IT was with great concern that i did not find any written document of the Mijikenda Chonyi language anywhere,there is record of the larger Giriama and Digo Mijikenda languages but are still hard to come by.that is why i was inspired to but together a list of chonyi vocabulary words,below is an introduction to the chonyi language.
hopefully it shall be used in assisting anyone who wants to learn mijikenda specifically the chonyi dialect and also preserve the language for future generations.
written by lennox m. Zamora
edited by brian k. Nyale
MIJIKENDA -ENGLISH-SWAHILI DICTIONARY (CHONYI DIALECT)
INTRODUCTION
CHONYI or chichonyi is one of the dialects of the mijikenda language spoken by the Achonyi community in the Kenyan coast.the chonyi language is similar to all the other eight Mijikenda languages (Giriama ,Digo,Kambe,Jibana,Ribe,Rabai,kauma,Duruma) and is related to Swahili some sources put the similarities at around 75% to 80% therefore it should be easy for a Swahili speaker to comprehend this language.
among the mijikenda the chonyi language is closely related to the Jibana and the Kauma languages,however all mijikenda tribes understand the chonyi dialect and each other.
the chonyi traditional music is known as chiringongo or kiringongo among the giriama and features a xylophone which is rare in Kenyan music.(chi)chonyi is spoken mainly in kilifi county ,they border the giriama to the north in Malindi the Kauma to the north west the Swahili to the east the Jibana to the the south east and the giriama again to the south in kaloleni.
Mijikenda elders source (Daily Nation)
Ndugu yangu unabidii sana
ReplyDeleteunahenda utu udzo sana. Vinawezekana hukamanyana be kisha ili hwendereze uno moro wa kuv̱ahendya atu v̱ahenze na v̱amanye kpandika chichonyi tototo?
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