Gogo language

Gogo is a Bantu language spoken by the Gogo people of Dodoma Region in Tanzania. The language is spoken throughout Dodoma Region and into the neighbouring district of Manyoni.

Gogo
Cigogo
Region	Dodoma Region and Manyoni (Singida Region), Tanzania
Native speakers	1.4 million (2019)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Northeast Coast Bantu Ruvu Gogo
Writing system	Latin (Gogo alphabet)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	gog
Glottolog	gogo1263
Guthrie code	G.11

The language is considered to have three dialects: Nyambwa (Cinyambwa or West Gogo), spoken to the west of Dodoma and in Manyoni, Nyaugogo (Cinyaugogo or Central Gogo), spoken in the environs of Dodoma and Tumba (Citumba or East Gogo), spoken to the east. The Gogo group is grouped with Kagulu, which has a 56% lexical similarity with Gogo proper. Gogo has about 50% lexical similarity with Hehe and Sangu (both Bena–Kinga languages (G.60), 48% with Kimbu and 45% with Nilamba. These last two are both in Guthrie's Zone F.

Gogo is spoken by both Christians and Muslims and is a major language of the Anglican Church of Tanzania.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	c	k
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s			h
	voiced	v	z
Approximant			l	j	w

• /k, ɡ/ are heard as palatal consonant sounds when preceding /i, e/; [c, ɟ].
• /z/ can also be heard as an affricate [dz].
• Nasal consonants when preceding voiceless stops are devoiced; [m̥ n̥ ɳ̊ ŋ̊].
• Voiceless consonants are mostly aspirated occurring after nasals; [pʰ tʰ cʰ kʰ].

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
Mid	e eː		o oː
Low		a aː

External links

• PanAfrican L10n page on Gogo

References

• Rugemalira, Josephat M. (2009). Cigogo, Kamusi ya Kigogo-Kiswahili-Kiingereza / Kiingereza-Kigogo, na Kiswahili-Kigogo / Gogo-Swahili-English, English-Gogo, and Swahili-Gogo Dictionary. ISBN 9987-691-25-0.
• Nurse, Derek and S. M. Mazengo. 1979. Gogo. African languages/Langues africaines 5. 70–76, 101–104.