Kaonde language

Last updated
Kaonde
Kiikaonde
Native to Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo where it is predominantly known as Kiluba
Native speakers
(240,000 cited 1995–2010 census) [1]
Latin (Kaonde alphabet)
Kaonde Braille
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3 kqn
Glottolog kaon1241
L.40 (L.41) [2]

Kaonde (natively called kiiKaonde) is a Bantu language spoken primarily in Zambia. Kaonde and its dialects are spoken by over 350,000 people.

Contents

Speakers

Kaonde speakers mainly live in the Northwestern and parts of Central regions of Zambia. In Zambia, the Kaonde people are found in Solwezi, Mufumbwe, Kasempa, Kalumbila and Mushindamo.

The term "Kaonde" refers to a group of people who are identified by a common language known as kiiKaonde. The Kaonde, like many other tribes in Zambia, were originally part of the Luba Kingdom. They migrated south to the area surrounding a river called the Kaonde, which is in the Congo Basin. From there, they migrated into what is now Northwestern Zambia. Native speakers refer to the language as kiiKaonde. Speakers of most other Bantu languages use the prefix "chi" rather than "kii".

Kaondes are ruled by the traditional leaders. Some of the Kaonde chiefs are: Chief Kapiji Kasongo, Chief Kizela, Chief Kasempa, and Chief Mpanga.

Grammar

Nouns

Like other Bantu languages, Kaonde nouns are grouped into several semantic classes (for example: people, insects, or abstract concepts). The class to which a noun belongs determines its agreement with verbs and determiners (including adjectives, possessive pronouns, and number), and other parts of speech. When any singular class is made plural, it changes prefixes. The plural of a mu- class noun will always be a ba- class noun. (For example: “muntu”, which means “person”, pluralizes to “bantu”, which means “people”. The word “bantu” commands the agreement “ba” — for example: “Bantu balaala” — “the people are sleeping”, while the singular form commands the “u” agreement: “muntu walaala”.

Singular nounSingular concordPlural nounPlural concord
mu (person)u-baba-
mu (thing)u -mi-i-
kiki-bibi-
kaka-tutu-
ni-maa-
lulu-maa-
bubu-maa-
jiji-maa-
pa (locative "on")pa-nonenone
ku (locative "at" or "to")ku-nonenone
mu (locative "in")mu-nonenone

Not all nouns begin with the same letters as their class prefix, but any noun’s class can be determined by the agreements it commands. For example, “nzolo” (chicken) is a mu- class noun despite beginning with the initial nasal characteristic of the n- class which commands the agreement “i” or “ya”. “Nzolo” is not an n- class noun, because it commands “u” and “wa” agreements, as in: “nzolo walaala” — “the chicken is sleeping”.

Pronouns

Kaonde has personal, demonstrative and relative pronouns. The first and second person pronouns are independent of the noun class system. Third person pronouns are formed using the demonstrative pronouns for the ba noun class. Demonstrative are arranged by noun class and by deixis.

SingularPlural/Formal
1st personamiwaatweba
2nd personobewaanweba
3rd personawe/ao/awaabe/abo/aba

Sample text in Kaonde

Mu byambo byanji byalamata bantu bonse, Lesa waambile ne byambo bikwabo pa byo anemeka bumi ne mashi.

Translation

In a declaration applying to all humans, God revealed more about his evaluation of life and blood

References

  1. ↑ Kaonde at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
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