Endangered Languages Project

ALSO KNOWN AS		Kigweno, Ghonu, Kighonu
CLASSIFICATION		Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Benue-Congo, Southern Bantoid
CODE AUTHORITY		ISO 639-3
LANGUAGE CODE		gwe
DOWNLOAD		As csv
MORE RESOURCES		OLAC search

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Information from: “Gweno, a little known Bantu Language of Northern Tanzania” (233-284) . Gerard Philippson and Derek Nurse (2000) , K. K. Kahigi and Y. M. Kihore and M. Mous · Netherlands: Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), Universiteit Leiden

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
A few thousand
Native speakers worldwide
MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
"Gweno is certainly in no immediate danger of disappearing, but it only has a few thousand speakers, none of them monolingual, as far as we may ascertain, so it stands in danger of being replaced with Asu and / or Swahili within the space of one generation."

MORE ON VITALITY

"The language is under increasing pressure from Asu and Swahili."

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

Asu
Swahili

LANGUAGE CONTEXT COMMENTS

"All Gweno are, and probably have long been, bilingual in Asu, although the reverse is definitely not true. Most Gweno as well as Asu nowadays also speak Swahili."

PLACES: Tanzania

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: North Pare Mountains in north-eastern Tanzania

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
2,200
Native speakers worldwide
Ethnic population
2,500

DATE OF INFO: 2006

Scripts (Writing system): none

PLACES: Tanzania

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "Kilimanjaro region: northernmost North Pare hills."

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available
10
Native speakers worldwide

MORE ON SPEAKER NUMBERS
A handful of remaining speakers

A few
Native speakers worldwide

OTHER LANGUAGES USED BY THE COMMUNITY

PLACES: Tanzania

LOCATION DESCRIPTION: "Tanzania, north eastern part, northernmost part of North Pare Hills"

		3rd	2010	Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger				UNESCO Publishing		Paris	http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas	Christopher Moseley (ed.)	Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. http://www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas. (03 June, 2011.)	ll_pub		10		10-99					Severely Endangered (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)				-3.7135,37.6501
		18th	2015	Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 18th Edition			Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig	SIL International		Dallas, Texas	http://www.ethnologue.com		Lewis, M. Paul, Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2015. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Eighteenth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com.		2,500	2,200	2006	1000-9999					Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)		Tanzania	"Kilimanjaro region: northernmost North Pare hills."
	Contributions to the sociology of language, #64		1992	A survey on language death in Africa	Language death: factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa	402	Brenzinger, Matthias	Mouton de Gruyter		Berlin & New York		Sommer, Gabriele	Gabriele Sommer. 1992. "A Survey On Language Death in Africa." In Language death: factual and theoretical explorations with special reference to East Africa, edited by Matthias Brenzinger. 402. Mouton de Gruyter.	EBALL		A few				Athu; Swahili					Tanzania	"Tanzania, north eastern part, northernmost part of North Pare Hills"
9780520255609			2008	One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost				University of California				Peter Austin	Austin, Peter. 2008. "One Thousand Languages: Living, Endangered, and Lost." University of California.						A handful of remaining speakers
	CNWS Publications		2000	Gweno, a little known Bantu Language of Northern Tanzania	Lugha za Tanzania/Languages of Tanzania: a study dedicated to the memory of the late Prof. C. Maganga	233-284	K. K. Kahigi and Y. M. Kihore and M. Mous	Netherlands: Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), Universiteit Leiden	89			Gerard Philippson and Derek Nurse	Gerard Philippson and Derek Nurse. 2000. "Gweno, a Little Known Bantu Language of Northern Tanzania." In Lugha za Tanzania/Languages of Tanzania: a study dedicated to the memory of the late Prof. C. Maganga, edited by K. K. Kahigi et al. 89: 233-284. Netherlands: Research School of Asian, African and Amerindian Studies (CNWS), Universiteit Leiden.	HHOLD		A few thousand		1000-9999	"Gweno is certainly in no immediate danger of disappearing, but it only has a few thousand speakers, none of them monolingual, as far as we may ascertain, so it stands in danger of being replaced with Asu and / or Swahili within the space of one generation."	Asu, Swahili	"All Gweno are, and probably have long been, bilingual in Asu, although the reverse is definitely not true. Most Gweno as well as Asu nowadays also speak Swahili."	All	Threatened (20 percent certain, based on the evidence available)	"The language is under increasing pressure from Asu and Swahili."	Tanzania	North Pare Mountains in north-eastern Tanzania

Gweno

Language metadata

Language information by source

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

A few thousand

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,200

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10

A few

Discussion

Gweno

Language metadata

Language information by source

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

A few thousand

Threatened

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

2,200

Severely endangered

20 percent certain, based on the evidence available

10

A few

Discussion

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