| Pokomo | |
|---|---|
| Kipfokomo | |
| Native to | Kenya |
| Region | Tana River District |
| Ethnicity | Pokomo |
Native speakers | 95,000 (2009 census)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | pkb |
| Glottolog | poko1261 |
E.71[2] | |
Pokomo (Kipfokomo) is aBantu language spoken primarily along theEast African coast nearTana River in theTana River District by thePokomo people ofKenya. Kipfokomo language originated from "Kingozi" the language, which Kiswahili was built from. "Kingozi" language is the precursor of Kiswahili.[citation needed] Pokomos are the only tribe in the world that speak "Kingozi" and sometimes are referred to as wangozi because they used to wear skins (Ngozi). All adult speakers of Pokomo arebilingual inSwahili, parts of East Africa'slingua franca.
There is high of lexical similarity between other languages likeMvita (63%),Amu (61%),Mrima (60%),Kigiryama (59%),Chidigo (58%) orBajun (57%).
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | pb | t̪d̪ | td | kg | |||
| Affricate | tsdz | tʃdʒ | |||||
| Implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | ||||
| Fricative | ɸβ | fv | ð | sz | ʃ | ɣ | h |
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
| Trill | r̥r | ||||||
| Approximant | w | l | j |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | iiː | uuː | |
| Mid | eeː | ooː | |
| Low | aaː |
Pokomo does not have phonemictone.[3]
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
