Asa language

{{Short description|Extinct Cushitic language of Tanzania}}{{Cleanup lang|date=November 2025|iso=aas}}{{Infobox language | name = Asa | nativename = {{lang|aas|Aasá}} | region = Tanzania | ethnicity = Asa | extinct = 1952–1956 | ref = {{sfn|Winter|1979}} | familycolor = Afro-Asiatic | fam1 = Afro-Asiatic | fam2 = Cushitic | fam3 = South | fam4 = East? | iso3 = aas | linglist = aas.html | glotto = aasa1238 | glottorefname = Aasax | map2 = Lang Status 01-EX.svg | mapcaption2 = {{center|Aasax is classified as Extinct by the UNESCO ''World Atlas of Languages''<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021 |title=Aasax {{!}}Unesco WAL |url=https://en.wal.unesco.org/languages/aasax |website=World Atlas of Languages}}</ref>}} | altname = Aasax }}

The '''Asa''' (Aasá) language, commonly rendered '''Aasax''' (also rendered as Aasá, Aasáx, Aramanik, Asak, Asax, Assa, Asá<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/aas|title=Aasáx|website=Ethnologue|language=en|access-date=2019-07-17}}</ref>), is an Afroasiatic language formerly spoken by the Asa people of Tanzania. The language is extinct; ethnic Assa in northern Tanzania remember only a few words they overheard their elders use, and none ever used it themselves. Little is known of the language; what is recorded was probably Aasa lexical words used in a register of Maasai, similar to the mixed language Mbugu.{{sfn|Petrollino|Mous|2010|p=212}}

==Classification==

Asa is usually classified as Cushitic, most closely related to Kw'adza. However, it might have retained a non-Cushitic layer from an earlier language shift.

The Aramanik (Laramanik) people once spoke Asa, but shifted to Nandi (as opposed to Maasai).

==Vocabulary== Asa is known from three primary sources: two vocabulary lists from 1904 and 1928, and a collection by W. C. Winter from 1974.{{sfn|Ehret|1980|p=14}}

The following are some example words of Asa, together with probable cognates identified in Kw'adza and Iraqw:{{sfn|Ehret|1980|pp=386–388}} * 'big': '''''jira''''' — Kw'adza ''dire'' * 'bird': '''''širaʔa''''' — Iraqw ''tsʼirʕi'' * 'louse': '''''ʔita''''' — Iraqw ''itirmo'' * 'blood': '''''saʔaka''''' — Kw'adza ''saʔuko'' * 'bone': '''''farit''''' — Kw'adza ''falaʔeto'', Iraqw ''fara'' * 'horn': '''''hadoŋ''''' — Kw'adza ''xalinko'', Iraqw ''xaraŋ'' * 'hair': '''''seʔemuk''''' — Iraqw ''seʔemi'' * 'head': '''''sogok''''' — Kw'adza ''sagiko'', Iraqw ''saga'' * 'eye': '''''ilat''''' — Kw'adza ''ilito'', Iraqw ''ila'' * 'mouth': '''''afok''''' — Kw'adza ''afuko'', Iraqw ''afa'' * 'tongue': '''''šeferank''''' — Iraqw ''tsʼifraŋ'' * 'breast': '''''isank''''' — Iraqw ''isaŋ'' * 'heart': '''''monok''''' — Kw'adza ''munaku'', Irawn ''muna'' * 'water': '''''maʔa''''' — Kw'adza ''maʔaya'', Iraqw ''maʔay'' * 'sand': '''''hajat''''' — Kw'adza ''hasinko'', Iraqw ''hasaŋ'' * 'stone': '''''deʔok''''' — Kw'adza ''tlʼaʔiko'', Iraqw ''tlʼaʕano'' * 'to drink': '''''wat-''''' — Kw'adza ''wat-'', Iraqw ''wah-'' * 'to eat': '''''ʔag-''''' — Kw'adza ''ag-'', Iraqw ''ʕayim-'' * 'to lie': '''''ʔat-''''' — Kw'adza ''kʼat-'', Iraqw ''qat-'' * 'to die': '''''ga-''''' — Kw'adza ''gwaʔ-'', Iraqw ''gwa-'' * 'to kill': '''''gas-''''' — Kw'adza ''gaʔis-'', Iraqw ''gas-'' * 'far': '''''sanga''''' — Kw'adza ''sagumu'', Iraqw ''saw'' * 'near': '''''šaya''''' — Kw'adza ''tsʼahemi'', Iraqw ''tsʼew''

Some loanwords in Asa from other languages are known:{{sfn|Ehret|1980|p=385}} * 'three': '''''samak''''' and 'five': '''''mut''''', from Datooga * 'dog': '''''kite''''', from Chaga

== Notes == {{Reflist}} ==Literature== * {{cite book|first=Christopher|last=Ehret|year=1980|title=The Historical Reconstruction of Southern Cushitic phonology and vocabulary|series=Kölner Beiträge zur Afrikanistik|volume=5|publisher=Dietrich Reimer|authorlink=Christopher Ehret}} * {{cite journal|first1=Sara|last1=Petrollino|first2=Maarten|last2=Mous|year=2010|title=Recollecting Words and Expressions in Aasá, a Dead Language in Tanzania|journal=Anthropological Linguistics|volume=52|issue=2|pages=206–216|doi=10.1353/anl.2010.0012 }} * {{cite journal|first=Christopher|last=Winter|year=1979|title=Language Shift among the Aasáx, a Hunter-Gatherer Tribe in Tanzania|journal=Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika|volume=1|pages=175–204}}

==External links== *[http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\csh\scu&limit=-1&encoding=utf-eng Aasax basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

Category:South Cushitic languages Category:Languages of Tanzania Category:Mixed languages Category:Languages extinct in the 1950s Category:Dorobo Category:Extinct languages of Africa