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Chidigo

A language of Kenya

ISO 639-3: dig

Population	217,000 in Kenya (1994 I. Larsen BTL), increasing. Population total all countries: 305,000.
Region	Coast Province, Kwale District, south of Mombasa. Also in Tanzania.
Language map	Kenya, reference number 5
Alternate names	Digo, Kidigo
Dialects	Partially intelligible with Giryama [nyf] but most remote from Giryama of the Mijikenda subgroup. Lexical similarity: 74% with Duruma [dug], 72% with Chonyi [coh] and Kiswahili [swh], 71% with Swahili dialects Mrima and Mvita, 67% with Amu [swh], 62% with Bajun [swh], 58% with Upper Pokomo [pkb].
Classification	Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, E, Nyika (E.40), Mijikenda
Language use	Vigorous. GIDS 6. Home, social gatherings. All ages. Positive attitude. Also use Kiswahili.
Language development	Literacy rate in L1: Below 1%. Literacy rate in L2: 45% in Swahili. NT: 2007.
Writing system	Latin script.
Comments	9 ethnic groups form the Mijikenda community. A moderate degree of Kiswahili and Islamic cultural influence. Digo is the tribal name. Agriculturalists; fishermen; traders; industry workers. Muslim, traditional religion, Christian.

Also spoken in:

Tanzania

Language name	Digo
Population	88,000 in Tanzania (1987).
Region	Northeast coast, Tanga area.
Language map	Tanzania, reference number 55
Alternate names	Chidigo, Kidigo
Comments	The Segeju (Kisegeju, Sageju, Sengeju) is an ethnic group which probably once spoke Dhaiso [dhs], but now speak Digo or Swahili [swh] as L1. Muslim.

Entries from the SIL Bibliography about this language:

Academic Publications

MATTHEWS, Thomas G., author. 2007. Implicit information in the target language context.

MATTHEWS, Thomas G., author. 2009. "Toward a prototypical model of culture for Bible translation."  

MATTHEWS, Thomas G.; NICOLLE, Steve; ROUNTREE, Catherine, authors. 2011. "Implicit Aspects of Culture in Source and Target Language Contexts."  

MWALONYA, Joseph; NICOLLE, Alison; NICOLLE, Steve; ZIMBU, Juma, compilers. 2004. Mgombato (Digo-English-Swahili dictionary).

MWALONYA, Joseph; NICOLLE, Alison; NICOLLE, Steve; ZIMBU, Juma, compilers. 2005. Mgombato (Digo-English-Swahili dictionary).

NICOLLE, Alison, translator. 2006. Never provoke a chameleon: Digo beliefs about the animal kingdom.

NICOLLE, Steve, author. 2001. A comparative study of ethnobotanical taxonomies: Swahili and Digo.

NICOLLE, Steve, author. 2002. "Anaphora and focus in Digo."

NICOLLE, Steve, author. 2002. "The grammaticalisation of movement verbs in Digo and English."

NICOLLE, Steve, author. 2003. "Distal aspects in Bantu languages."

NICOLLE, Steve, author. 2004. "The relevance of ethnobotanical studies in linguistic vitality: the case of plant use and classification among the Digo of Kenya."

NICOLLE, Steve, author. 2007. "Metarepresentational demonstratives in Digo."

NICOLLE, Steve, author. 2007. "The grammaticalization of tense markers: a pragmatic reanalysis."

Vernacular Publications

Kuamwisa mwana. 1997.

Kusoma Kidigo. 1996.

Maleria. 2002.

Mrinde mwanao na ukongo mbaya sana. 2003.

Nahusomeni chidigo. 1998.

Nia mwenga anaphaha uliwali. 2002.

Uchifwitsa ukongo...; HIV/AIDS. 2003.

Zamani za kare... Hadisi na misemo ya Chidigo. 1996.