ABSTRACT
The Ugandan Survey indicated that several of the Interlacustrine languages form one large group, which was called Rutara, as a result of a remark by Mr. Mosha. The languages involved were Nyankore, Kiga, Nyoro, and Tooro. From the Tanzanian point of view, Rutara should be expanded to include Haya, Zinza, and Kerewe. All these languages are almost equally close: a speaker of any of them listening to another on the radio would have little trouble understanding; they all operate variants of the same tone system. The main basis for the linkage of Rutara is lexicostatistic, but it also uses the criteria described in the introduction to the N. W. Tanzania group. Within Tanzania, Haya is most closely related to Zinza, and slightly less, to Kerewe. There is some disagreement about whether Zinza is to be considered a dialect of Haya or a separate language.
