El Molo language

El Molo is an extinct language belonging to the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family. It was spoken by the El Molo people on the southeastern shore of Lake Turkana, in northern Kenya. Alternate names to El Molo are Dehes, Elmolo, Fura-Pawa, and Ldes. It was thought to be extinct in the middle part of the 20th century, but a few speakers were found in the later 20th century. However, it may now be truly extinct, as the eight speakers found in a survey published in 1994 were over 50. Most of the El Molo population have shifted to the neighboring Samburu language. El Molo also has no known dialects but it is similar to Daasanach.

El Molo
Native toKenya
RegionLake Turkana
Ethnicity560 El Molo people
Extinct1999
Afro-Asiatic
  • Cushitic
    • Lowland East
      • Western Omo–Tana
        • El Molo
Language codes
ISO 639-3elo
Glottologelmo1238
ELPEl Molo

Oral tradition sees the El Molo people as an offshoot of the Arbore people in South Ethiopia. This seems to be confirmed by El Molo's linguistic proximity to the Arbore language.

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