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| Datooga | |
|---|---|
| Tatoga | |
| Native to | Tanzania |
| Region | East African Rift |
| Ethnicity | Datooga |
Native speakers | 160,000 (2009)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | tcc |
| Glottolog | geme1247 |
Datooga (also Datog, Datoga, Taturu, Mang'ati, Tatoga or Tatog) is a Nilotic language or dialect cluster of the Southern Nilotic group. It is spoken by the Datooga people of the Great Rift Valley of Tanzania. The Sukuma name Taturu is also sometimes used in English; the Swahili name Mang'ati comes from Maasai, where it means "enemy". However, it is not considered offensive to the Datooga, as there is a degree of pride in being the historic enemy of the Maasai, and Mang'ati has become the standard name for the group in Swahili. In addition, numerous tribal and dialectal names may be found for the people or language as a whole.
The Datooga have been claimed to be one of the least educated peoples in Tanzania, and there is almost no literacy in the language; literacy in Swahili has been reported to be very low in some communities. However, the Barabaiga and Gisamjanga dialects have been written, and some work is being done on Asimjeeg.
- ^ Datooga at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023)
