Akie language
Endangered Kalenjin language of Tanzania
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Akie (Mosiro, Nandi, "(N)dorobo",[5] Akie: kuuti táá akie 'mouth of the Akie people'[2][6]) is a Kalenjin language spoken in Tanzania. It is a moribund endangered language, with only a few elders who speak it. The Akie people have adopted Maasai and Swahili, and it was reported in 1981 that younger generations are becoming less fluent in Akie.[7] No more than 200 people speak Akie as of 2015.[1]
Dialects
There is no dialectal variation in Akie.[2]
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | plain | p | t | c ⟨ch⟩ | k | ||
| geminated | tː ⟨tt⟩ | cː ⟨cch⟩ | kː ⟨kk⟩ | ||||
| implosive | ɓ ⟨b⟩ | ɗ ⟨d⟩ | ʄ ⟨j⟩ | ɠ ⟨g⟩ | |||
| Fricative | (f) | s | ʃ ⟨sh⟩ | ||||
| Nasal | plain | m | n | ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ ⟨ng'⟩ | ||
| geminated | mː ⟨mm⟩ | nː ⟨nn⟩ | |||||
| Tap/Flap | ɾ ⟨r⟩ | ɽ ⟨rr⟩ | |||||
| Lateral | plain | l | |||||
| geminated | lː ⟨ll⟩ | ||||||
| Approximant | plain | w | j ⟨y⟩ | ||||
| geminated | ⁱj ⟨yy⟩ | ||||||
Geminated consonants /tː/, /cː/, /kː/, /mː/, /nː/ are not always distinguished by all speakers. /p/ is often realized as [ɸ], and also as [β] between vowels, but also as its basic value of [p] in all positions. Voiceless stops are typically realized as weak fortis consonants, however after nasals and intervocalically, they are voiced. [f] is only found in loanwords.[2]
Vowels
Vowel length is distinctive.[2]