View source for Masaba language

{{short description|Bantu language spoken in East Africa}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Masaba
| nativename       = Lumasaba
| states           = [[Uganda]]
| region           = [[Eastern Region, Uganda|Eastern Uganda]], south of the [[Kupsabiny]], [[Bugisu]] Province
| ethnicity        = [[Masaba people|Masaba]], [[Luhya people|Luhya]]
| speakers         = {{sigfig|2.671|2}} million
| date             = 2002 & 2009 censuses
| ref              = e18
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8             = [[Northeast Bantu]]
| fam9             = [[Great Lakes Bantu]]
| fam10            = Masaba–Luhya (J.30)
| dia1             = Gisu
| dia2             = Kisu
| dia3             = [[Bukusu dialect|Bukusu]]
| dia4             = Syan
| dia5             = Tachoni
| dia6             = Dadiri
| dia7             = Buya
| lc1              = myx
| ld1              = Masaba (Gisu, Kisu, Dadiri, Buya)
| lc2              = bxk
| ld2              = [[Bukusu dialect|Bukusu]] (Tachoni)
| lc3              = lts
| ld3              = Tachoni
| guthrie          = JE.31
| glotto           = masa1299
| glottoname       = Masaaba
| glotto2          = buku1249
| glottoname2      = Bukusu
| glotto3          = tach1242
| glottoname3      = Tachoni
}}

'''Masaba''' (''Lumasaaba''), sometimes known as '''Gisu''' (''Lugisu'') after one of its dialects, is a [[Bantu language]] spoken by more than two million people in East Africa. The Gisu dialect in eastern Uganda is mutually intelligible with [[Bukusu dialect|Bukusu]], spoken by ethnic [[Luhya people|Luhya]] in western Kenya. ''Masaba'' is the local name of Mount Elgon and the name of the son of the ancestor of the Gisu tribe. Like other Bantu languages, Lumasaba nouns are divided into several sets of [[noun classes]]. These are similar to the [[grammatical gender|genders]] in [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] and [[Romance languages]], except that instead of the usual two or three, there are around eighteen different noun classes. The language has a quite complex [[verb]] morphology.

==Varieties==
Varieties of Masaba are as follows:<ref>Maho (2009)</ref>
*Gisu (''Lugisu'')
*Kisu
*[[Bukusu dialect|Bukusu]] (''Lubukusu''; ethnic Luhya)
*Syan
*Tachoni (''Lutachoni''; ethnic Luhya)
*Dadiri (''Ludadiri'')
*Buya (''Lubuya'')

Dadiri is spoken in the north, Gisu in the center, and Buya in the center and south of Masaba territory in Uganda. Bukusu is spoken in Kenya, separated from ethnic Masaba by Nilotic languages on the border.

==Phonology==
See [[Bukusu dialect]] for details of one variety of Masaba.

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|-
!colspan=2|
! [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
! [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
!colspan=2| [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
|{{IPAlink|m}}
|{{IPAlink|n}}
|
|{{IPAlink|ŋ}}
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
! <small>[[voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|{{IPAlink|p}}
|{{IPAlink|t}}
|
|{{IPAlink|k}}
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPAlink|b}}
|{{IPAlink|d}}
| 
|{{IPAlink|g}}
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! <small>[[voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|{{IPAlink|f}}
|{{IPAlink|s}}
|
|
|-
! <small>[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|{{IPAlink|β}}
|{{IPAlink|z}}
| 
| 
|-
!colspan=2| [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|({{IPAlink|w}})
|{{IPAlink|l}}
|{{IPAlink|j}}
|
|}
* Sounds /k, ɡ, ŋ/ when before front vowels /i, e/ are heard as palatal [c, ɟ, ɲ].

* Sounds /i, u/ may be heard as glides [w, j] within initial vowel sequences.

===Vowels===
Masaba has a basic 5-vowel system consisting of /i, e, a, o, u/.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
*Brown, Gillian (1972) ''Phonological Rules and Dialectal Variation: A study of the phonology of Lumasaaba'' {{ISBN|0-521-08485-7}}

==External links==
*[http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bcp/Uganda/masaba.html Kulomba Kwikumutikinyi] Portions of the [[Book of Common Prayer]] in Masaba (1907) digitized by Richard Mammana and Charles Wohlers
*http://open-chapel.com/scripture/language-preservation/lumasaaba-language-study/ Learning Lumasaaba by Catherine Mabongor

{{Languages of Uganda}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H)}}
{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M)}}

{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Languages of Uganda]]
[[Category:Great Lakes Bantu languages]]