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Hehe Language: Grammar

Hehe, also known as Kihehe, is a Bantu language spoken by approximately 810,000 people in Tanzania. It is part of the Niger-Congo language family and is closely related to other Bantu languages in the region such as Bena. Hehe has 15 noun classes that are marked by prefixes and a complex tense-aspect-mood verb system. The language has been influenced by Nguni languages but has retained most of its original features over the past 150 years.

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543 views2 pages

Hehe Language: Grammar

Hehe, also known as Kihehe, is a Bantu language spoken by approximately 810,000 people in Tanzania. It is part of the Niger-Congo language family and is closely related to other Bantu languages in the region such as Bena. Hehe has 15 noun classes that are marked by prefixes and a complex tense-aspect-mood verb system. The language has been influenced by Nguni languages but has retained most of its original features over the past 150 years.

Uploaded by

Ahmad Egi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Hehe language

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Hehe

Kihehe

Native to Tanzania

Ethnicity Hehe

Native speakers 810,000 (2006)[1]

Language family Niger–Congo

 Atlantic–Congo
o Benue–Congo
 Southern
Bantoid
 Ba
ntu


Language codes
heh
ISO 639-3
hehe1240
Glottolog

Guthrie code G.62 [2]

99-AUS-ua
Linguasphere

Hehe, also known by its native name Kihehe [kihehe], is a Bantu language that is


spoken by the Hehe people of the Iringa region of Tanzania, lying south of the Great
Ruaha River.[3] It was reported to have "Ngoni" features, that is, words of a Zulu-like
language introduced when conquered by a Nguni or Zulu-like people in the early 19th
century.[citation needed] However, other "Ngoni" speeches seem to have lost most of these
distinctive features over the past 150-odd years, the language more resembling those of
the neighbouring peoples.[citation needed] In 1977 it was estimated that 190,000 people spoke
Hehe.[citation needed] There has been some Bible translation (British and Foreign Bible Society).
Hehe may be mutually intelligible with Bena.[3]

Grammar[edit]
Hehe has 15 noun classes, marked with prefixes.[4]
Hehe has a complex tense-aspect-mood system. [5]

References[edit]
1. ^ Hehe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. ^ Jump up to:a b Dwyer, D. J., Yankee, E., & Michigan State Univ., E. r. (1985). African Language
Resource Handbook: A Resource Handbook of the Eighty-two Highest Priority African Languages.
Prepublication Edition. http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED256170.pdf
4. ^ David Odden, Introducing Phonology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 177.
5. ^ Mtavangu, Norbert (2008). "Tense and aspect in Ikihehe".  Occasional Papers in
Linguistics.  3: 34–41.

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Languages of Tanzania

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Narrow Bantu languages (by Guthrie classification)

SUDOC: 070141371

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