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Sonjo is a Bantu
Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo languages family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree....
 language spoken in northern Tanzania
Tanzania

Tanzania , officially the United Republic of Tanzania , is a country in East Africa that is bordered by Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique on the south....
, 30-40 miles west of Lake Natron
Lake Natron

Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in Africa's Great Rift Valley. The lake is quite shallow, less than three meters deep, and varies in width depending on its water level....
. Ethnolinguistically, it is a displaced member of Guthrie
Malcolm Guthrie

Malcolm Guthrie , professor of Bantu languages, is known primarily for his classification of Bantu languages . The classification, although certainly not undisputed, and probably somewhat outdated, is still the most widely used....
’s E50 group, most other members of which are found in Central Kenya. Within that group, it is most closely related to Gikuyu
Gikuyu language

Gikuyu , pronounced "gikuyu" [?ekoj?], is a language in the Central Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo languages family spoken primarily by the Kikuyu people of Kenya....
. The Sonjo
Sonjo

The Sonjo are a people living in northern Tanzania, 30-40 miles west of Lake Natron, who have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai territory....
 people number about 30,000 (2002 SIL); many of them are bilingual in Swahili
Swahili language

Swahili is the first language of the Swahili people , who inhabit several large stretches of the Indian Ocean coastline from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique, including the Comoros Islands....
, the local language of education. Sonjo is largely undescribed.

The Sonjo
Sonjo

The Sonjo are a people living in northern Tanzania, 30-40 miles west of Lake Natron, who have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai territory....
 have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai
Maasai

The Maasai are an Indigenous peoples African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally....
 territory.






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Sonjo is a Bantu
Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo languages family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree....
 language spoken in northern Tanzania
Tanzania

Tanzania , officially the United Republic of Tanzania , is a country in East Africa that is bordered by Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique on the south....
, 30-40 miles west of Lake Natron
Lake Natron

Lake Natron is a salt lake located in northern Tanzania, close to the Kenyan border, in Africa's Great Rift Valley. The lake is quite shallow, less than three meters deep, and varies in width depending on its water level....
. Ethnolinguistically, it is a displaced member of Guthrie
Malcolm Guthrie

Malcolm Guthrie , professor of Bantu languages, is known primarily for his classification of Bantu languages . The classification, although certainly not undisputed, and probably somewhat outdated, is still the most widely used....
’s E50 group, most other members of which are found in Central Kenya. Within that group, it is most closely related to Gikuyu
Gikuyu language

Gikuyu , pronounced "gikuyu" [?ekoj?], is a language in the Central Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo languages family spoken primarily by the Kikuyu people of Kenya....
. The Sonjo
Sonjo

The Sonjo are a people living in northern Tanzania, 30-40 miles west of Lake Natron, who have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai territory....
 people number about 30,000 (2002 SIL); many of them are bilingual in Swahili
Swahili language

Swahili is the first language of the Swahili people , who inhabit several large stretches of the Indian Ocean coastline from southern Somalia to northern Mozambique, including the Comoros Islands....
, the local language of education. Sonjo is largely undescribed.

The Sonjo
Sonjo

The Sonjo are a people living in northern Tanzania, 30-40 miles west of Lake Natron, who have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai territory....
 have lived for centuries as an isolated enclave in Maasai
Maasai

The Maasai are an Indigenous peoples African ethnic group of semi-nomadic people located in Kenya and northern Tanzania. Due to their distinctive customs and dress and residence near the many game parks of East Africa, they are among the most well-known African ethnic groups internationally....
 territory. They are known for their use of irrigation systems in agriculture, a rare trait which causes some historians to link them to the hitherto unexplained ruined irrigation systems of Engaruka
Engaruka

Engaruka is an abandoned system of ruins in the Great Rift Valley of northern Tanzania , famed for its irrigation and cultivation system. It is considered one of the most important Tanzanian archaeological sites....
, 60 miles to the southeast. The term Sonjo is the name given to the people by the Maasai; they call themselves ba-temi and their language ke-temi or gi-temi. Apart from inevitable Maasai (Eastern Nilotic
Eastern Nilotic languages

The Eastern Nilotic languages are one of the three primary branches of the Nilotic languages, themselves belonging to the Eastern Sudanic languages subfamily of Nilo-Saharan languages; they are believed to have begun to diverge about 3,000 years ago, and have spread southwards from an original home in Equatoria in the far south of Sudan....
) influence, Sonjo shows influence from Chaga (Bantu E40), various Southern Cushitic languages, and from Southern Nilotic
Southern Nilotic languages

The Southern Nilotic languages are spoken mainly in western Kenya and northern Tanzania . They are generally divided into two groups, Kalenjin languages and Omotik-Datooga languages, although there is some uncertainty as to the internal coherence of the Kalenjin branch....
. The Southern Cushitic influence has been attributed to an ancestral Ma'a or Dahalo
Dahalo language

Dahalo is an endangered language South Cushitic languages language spoken by at most 400 people on the Kenyan coast near the mouth of the Tana River....
 community, while the Southern Nilotic traits most probably come from Datooga.