Bukusu is a dialect of theMasaba language spoken by theBukusu tribe of theLuhya people of westernKenya. It is one of several ethnicallyLuhya dialects; however, it is more closely related to the Gisu dialect of Masaaba in easternUganda (and to the other Luhya dialect of Tachoni) than it is to other languages spoken by the Luhya.^[2]

Several consonants undergofortition after nasal consonants:[β,w→b,j→dʒ,l,r→d]; Mutonyi (2000) postulates that Bukusu has no phonemic voiced plosives.^[4]

The language has three main variations:

• The dialect spoken north ofKimilili area, with its heaviest influence being noted in the region aroundKitale
• The dialect spoken west ofWebuye town, with its purest form being in the region around, and to the west of,Bungoma
• The dialect spoken east ofWebuye town, extending intoKakamega andLugari districts.

Of these, the language spoken aroundKitale town is usually considered the purest form - this is because the other two dialects are significantly influenced by other dialects of theLuhya languages.

TheBukusu tribe lives inBungoma district, which bordersUganda to the west andKakamega district ofKenya to theeast. Across the border inUganda live theMasaba and theGisu, both closely related to the Bukusu by a shared language and a common culture. Intermarriage between the Bukusu and these Ugandan tribes is very common and is, in fact, encouraged by the respective communities. As a result, many Bukusu have close relatives among the Gisu and Masaaba, and vice versa.

During the Ugandancivil wars of the 1970s, many of the Gisu and Masaba left Uganda for Kenya, mainly to live with Bukusu relatives around the Bungoma area. After the wars ended, a large number did not return to Uganda, having already started new lives in Kenya. Their large dispersal among the Bukusu in that area has had a discernible influence on the Bukusu language in the Bungoma region. Native speakers of the language will easily identify someone from the area based on their speech. Of particular note is the substitution ofR withL, so that, for example, the verb 'khuufwara' (xuufwara) - to wear [clothes] is now pronounced 'khuufwala', as it is in the Gisu and Masaaba languages.

The dialect spoken east ofWebuye town is influenced by the neighbouringKabras andTachoni dialects of the Luhya language. This is particularly noticeable in the changes in noun prefixes: in the original Bukusu language, for example, the term 'something' would be rendered as 'siSindu'. In the Kabras language, the term is rendered as 'eShindu'. The Bukusu east of Webuye town will usually say 'eSindu', thus adopting the prefix of the Kabras language while retaining the Bukusu root word 'Sindu' (as opposed to the Kabras root word, 'Shindu').

Because it borders theniloticKalenjin languages of thePokot,Nandi andSebei to the north, east and west, the Bukusu language spoken inKitale area has largely retained its original form, save for a number of loan words from those languages. It is markedly different from the other dialects discussed above, to the extent that it takes a while for a native speaker of one of the other two dialects to adopt it as their daily speech.

• Luhya languages

• De Blois, Kornelis Frans (1975) 'Bukusu generative phonology and aspects of Bantu structure' (Annales de MRAC, no. 85). Tervuren: Musée Royal de l'Afrique Centrale.
• Nasiombe Mutonyi (2000)Aspects of Bukusu Morphology and Phonology

• Luhya language

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