Safwa language

Safwa, or "Kisawfa" is a Bantu language spoken by the Safwa people of the Mbeya Region of Tanzania. Dialects are Guruka, Mbwila, Poroto, Songwe.

Safwa
Cisafwa, Ishisafwa
Native to	Tanzania
Ethnicity	Safwa people
Native speakers	(160,000 cited 1987)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Rukwa Mbozi Mbeya Safwa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	sbk
Glottolog	safw1238
Guthrie code	M.25[2]

Language characteristics

There is uncertainty regarding whether Kisafwa is a seven-vowel or five-vowel language. The question revolves around the contrasting ATR (Advanced Tongue Root) closed vowels, specifically i/ɪ and u/ʊ. It is possible that the distribution of the seven- or five-vowel system is influenced by geographical factors or sociolects shaped by age or other factors. Labroussi (1999) notes that although Kisafwa maintains vowel length contrast, the distinction between +/- ATR (i/ɪ and u/ʊ) is not as clear. As a result, Labroussi prefers to consider Kisafwa as a seven-vowel system that is gradually reducing to a five-vowel system. However, Voorhoeve (n.d.) describes Kisafwa as a five-vowel system due to difficulties in discerning differences in vowel quality.

Previous research conducted in the Mbeya-Iringa project has identified variations in the choice and morphophonological realization of noun class prefixes across different varieties (Eaton 2006). However, there is no available information on the extent to which these differences are distributed among the varieties.

Additionally, previous research has also observed several lexical differences. However, prior to this survey's research, sufficient data had not been collected to determine the significance of these lexical differences between the varieties.^[3]

Sample words

People^[3]

English	Safwa
person	mtu
man	mwanamume
woman	mwanamke
mother	mama
father	baba
child	mtoto
son	mtoto wa kiume
daughter	mtoto wa kike
brother	kaka

References

1. Safwa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Eaton, Helen; Krüger, Susanne; Kamwela, Ganana; Smith, Bryan (2018). "Dialect Survey among the Safwa People" (PDF). sil.org. Retrieved 17 December 2023.

Further reading

• Labroussi, Catherine (1998). Le couloir des lacs: contribution linguistique à l'histoire des populations du sud-ouest de la Tanzanie [The Lakes Corridor: Linguistic Contribution to the History of the Peoples of Southwestern Tanzania] (PhD thesis) (in French). Paris: Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales (INALCO).
• Msanjila, Yohana P. (2004). "The future of the Kisafwa language: a case study of Ituha village in Tanzania". Journal of Asian and African Studies / Ajia Afuriku Gengo Bunka Kenkyu. 68: 161–172.
• Mwanyanje, Wambi Trezia (2012). Shisafwa noun phrase structure (MA thesis). University of Dar es Salaam.
• Philippson, Gérard (1991). Tons et Accent dans les Langues Bantu d'Afrique Orientale: Étude Comparative Typologique et Diachronique (PhD thesis). Université de Paris V - René Descartes. OCLC 490044838.
• Rugemalira, Josephat M. (2007). "The Structure of the Bantu Noun Phrase". SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics. 15: 135–148.
• Turner, K.; Liddle, D.; Daggett, S.; Hadlock, T. (1998), Sociolinguistic survey among the Safwa people, Mbeya district, Mbeya region, Tanzania, Dodoma: SIL Tanzania