Home to 5 dialects represented on Dialect Atlas, spanning 5 language families.
also: Kiswahili Sanifu
The Tanzania-based literary and educational standard of Swahili. Modelled on the Zanzibari Kiunguja variety; Tanzania's national language and a continental lingua franca.
also: Maa, Olmaa
A Nilotic language spoken by the Maasai people across southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. Closely related to Samburu and Camus within the Maa cluster.
also: Dholuo
A Western Nilotic language of the Luo people of western Kenya around Lake Victoria. Related to Acholi and to the Dinka and Nuer of South Sudan.
also: Kisukuma
A Bantu language and the largest indigenous language of Tanzania by first-language speakers, used across the Lake Victoria region around Mwanza. Around 8 million speakers.
also: Hadzane
A click-language isolate spoken by the Hadza hunter-gatherers around Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania. Fewer than 1,000 speakers; no demonstrated genetic relationship to any other language.