A Kiw'oso Vocabulary

The Kiw'oso [kiftoso] language is one of the Bantu languages and spoken in the Moshi District, Kilimanjaro Region of Tanzania, which is located about 20km north to Moshi town. This language is said to be one of the Vunjo languages. Guthrie classified this Vunjo into the Chaga group called E60, together with Rwo (Meru), Hai (Chaga, Moshi, Machame), Rombo, Rusa, Kahe and Gweno (Guthrie, 1971).
According to Mr. Rogati Olomi, who is a coauthor and an informant of this study, socalled Chaga languages are classified into three major groups: Hai (Sanya, Mosama, Machame Mkuu and Lyamungo), Vunjo (Wunjo) and Rombo. The Vunjo group is further classified into Kiw'oso, Uru and Vunjo (Marangu, Kilema and old Moshi). The Kiw'oso consists of Umbwe, Mango and Kilema, and Mr. Olomi is from Umbwe. When he was a child, he thought his language was different from the Hai or the Vunjo language.