Maasai (previously spelled Masai) or Maa (; autonym: ɔl Maa) is an Eastern Nilotic language spoken in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania by the Maasai people, numbering about 800,000. It is closely related to the other Maa varieties: Samburu (or Sampur), the language of the Samburu people of central Kenya, Chamus, spoken south and southeast of Lake Baringo (sometimes regarded as a dialect of Samburu); and Parakuyu of Tanzania. The Maasai, Samburu, il-Chamus and Parakuyu peoples are historically related and all refer to their language as .  Properly speaking, "Maa" refers to the language and the culture and "Maasai" refers to the people "who speak Maa".

Phonology 
The Maasai variety of  as spoken in southern Kenya and Tanzania has 30 contrasting sounds, which can be represented and alphabetized as follows: a, b, ch (a variant of sh), d, e, ɛ, g, h, i, ɨ, j, k, l, m, n, ny, ŋ, o, ɔ, p, r, rr, s, sh (with variant ch), t, u, ʉ, w, wu (or ww), y, yi (or yy), and the glottal stop ' (or ʔ).

The tone is extremely important to convey the correct meaning.

Consonants 
In the table of consonant phonemes below, phonemes are represented with IPA symbols. When IPA conventions differ from symbols normally used in practical writing, the latter are given in angle brackets.

For some speakers, the voiced stop consonants are not particularly implosive (e.g. IlKeekonyokie Maa), but for others, they are lightly implosive or have a glottalic feature (e.g. Parakuyo Maa). In Arusha Maa,  is typically realized as a voiceless fricative , but in some words, it can be a voiced trill . At least in native Maa words,  and  occur in complementary distribution, with the former occurring directly after consonants and the latter elsewhere.

Vowels 
Like the other Maa languages, Maasai has advanced tongue root vowel harmony. There are nine contrasting vowels, with the vowel  being "neutral" for harmony.

Syntax 
Word order is usually verb–subject–object, but it can vary because the tone is the most important indicator of subject versus object. What determines the order in a clause is topicality since the order, in the most simple clauses, can be predicted according to the information structure pattern: [Verb – Most.Topical – Less.Topical]. Thus, if the object is highly topical in the discourse (e.g. a first-person pronoun), and the subject is less topical, the object occurs right after the verb and before the subject.

The Maasai language has only two fully grammatical prepositions but can use "relational nouns", along with a most general preposition, to designate specific locative ideas. Noun phrases begin with a demonstrative prefix or a gender-number prefix, followed by a quantifying noun or other head noun. Other modifiers follow the head noun, including possessive phrases.

In Maasai, many morphemes are tone patterns. The tone pattern affects the case, voice and aspect of words, as in the example below:

The Maasai language carries three forms of gendered nouns; feminine, masculine, and place. Native speakers of the language attach a gendered prefix to a noun. The meaning of the noun in context then refers to its gender. Nouns place gender as follows:

"Who has come?" would be asked if the gender of the visitor were known. The noun would be preceded by a gendered prefix. If the gender of the visitor were unknown, "It is who that has come?" would be the literal [English translation] question.

Adjectives in Maa serve only to describe the noun, and they change tenses depending on the noun that they describe. 

Pronouns in Maa usually assign gender (male, female, or place); if gender is unknown, the meaning of the noun in context usually refers to a gender. For example, the context of a female might include working in the house, and a male gender would be implied if the action referred to work outside the home. Maasai uses place as a personal pronoun because place can help identify male or female (i.e. an action occurring in the house will almost always be done by a female).

Tone helps to indicate the verb-subject-order agreement.

Present tense in Maasai includes habitual actions, such as "I wake up" or "I cook breakfast". Past tense refers only to a past action, not to a specific time or place.

Usage
The Maasai have resisted some forms of colonization and Western expansion, and their systems of communication and exchange revolve primarily around trade among themselves. However, some loss of the Maasai language, while not rapid, is happening as a result of close contact with other ethnic groups in East Africa and the rise of Swahili and English as the dominant languages. In Tanzania, former President Nyerere encouraged the adoption of Swahili as an official language to unite the many different ethnic groups in Tanzania, as well as English to compete on a global scale. Although the Maasai language, often referred to as Maa, has survived despite the mass influx of English and Swahili education systems, economic plans, and more, the socioeconomic climate that the Maasai people face in East Africa keeps them, and their language, as an under-represented minority.

The Maasai way of life is embedded in their language. Specifically, the economic systems of trade that the Maasai rely on to maintain their nomadic way of life, rely on the survival of the Maasai language, even in its minority status. With language endangerment, the Maasai people would continue to be threatened and their cultural integrity threatened. The minority status that the language currently faces has already threatened traditional Maasai practices. Fewer and fewer groups of Maasai continue to be nomadic in the region, choosing to settle instead in close-knit communities to keep their language and other aspects of their culture alive.

See also
Kwavi dialect
Sonjo language, the language of a Bantu enclave in Maasai territory
Yaaku, a people who almost completely abandoned their language in favour of Maasai
Asa, a people who completely abandoned their language in favour of Maasai

References

Bibliography

Andrason, A. and Karani, M. 2019. Dative applicative elements in Arusa (Maa) – A canonical approach to the argument-adjunct distinction. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus. Vol. 58, 177-204. .
Andrason, A. and Karani, M. 2017. The perfective form in Arusa – A cognitive-grammaticalization model. Asian and African Studies, 26:1, pp. 69-101.
Andrason, A. and Karani, M. 2017. Radial Categories in Syntax: Non-Resumptive Left Dislocation in Arusa. Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 134(2), pp. 205-218. https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624sl.17.014.7088.
Karani, M. Kotikash, L. and Sentero, P. 2014. A Unified Standard Orthography for Maa Languages, Kenya and Tanzania: Arusa, Ilchamus, Maasai/Kisongo, Parakuyu, Samburu, Monograph series No. 257. Cape Town, CASAS.
Karani, M. (2018) "Syntactic categories and the verb-argument complex in Parakuyo Maasai". PhD Thesis, Stellenbosch University.
Mol, Frans (1995) Lessons in Maa: a grammar of Maasai language. Lemek: Maasai Center.
Mol, Frans (1996) Maasai dictionary: language & culture (Maasai Centre Lemek). Narok: Mill Hill Missionary.
Tucker, Archibald N. & Mpaayei, J. Tompo Ole (1955) A Maasai grammar with vocabulary. London/New York/Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co.
Vossen, Rainer (1982) The Eastern Nilotes. Linguistic and historical reconstructions (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 9). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.

External links
Maa language project
Doris L. Payne & Leonard Ole-Kotikash: English-Maasai and Maasai-English dictionary

Languages of Tanzania
Languages of Kenya
Maa languages
Maasai
Verb–subject–object languages
Tonal languages
Vowel-harmony languages
마사이어(Maasai, Masai) 또는 마어(Maa)는 케냐 남부와 탄자니아 북부의 마사이족이 사용하는 나일어족 언어이다. 케냐 중부의 삼부루족이 사용하는 삼부루어와 가까운 관계로, 두 언어는 함께 마어군을 이룬다. 마사이족, 삼부루족, 차무스족, 파라쿠유족은 모두 역사적으로 가까운 관계이며 스스로의 언어를 라고 부른다.

음운론 
마사이어에는 30개의 음소가 있다. 마사이어는 성조 언어이다.

자음 
마사이어에는 다음과 같은 자음 음소가 있다. 마사이어 정서법에 따른 철자가 국제 음성 기호와 다른 경우 각괄호 안에 나타내었다.

몇몇 방언에서 유성 파열음은 내파음의 성질이 그다지 강하지 않다. 아루샤 방언에서 는 일반적으로 무성 마찰음 []로 소리나지만, 어떤 단어에서는 유성 전동음 []로 소리나기도 한다. 마사이어 고유어에서 []와 []는 상보적 분포를 보여 전자는 자음 뒤에만 나타나고 후자는 그 밖의 환경에 나타난다.

모음 
다른 마어군 언어와 마찬가지로 마사이어는 설근 전진 모음 조화 체계를 지녔다. 마사이어에는 아홉 개의 모음 음소가 있으며 그 가운데 는 모음 조화에 있어 중립적이다.

성조 
마사이어에는 기본적으로 고조(H)와 저조(L)의 성조가 있으며, 같은 모음에 고조와 저조가 연속해서 오는 경우 하강조(F)가 된다.

문법 
마사이어의 어순은 대체로 VSO형이지만, 주어와 목적어를 구분하는 주된 수단은 어순이 아니라 성조를 통한 격 표시이다. 어순을 결정하는 가장 중요한 요인은 주제성(topicality)으로, 대부분의 단순절에서 어순은 [동사 - 높은 주제성 - 낮은 주제성]의 순서이다. 따라서 목적어가 담화에서 주제성이 높고(예: 1인칭 대명사) 주어가 주제성이 낮다면 VOS형 어순도 가능하다.

마사이어에는 진정한 의미의 전치사가 두 개밖에 없지만, 전치사와 “관계명사”를 사용해 다양한 위치 개념을 나타낼 수 있다. 명사구의 맨 앞에는 지시사 접두사 또는 성-수 접두사가 붙고 그 뒤에 핵어 명사가 나온다. 소유자 등 다른 수식어는 핵어 명사 뒤에 나온다.

마사이어에서는 여러 문법 기능이 성조 패턴으로 표시된다. 예를 들어 명사의 격이나 동사의 태와 상 등이 그렇다. 다음 예문은 성조에 따라 문장의 의미가 달라지는 것을 보여준다.

{|
| 표면형
| ɛ́yɛ́tá || ɛmʊtí
|-
| 형태소
|ɛ̀-ɛ́t-á
|ɛn-mʊtí(LH)
|-
| 해석: ||3P-remove.one.by.one-PF.SG||DEF.FEM.SG-pot(ACC)
|-
| 번역: || colspan="2" | “그녀는 냄비를 비웠다.”
|}

{|
| 표면형
| ɛyɛ́ta || ɛmʊ́ti
|-
| 형태소
|ɛ̀-ɛ́t-a
|ɛn-mʊ́ti(HL)
|-
| 해석: ||3P-remove.one.by.one-IMPF.MID||DEF.FEM.SG-pot(NOM)
|-
| 번역: || colspan="2" | “냄비가 비워졌다.”
|}

마사이어 명사는 남성, 여성, 장소의 세 가지 성 중 하나를 지닌다. 성은 자음 앞에 붙는 접두사로 표시된다.

각주

참고 문헌 

Andrason, A. and Karani, M. 2019. Dative applicative elements in Arusa (Maa) – A canonical approach to the argument-adjunct distinction. Stellenbosch Papers in Linguistics Plus. Vol. 58, 177-204. doi: 10.5842/58-0-842.
Andrason, A. and Karani, M. 2017. The perfective form in Arusa – A cognitive-grammaticalization model. Asian and African Studies, 26:1, pp. 69-101.
Andrason, A. and Karani, M. 2017. Radial Categories in Syntax: Non-Resumptive Left Dislocation in Arusa. Studia Linguistica Universitatis Iagellonicae Cracoviensis, 134(2), pp. 205-218. https://doi.org/10.4467/20834624sl.17.014.7088.
Karani, M. Kotikash, L. and Sentero, P. 2014. A Unified Standard Orthography for Maa Languages, Kenya and Tanzania: Arusa, Ilchamus, Maasai/Kisongo, Parakuyu, Samburu, Monograph series No. 257. Cape Town, CASAS.
Karani, M. (2018) "Syntactic categories and the verb-argument complex in Parakuyo Maasai". PhD Thesis, Stellenbosch University.
Mol, Frans (1995) Lessons in Maa: a grammar of Maasai language. Lemek: Maasai Center.
Mol, Frans (1996) Maasai dictionary: language & culture (Maasai Centre Lemek). Narok: Mill Hill Missionary.
Tucker, Archibald N. & Mpaayei, J. Tompo Ole (1955) A Maasai grammar with vocabulary. London/New York/Toronto: Longmans, Green & Co.
Vossen, Rainer (1982) The Eastern Nilotes. Linguistic and historical reconstructions (Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik 9). Berlin: Dietrich Reimer.

외부 링크 
Maa language project
Doris L. Payne & Leonard Ole-Kotikash: English-Maasai and Maasai-English dictionary

나일어족
케냐의 언어
탄자니아의 언어