Central Kilimanjaro language

Central Kilimanjaro
Central Chaga
Native to	Tanzania
Region	Kilimanjaro
Ethnicity	Chaga
Native speakers	unknown (900,000 cited 1992–2000)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Chaga–Taita Chaga Central Kilimanjaro
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: vun – Wunjo old – Mochi
Glottolog	vunj1238  (Vunjo) moch1256  (Mochi)
Guthrie code	E.622 (ex-E.62a,62b)

Central Kilimanjaro, or Central Chaga, is a Bantu language of Tanzania spoken by the Chaga people.

There are several dialects:

• Moshi (Old Moshi, Mochi, Kimochi)
• Uru
• Mbokomu
• Wuunjo (Wunjo, Vunjo, Kivunjo), including Kiruwa, Kilema, Mamba, Morang’u (Marangu), Mwika

Moshi, spoken by 600,000, is the language of the Chaga cultural capital, Moshi, and the prestige dialect of the Chaga languages.

Bibliography

• Dalgish, Gerard M. (1978) 'The syntax and semantics of the morpheme ni in kiVunjo (Chaga)', Kiswahili, 48, 1, 42–56.
• Philippson, Gérard (1984) '"Gens des bananeraies" (Tanzanie): contribution linguistique à l'histoire culturelle des Chaga du Kilimanjaro' (Cahier no. 16.) Paris: Editions Recherche sur les civilisations.