The Tanzanian Rift Valley is an area with great linguistic diversity. It has languages from all three of the largest language families in Africa—Nilo-Saharan, Niger-Congo, and Afro-Asiatic—as well as two isolate “click” languages, Hadza and Sandawe.

Explore the following list to discover some of the languages that are spoken in the area, and which members of the Rift Valley Research Network are actively involved in researching. Language-specific pages will be coming soon, so be sure to come back!
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NB: Many of these languages are referred to by multiple different names, or with different spellings. (For instance, in Tanzania, Datooga is sometimes called Mang’ati or Kimang’ati, but this is considered to be derogatory by some Datooga speakers.) We have indicated some of the different names but we would prefer to use the speakers’ own name for their language or dialect – if we have made any mistakes please don’t hesitate to correct us!

Alagwa

South Cushitic; Afro-Asiatic
Glottolog entry

Burunge

South Cushitic; Afro-Asiatic
Glottolog entry

Datooga

Southern Nilotic; Nilo-Saharan
Glottolog entry

Gorowa

South Cushitic; Afro-Asiatic
Glottolog entry

Hadza

Isolate
​Glottolog entry

Ihanzu (Nyisanzu)

Bantu; Niger-Congo
Glottolog entry

Iraqw

South Cushitic; Afro-Asiatic
Glottolog entry

Kimbu (Yanzi)

Bantu; Niger-Congo
Glottolog entry

Mbugwe

Bantu; Niger-Congo
Glottolog entry

Nyaturu (Rimi)

Bantu; Niger-Congo
​Glottolog entry

Nyilamba (Iramba)

Bantu; Niger-Congo
​Glottolog entry

Rangi/Langi

Bantu; Niger-Congo
​Glottolog entry

Sandawe

Isolate 
​Glottolog entry