Temi language

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Information for Authority record

Name (Latin)
Temi language
Other forms of name
Gitemi language
Kisonjo language
Sonjo language
Sonyo language
Wasonjo language
Watemi language
See Also From tracing topical name
Bantu languages
See Also From tracing place name
Tanzania
MARC
MARC

Other Identifiers

Wikidata: Q13278
Library of congress: sh2009008157
Sources of Information
  • Work cat.: Gitaabu kya yyona = Kitabu cha Yona : Gite̳mi, 2007.
  • Ethnologue, 2009(Temi, a Bantu language of Tanzania; alternate names Kisonjo, Sonjo, Sonyo, Wasonjo, Watemi; "They call their language GiTemi")

Wikipedia description:

Sonjo, or Temi, is a Bantu language spoken in northern Tanzania, 30–40 miles (48–64 km) west of Lake Natron. Ethnolinguistically, it is a displaced member of Guthrie’s E50 group, most other members of which are found in Central Kenya. Within that group, it is most closely related to Gikuyu. The Sonjo people number about 30,000 (2002 SIL); many of them are bilingual in Swahili, the local language of education. Sonjo is largely undescribed. The Sonjo have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai territory. They are known for their use of irrigation systems in agriculture, a rare trait which causes some historians to link them to the hitherto unexplained ruined irrigation systems of Engaruka, 60 miles (97 km) to the southeast. The term Sonjo is the name given to the people by the Maasai; they call themselves batɛmi (sg. motɛmi) and their language ketɛmi. Apart from inevitable Maasai (Eastern Nilotic) influence, Sonjo shows influence from Chaga (Bantu E40), various Southern Cushitic languages, and from Datooga.

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