Zaramo language

Zaramo
Kizaramo
Native toTanzania
RegionPwani Region
Ethnicity657,000 Zaramo (2000)[1]
Native speakers
293,000 (2009)[1]
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3zaj
Glottologzara1247
G.33[2]
ELPZaramo

Zaramo is a Niger-Congo language, formerly primary language of the Zaramo people of eastern Tanzania. Zaramo is also known as Zalamo, Kizaramo, Dzalamo, Zaramu, Saramo and, Myagatwa. The language is critically endangered. The ethnic population of the Zaramo people reaches about 200,000, yet there are only a few elderly speakers remaining.[3]

These speakers are mostly located in the villages surrounding the city of Dar es Salaam. Zaramo is thought to be passed down matrilineally to the children in these villages, while it remains critically endangered in the city.[4]

There are very few translations of the language in existence except for a few native speakers' documented translations, and the publication of the New Testament from 1975.

  1. ^ a b Zaramo at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ "Did you know Zaramo is critically endangered?". Endangered Languages. Retrieved 2017-04-07.
  4. ^ "OLAC resources in and about the Zaramo language". www.language-archives.org. Retrieved 2017-05-01.