बुकुसु

Bukusu (Lubukusu) is a Bantu language of the Luhya cluster (Glottolog JE31c), spoken by approximately 750,000 to 1.4 million people in Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia counties of western Kenya. The Bukusu community is the largest of the ~17 Luhya subgroups, distinguishing themselves through circumcision rites (sikhebo), warrior traditions, and Mt Elgon mythology shared with sister-language Masaaba (myx) across the Uganda border. Linguistically, Bukusu retains conservative Bantu features (15-18 noun classes, complex verbal morphology with tense-aspect-mood, two-tone register system), with Mutonyi (2000) providing the most comprehensive modern linguistic description. The Bible was translated into Bukusu in the 1960s, and there is active community publishing in folktales and proverbs.