Nandi and Kipsigis, two of the many languages found under the increasingly popular cover term "Kalenjin" (often used for the southern subgroup of Nilotic), are spoken in Rift Valley Province, Kenya. (Nandi is spoken in Nandi, North Nyanza, and Kericho Districts; Kipsigis in Kericho District.)p but are more distantly related.
The 1989 Kenya census notes 2,458,123 people who gave Kalenjin as their "tribal or national affiliation." Voegelin and Voegelin (1977), citing Westermann and Bryan, give a much lower figure of 430,000; A. N. Tucker (1981) lists 808,000 speakers. Heine and Möhlig (1980) give figures of 471,459 for Kipsigis and 261,969 for Nandi.
Kalenjin has been used in the police, army, and to some extent "in the Game Department" (Whiteley 1974). It is broadcast over the Voice of Kenya.
Nandi and Kipsigis have standardized orthographies.
Given the above discussion, it remains unclear how many separate sets of learning materials would be necessary.
Copyright ©2006 African Studies Center. For questions or comments about this site, please contact the Webmaster.