Page Type: languageTurkana | Ethnologue

TUV ISO 639-3

Turkana

Ng’aturkana Autonym

A language of Kenya

ISO 639
tuv
Alternate Names
Buma, Bume, Turkwana
Autonym
Ng’aturkana
Population
1,020,000 (2019 census). , based on ethnicity. 593,000 monolinguals.
Location:
Samburu and Turkana counties: west and south of Lake Turkana.
Language Status
5 (Developing).
Classification
Nilo-Saharan, Satellite-Core, Core, Eastern Sudanic, Southern (n languages), Nilotic, Eastern, Lotuxo-Teso, Teso-Turkana, Turkana
Dialects
Northern Turkana, Southern Turkana. Inherently intelligible of Toposa [toq] speakers, but hostile to them. Partially intelligible of Ng’aKarimojong [kdj], Jie [kdj], and Nyangatom [nnj], but all 5 are ethnically distinct. A few phonological, lexical, and discourse marker differences between them. Northern Turkana [tuv] and Eastern Toposa [toq] are reportedly more similar to Southern Turkana [tuv], but Western Toposa [toq] is further apart linguistically. The 4 varieties form a subgroup divided in the middle by the Kenya-Sudan border. Lexical similarity: 85% similarity with Ng’aKarimojong [kdj], 76% with Ateso [teo].
Typology
VSO; highly inflectional; grammatical tone; vowel harmony; voiceless vowels.
Language Use
Vigorous. Home, social gatherings. Used by all. Some also use English [eng]. Some also use Swahili [swh], and this is increasing. Also use Daasanach [dsh]. Also use Pökoot [pko].
Language Development
Literacy rate in L1: 5%–10%. Literacy rate in L2: 25%–50%. Grammar. Bible: 2001.
Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Turkana
Writing
Latin script [Latn].
Other Comments
A few Somali and Gikuyu have shops in the area. Semi-nomadic. Unfriendly to other nomadic tribes due to rivalry over livestock. Traditional religion, Christian.

Also Spoken in

Map

Location: Samburu and Turkana counties: west and south of Lake Turkana.