Kalanga language

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Kalanga
TjiKalanga/Ikalanga
Native to Zimbabwe, Botswana
RegionSouthWest parts of Zimbabwe Central, North Central and NorthEast Botswana
Ethnicity Kalanga people
Native speakers
700,000 in Zimbabwe,
850,000 in Botswana (2012-2015) [1]
Official status
Official language in
Flag of Zimbabwe.svg  Zimbabwe (both Kalanga and Nambya) Botswana-recognized language nationally.
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
kck  – Kalanga
nmq  – Nambya
Glottolog kala1405
S.16 [2]
Linguasphere 99-AUT-ai

Kalanga[ pronunciation? ], or TjiKalanga (in Zimbabwe), is a Bantu language spoken by the Kalanga people in Botswana and Zimbabwe which belongs to the Shonic(Shona-Nyai) group of Lenguage. It has an extensive phoneme inventory, which includes palatalised, velarised, aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants, [3] as well as whistled sibilants.

Contents

Kalanga is recognised as an official language by the Zimbabwean Constitution of 2013 and is taught in schools in areas where its speakers predominate. The iKalanga language is closely related to the Nambya, TshiVenda, and KheLobedu languages of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Classification and varieties

Linguists place Kalanga (S.16 in Guthrie's classification) and Nambya (in the Hwange region of Zimbabwe) as the western branch of the Shona group (or Shonic, or Shona-Nyai) group of languages, collectively coded as S.10.

Kalanga has a dialectal variation between its Botswana and Zimbabwean varieties and they use slightly different orthographies. Historically, Wentzel mentioned Kalanga proper in the east and Lilima (Tjililima, Humbe) on the west, as well as varieties that are now rare or extinct: Nyai (Rozvi), Lemba (Remba), Lembethu (Rembethu), Twamamba (Xwamamba), Pfumbi, Jaunda (Jawunda, Jahunda), and †Romwe, †Peri, †Talahundra (Talaunda). [2] [4]

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
plainalveolarplainlab.plainlab.plainlab.plainlab.
Plosive voicelesspt̪(tʷ)kkʷ
voicedbd̪ddʷɡɡʷ
prenasalᵐbⁿdᵑɡᵑɡʷ
aspiratedpʰt̪ʰtʰtʰʷkʰkʰʷ
breathypʱtʱkʷʱ
ejective(tʼ)
Affricate voicelessp͡st̪͡s̪t͡ʃ
voicedb͡zd̪͡z̪d̪͡z̪ʷd͡ʒb͡ɡ
prenasalⁿd͡ʒ
aspiratedt̪͡s̪ʰt̪͡s̪ʰʷp͡kʰ
breathyt̪͡s̪ʱt͡ʃʱ
ejectivet͡ʃʼ
Fricative voicelessfssʷʃʃʷ(x)(xʷ)
voicedvzzʷʒɦ
Nasal mnɲŋŋʷ
Trill r
Approximant laterall
centralβ̞jw
breathywʱ

Vowels

Kalanga has a typical five-vowel system:

Front Central Back
Close iu
Mid eo
Open a

References

  1. ↑ "Kalanga". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
  2. 1 2 Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. 1 2 Mathangwane, Joyce T. (1999). Ikalanga phonetics and phonology: a synchronic and diachronic study. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
  4. ↑ Wentzel, Petrus Johannes (1981). The Relationship between Venda and Western Shona. Ph.D. Thesis. Univ. of South Africa.

Further reading

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