Hehe | |
---|---|
Kihehe | |
Native to | Tanzania |
Ethnicity | Hehe |
Native speakers | 810,000 (2006) [1] |
Niger–Congo?
| |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
heh |
Glottolog |
hehe1240 |
G.62
[2] | |
Linguasphere |
99-AUS-ua |
Hehe, also known by its native name Kihehe [kihehe], is a Bantu language that is spoken by the Hehe people of the Iringa region of Tanzania, lying south of the Great Ruaha River. [3] It was reported to have "Ngoni" features, that is, words of a Zulu-like language introduced when conquered by a Nguni or Zulu-like people in the early 19th century.[ citation needed] However, other "Ngoni" speeches seem to have lost most of these distinctive features over the past 150-odd years, the language more resembling those of the neighbouring peoples.[ citation needed] In the 1970s, it was estimated that 190,000 people spoke Hehe. [4] There has been some Bible translation (British and Foreign Bible Society). Hehe may be mutually intelligible with Bena. [3]
Hehe has 15 noun classes, marked with prefixes. [5]
Hehe has a complex tense-aspect-mood system. [6]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ||
voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᵑɡ | |||
Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
voiced | v | (z) | ||||
prenasal | ⁿz | |||||
Approximant | l | j | w |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i iː | u uː | |
Mid | e eː | o oː | |
Low | a aː |