Masai language

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June 30, 2026

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The Maasai language, also known as Maa, is an Eastern Sudanic language spoken by the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania. The Maasai are a nomadic pastoralist people who primarily inhabit the Great Rift Valley region.1

The term "Maasai" itself can refer to both the people and their language. The language is part of the Nilo-Saharan language family.21

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Nilo-Saharan languages
Gender
…this so-called “Hamitic component” in Masai and other Nilotic languages was to become a major taxonomic issue at the beginning of the 20th century. The concept of language mixture (as an alternative to a uniform genetic classification into distinct language families) was defended most vigorously by the Africanist Carl Meinhof,…
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…this so-called “Hamitic component” in Masai and other Nilotic languages was to become a major taxonomic issue at the beginning of the 20th century. The concept of language mixture (as an alternative to a uniform genetic classification into distinct language families) was defended most vigorously by the Africanist Carl Meinhof,…
Read More