Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 nyf
Giryama Language Kigiryama
Giryama is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.9 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Giryama is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Giryama
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Northeast Savanna Bantu
- Northeast Coastal Bantu
- Coastal NEC Bantu
- Mijikenda-Pokomo-Comorian
- Mijikenda
- Northern Mijikenda
- Giryama
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Giryama language
Giryama (Kigiryama) is spoken by about 1.9 million people, which makes it the 326th most spoken language in the world — just behind Makassar Malay (1.9 million) and ahead of Nyamwezi (1.9 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Northern Mijikenda group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Giryama spoken?
Giryama is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Kenya (1.9 million).
Giryama is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Giryama is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Segeju, Ngazidja Comorian, Ndzwani Comorian, Swahili, Congo Swahili, Gogo and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 nyf.
Frequently asked questions about Giryama
How many people speak Giryama?
Where is Giryama spoken?
What language family does Giryama belong to?
What is Giryama called in Giryama?
Is Giryama an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.