El Molo language

El Molo
Native toKenya
RegionLake Turkana
Ethnicity560 El Molo people
Extinct1999, with the death of Kaayo
semispeakers exist
Revival
Language codes
ISO 639-3elo
Glottologelmo1238
ELPEl Molo

El Molo is a moribund or 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. Most of the El Molo population have shifted to the neighboring Samburu language, and there are only semispeakers left. El Molo also has no known dialects but it is similar to Daasanach.

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.