Chonyi language

Chonyi
"Chichonyi"
Native to	Kenya
Region	Kilifi County
Ethnicity	Chonyi people
Native speakers	310,000 (2019)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Coast Bantu Mijikenda Chonyi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	coh
Glottolog	chon1287
Guthrie code	E72c

Chonyi (Chonyi, Kichonyi, Chichonyi) is a Bantu language spoken along the eastern coast of Kenya in Kilifi County by the Chonyi people. It is part of the Mijikenda dialect cluster.

In 2019, there were an estimated 310,000 speakers. Of these, 39,000 spoke the Jibana dialect (Chidzihana) and 71,000 the Kauma dialect (Chikauma).

References

The major distinction of the Chonyi dialect to their close neighbours which are the Giriama is the use of prefix chi-, instead of ki-.

Chi- / ki-

Chichonyi	Kigiryama	Kiswahili
Chihi	Kihi	Kiti
Chidogo	Kidogo	Kidogo
Chitu	Kitu	Kitu

Greetings and etiquette

Kiswahili	Chichonyi
Umeamkaje?	Ulamkadze?	Amka- lamuka
Umeshindaje	Usindadze?	Shinda- sinda
Asante	Nasanta	Pole - Pore

Counting from one to twenty

	Kiswahili	Chichonyi
1	Mosi/ moja	Mosi/ mwenga
2	mbili	mbiri
3	tatu	tahu/hahu
4	nne	inne
5	tano	tsano
6	sita/tandatu	handahu
7	saba	fungahe
8	nane	nane
9	tisa/kenda	chenda
10	kumi	kumi
11	kumi na moja	kumi na mwenga
12	kumi na mbili	kumi na mbiri
13	kumi na tatu	kumi na tahu
14	kumi na nne	kumi na inne
15	kumi na tano	kumi na tsano
16	kumi na sita
17	kumi na saba	kumi na fungahe
18	kumi na nane	kumi na nane
19	kumi na tisa	kumi na chenda
20	ishirini/miongo miwili	mirongo miiri

Chichonyi incorporates intonation during pronunciation which is not very conspicuous in Kiswahili.

Sehemu za mwili

Kiswahili	Chichonyi
Kichwa	chitswa
Jicho (macho)	Dzitso(matso)
Pua	pula
Skio (maskio)	sikiro (masikiro)
Nywele	Nyere
Mkono	mkono
Kiganja	ganza
Kidole/ chanda	chala
Kifua	Chifua
Mguu	Mgulu
Shingo	Singo
Mdomo	Mlomo
Ulimi	Lulimi
Ngozi	Chingo
Mgongo	Mongo