Kagulu, a Bantu language of Tanzania
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| Language | Kagulu |
| Depositor | Malin Petzell |
| Affiliation | University of Gothenburg |
| Location | Tanzania |
| Collection ID | 0093 |
| Grant ID | |
| Funding Body | |
| Collection Status | Collection online |
| Landing Page Handle | http://hdl.handle.net/2196/63daaa3b-7939-4c7c-8bd5-bc2d77666864 |
Summary of the collection
Kagulu is a Bantu language spoken by approximately 240,000 people in the Morogoro region of Tanzania. The autonym, i.e. what the speakers themselves call their language, is Chikagulu or Chimegi.
Kagulu is a minority language, at least in functional terms. This does not necessarily imply that the speakers constitute a minority numerically, but the language is marginalized in the sense that it is not used in formal domains. It is not recognised by the state in domains such as public administration, education, health care or legal services.
The Kagulu area is in east-central Tanzania, approximately 200 kilometres inland from Dar es Salaam on both sides of the main road to Dodoma. It is a hilly area with mountains (called Itumba), lowlands and a plateau where most of the Kagulu live. The climate varies greatly within the region and, for the people dwelling on the plateau, the amount of rainfall is crucial. Many of the Kagulu are agriculturists.
The image above shows the transcriber, translator and main consultant Sauli Lengoliga with Malin Petzell.
Group represented
Wakagulu
Language information
Kagulu, Chimegi, Kikaguru
Collection contents
This collection consists of 3 recordings (2 stories and one account of daily activities), 3 annotated texts, 3 photos and a word list. Data was gathered as part of Dr. Petzell’s PhD at The University of Gothenburg.
For more information on Kagulu and for an explanation to abbreviations used etc, see the printed grammar Petzell, Malin (2008) The Kagulu language of Tanzania: grammar, texts and vocabulary Köln: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
Acknowledgement and citation
To refer to any data from the collection, please cite as follows:
Petzell, Malin. 2010. Kagulu, a Bantu language of Tanzania. Endangered Languages Archive. Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/2196/00-0000-0000-0001-C921-9. Accessed on [insert date here].
