Part d: The language in Africa

Africa is a continent with high linguistic diversity. There are estimated 1500 to 2000 languages in Africa. Out of all the languages, there are four main groups. First is the Afro-Asiatic, which consists of approximately 200 languages covering nearly Northern Africa (including the horn of Africa, Central Sahara at the top Nile). Second is the Nilo-Saharian, gathering about 140 languages with some eleven millions speakers scattered in Central and Eastern Africa. Third is Niger- Saharian or Niger- Congo which covers two third of Africa with more than 1000 languages and 200 million speakers. The Bantu languages of Central, Southern and Eastern Africa form a sub-group of the Niger Congo branch. Lastly is the Kohisan that gathers about 30 languages in Western part of Southern Africa. Below is a map to show the distribution of Africa languages. Below shows a map of different languages in Africa. (Picture is taken from NationsOnline from http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/african_languages.htm )

Maa is the language spoken by the Masai. Maa is classified as a Nilo-Saharan form of language, and a variety of it is shared with the Samburu and the Chamus people. There are many places names in Kenya come from Masai translation, such as capital of the city Nairobi. (Kenya-advisor) http://www.kenya-advisor.com/masai-translation.html