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Elmolo

El Molo

DormantAfro-Asiatic, CushiticKenyaDormant as a first language; remembered vocabulary survives0 documented words

Elmolo was spoken by the fishing communities of Lake Turkana. During the twentieth century the community shifted to Samburu, a Nilotic language, and Elmolo ceased to be transmitted, although substantial remembered vocabulary has been recorded.

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Elmolo — English word list

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History and language shift

The Elmolo are often described as Kenya's smallest ethnic community. Language shift to Samburu was complete enough that Ethnologue and Glottolog list the language as dormant or extinct as a first language.

Revitalization

Mauro Tosco's 2015 work in Studies in African Linguistics documents remembered Elmolo vocabulary and discusses the practical prospects for revitalization.