Asa language
The Asa (Aasá) language, commonly rendered Aasax (also rendered as Aasá, Aasáx, Aramanik, Asak, Asax, Assa, Asá[1]), was spoken by the Asa people of Tanzania. The language is extinct; ethnic Assa in northern Tanzania remember only a few words they overheard their elders use, and none ever used it themselves. Little is known of the language; what is recorded was probably Aasa lexical words used in a register of Maasai like the mixed language Mbugu.
| Asa | |
|---|---|
| Aasá | |
| Region | Tanzania |
| Ethnicity | Asa people |
| Extinct | 1952-1956 |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | aas |
| Glottolog | aasa1238 |
| ELP | Aasáx |
Classification
Asa is usually classified as Cushitic, most closely related to Kw'adza. However, it might have retained a non-Cushitic layer from an earlier language shift, and might be best left unclassified.[2]
The Aramanik (Laramanik) people once spoke Asa, but shifted to Nandi (as opposed to Maasai).
Vocabulary
- wataka - all
- buʕurita - burn
- dah - claw
- ga - cloud
- ki=te - die
- wa-t- - dog
- rakaš - dry
- yatara - drink
- haǯa-t - earth
- ʔag- ~ ʔag-im- - eat
- ila-t- - eye
- ʔoreʔ-ek - far
- maʔa - water
Notes
- "Aasáx". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
- "Towards a new classification of African languages" Archived 2017-12-24 at the Wayback Machine, Linguistic Contribution to the History of Sub-Saharan Africa, University of Lyons
- "Iraqw Swadesh List".
- Petrollino, Sara & Maarten Mous, 2010, Recollecting Words and Expressions in Aasá, a Dead Language in Tanzania
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