Waata

Waata
Sanye
Native toKenya
RegionLamu District, Tana River
Native speakers
20,000 (2019 census)[1]
Latin (limited use)
Language codes
ISO 639-3ssn
Glottologwaat1238
ELPSanye

The Waata (Waat, Watha), or Sanye, are an Oromo-speaking people of Kenya and former hunter-gatherers. They share the name Sanye with the neighboring Dahalo.[2]

The current language of the Waata may be a dialect of Orma or otherwise Southern Oromo. However, there is evidence that they may have shifted from a Southern Cushitic language, a group that includes Dahalo.[3]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Waata at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Ville, Jean-Luc (1995). "The Waata of Tsavo-Galana: hunting and trading in their semi-arid coastal hinterland". Kenya Past and Present (27): 21–27.
  3. ^ Martin Walsh, 1992/1993. The Vuna and the Degere: Remnants and Outcasts among the Duruma and Digo of Kenya and Tanzania. Bulletin of the International Committee on Urgent Anthropological and Ethnological Research 34/35: 133–147.