Kerewe language

Kerewe, or Kerebe, is a Bantu language of Tanzania, spoken on Ukerewe Island in Lake Victoria, the largest inland island in Africa.

Kerebe
Kerewe
Ekikerebe
Native to	Tanzania
Region	Lake Victoria
Ethnicity	Kerewe people
Native speakers	(100,000 cited 1987)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu West Nyanza Rutara Kerebe
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ked
Glottolog	kere1283
Guthrie code	JE.24[2]

Kerewe phonology prohibits vowel sequences: if a vowel sequence arises in the underlying representation of a phrase, the sequence becomes either a long vowel or a glide followed by a long vowel in the surface representation.^[3]

Literature

The first attempts at Bible translation into Kerewe were some Bible stories in 1899, liturgical Gospels in 1921 and 1937 and a Gospel harmony in 1930. The New Testament was translated into Kerewe by French Canadian Padri Almas Simard (1907-1954) from the White Fathers, working with several native speakers. The translation received the imprimatur on 4 October 1945. It was published as Omulago Muhya, (Kikahindurwa mu Kikerewe) at the White Fathers Mission Press in Bukerewe.^[4]

See also

• Kerewe people