The Ha Language of Tanzania

Grammar, Texts and Vocabulary

Author: Lotta Harjula. Series edited by: Bernd Heine, Wilhelm J.G. Möhlig †.

Series: EALD East African Languages and Dialects Volume 13

2004
14 pp. Roman, 220 pp.
1 map, 5 figures, 21 tables, appendices: Three Kiha Texts, Kiha-English Vocabulary, subject index
Text language(s): English
E-book
€ 49.80

Buy 'The Ha Language of Tanzania' as a downloadable PDF document directly from our online shop »

Ha (Kiha) is a Bantu language spoken in Western Tanzania by the Waha, who form the majority of the population in the three districts of the Kigoma region east and north of Lake Tanganyika. It is a typical Bantu language with 16 noun classes and a complex verbal morphology. It is highly agglutinative and possesses a pitch-accent system. Guthrie alotted Kiha as D.66 to his group D.60, together with Kirundi, Kinyarwanda, Vinza, Hangaza und Shubi. According to the Tervuren classification it is JD.66. The number of speakers is estimated to be about 800,000 (Ethnologue 2000), according to the Ethnologue 2015 (18th edition) about 990,000 for the year 2001.

Apart from a few language descriptions and some religious texts produced at the beginning of the 20th century, no modern grammar had been produced up to the present study. Its results are based on three field trips in the Kigoma region during 1997–2003. The data was predominantly extracted from original Ha texts drawn from several narrative genres and additional conversations, all transcribed from recordings and translated into English.

The aim of the book is to establish the first descriptive basic grammar of Kiha, detailing morphology, tonology, phonology as well as syntax. Thus it provides a thorough basis for further comparative and historical research on Kiha as well as a starting point for studying the other hardly researched languages of the region. The appendix of this monograph contains a text collection and a Kiha-English word list comprising 3,400 entries.

Under these links you will find descriptions of further smaller and partly endangered Bantu languages of Tanzania, as well as an analysis of the cultural vocabulary of the Great Lakes Bantu languages (Rwanda / Uganda / Tanzania) and a couple of grammatical descriptions of these languages:

Accompanying material:

• SUGIA Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika (ISBN 978-3-89645-090-6)
• The Historical Reconstruction of Great Lakes Bantu Cultural Vocabulary (ISBN 978-3-89645-095-1)

Cross-reference:

• A Grammatical Sketch of Chindamba (ISBN 978-3-89645-706-6)
• A Grammatical Sketch of Mbugwe (Bantu F.34, Tanzania) (ISBN 978-3-89645-048-7)
• A Modern Runyoro-Rutooro Grammar (J.10) (ISBN 978-3-89645-023-4)
• Erzählte Kultur und Erzählkultur bei den Mwera in Südost-Tansania (ISBN 978-3-89645-268-9)
• Igikuria Phonology and Morphology (E.40) (ISBN 978-3-89645-029-6)
• Iraqw-English Dictionary (ISBN 978-3-89645-065-4)
• Kinyamwezi (ISBN 978-3-927620-40-7)
• Luhala lwa Wavidunda – Vidunda Wisdom (G.38) (ISBN 978-3-89645-741-7)
• Mpoto Fables and Folktales (N.14, Tanzania) (ISBN 978-3-89645-738-7)
• Mwera–Swahili Dictionary (P.22) / Kamusi ya Kimwera–Kiswahili (ISBN 978-3-89645-711-0)
• Phonology and Morphology of Ekegusii (E.42) (ISBN 978-3-89645-026-5)
• Relative Clauses in Luganda (E.15/J.10) (ISBN 978-3-89645-020-3)
• The Kagulu Language of Tanzania (G.12) (ISBN 978-3-89645-704-2)

« back

Print version

[top]