Alternate Names: Aweera, Bon, “Boni” (pej.), Ogoda, “Sanye” (pej.), Waboni, Wata-Bala
Dialects: None known. Lexical similarity: with Rendille , of Marsabit County (most similar).
Genealogy:
Demographics: 8,000 (2007 BTL), increasing. 1,600 monolinguals.
Language Use: Vigorous. Home, community. All ages. Positive attitudes. Also use English [eng], Orma [orc], Somali [som], Swahili [swh].
Language Development: Literacy rate in L1: 1% (2007 BTL). Literacy rate in L2: 40% or less in Kiswahili or English (2007 BTL). Many suspicious of literacy as colonizing force.
Writing System: Latin
Nation of Origin: Kenya
Other Comments: Different from Sanye , (Waat) of the Oromo Group or Dahalo , (Sanye) of Southern Cushitic. Also referred to as “Sanye”, a pejorative term meaning hunter-gatherer group. Being settled in scattered villages and encouraged to switch to farming. Muslim.