View source for Kimow

{{Infobox language
| name = Kimow
| nativename = kimow
| altname = Kimau<ref name="kimau">Original exonym of the language before widespread English-based romanisation, now only used in German in the form of ''kimauisch''.</ref>
| pronunciation = ˈkʰím.ǒʊ]<br>[ˈkʰǐɯ.ɑ̄w
| creator = User:Jukethatbox
| created = 2024
| speakers = 7.7 million(total)
| speakers2 = [[Kimow|Kimo]]: 3.96 million<br>[[Kimow|Wakki]]: 3.74 million
| date = 2024
| familycolor = language isolate
| dia1 = Kimo dialects
** Igkin dialects
*** Kemḥu Kka
** Mukku (†)<ref>Mostly extinct, some elderly speakers still exist.</ref>
| dia2 = Wakki dialects
| script1 = Latn
| notice = ipa
}}
'''Kimow'''(/kiːmoʊ/, ''[[Contionary:kimow|kimow]]''; <small>Kimow:</small> [[Help:IPA|[ˈkʰím.ǒʊ]]] or [[Help:IPA|[ˈkʰǐɯ.ɑ̄w]]]), also(but less commonly) called '''Kimau''',<ref name="kimau"></ref> is a language isolate that is notorious for the fact that the majority of its words are [[w:Polysemy|polysemous]], meaning they have various meanings. For example, the name of the language, Kimow, can mean "Kimow"(adj.), "the Kimow language", "the Kimow people", "an ethnic Kimow", "a Kimow speaker(so not necessarily an ethnic Kimow)", "a member of the Kimow diaspora", "Kimow food" or "a Kimow city". There are also only two main dialects, the '''Kimo''' and the '''Wakki''', and their homonymic meanings differ greatly at times, making mutual understanding difficult. Tone and phonology vary slightly as well, though not as greatly and are thus more mutually intelligible.