Region
  
Tana River District

ISO 639-3
  
pkb

Language family
  
Niger–CongoAtlantic–CongoBenue–CongoBantoidBantuNortheast Coast BantuSabakiPokomo

Pokomo (Kipfokomo) is a Bantu language spoken primarily along the East African coast near Tana River in the Tana River District by the Pokomo people of Kenya. Kipfokomo language originated from "Kingozi" the language, which Kiswahili was built from. "Kingozi" language is the precursor of Kiswahili. Pokomos are the only tribe in the world that speak "Kingozi" and sometimes are referred to as wangozi because they used to wear skins (Ngozi). All adult speakers of Pokomo are bilingual in Swahili, East Africa's lingua franca.

There is high of lexical similarity between other languages like Mvita (63%), Amu (61%), Mrima (60%), Kigiryama (59%), Chidigo (58%) or Bajun (57%).

References

Pokomo language Wikipedia


Similar Topics