אמבו

Embu (Kĩembu) is a Bantu language of the Central Kenya Highlands spoken by the Embu people of Embu County and adjacent Tharaka-Nithi and Kirinyaga counties on the southeastern slopes of Mount Kenya, with ~600K speakers. It belongs to the Bantu E.50 (Central Kenya Bantu) group together with Kikuyu (ki, kik), Meru (mer), Kamba (kam) and others, and shares many cognates and grammatical features with these neighbors. Like other Bantu languages, Embu has a noun-class system (~18 classes), agglutinative verbal morphology, and tonal phonology. Recognized as an indigenous Kenyan language under the 2010 constitution. Strong oral tradition; bible translation completed late 20th century.