Haya language

Haya
Haya
Luhaya, Oruhaya
Region	Tanzania
Ethnicity	Haya people
Native speakers	1.3 million (2006)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu West Nyanza Rutara South Rutara Haya; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	hay
Glottolog	haya1250
Guthrie code	JE.22

Haya (Oruhaya) is a Bantu language spoken by the Haya people of Tanzania, in the south and southwest coast of Lake Victoria. In 1991, the population of Haya speakers was estimated at 1,200,000 people . Its closest relative is the Nyambo language and it is also closely related to the languages of western Uganda such as Nyoro-Tooro and Nkore-Kiga which all form a group called Rutara.

Maho (2009) classifies JE221 Rashi as closest to Haya. It has no ISO code, but is covered by the ISO 639-3 code hay.