Luvale language

Last updated
Luvale
Chiluvale
Native to Angola, Zambia
Ethnicity Lovale
Native speakers
640,000 (2001–2010) [1]
Latin (Luvale alphabet)
Luvale Braille
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3 lue
Glottolog luva1239
K.14 [2]

Luvale (also spelt Chiluvale, Lovale, Lubale, Luena, Lwena) is a Bantu language spoken by the Lovale people of Angola and Zambia. It is recognized as a regional language for educational and administrative purposes in Zambia, where about 168,000 people speak it as of 2006. Luvale uses a modified form of the latin alphabet in its written form. [3]

Contents

Luvale is closely related to Chokwe.

Vocabulary

It contains many loanwords from Portuguese from colonial contact during 20th century, [4] such as:

LuvalePortugueseEnglish
xikataescadaladder
xikitelumosquiteromosquito net
ngatwegatocat
mbalilibarrilpowder keg (lit. barrel)
kaluwaxacarrobicyle
semanasemanaweek

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants of Luvale [5]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate
voiceless p t k
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᶮdʒ ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced v z ʒ
Approximant w l j

Vowels

Vowels of Luvale [5]
Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Close-mid e eː o oː
Open-mid ɛ ɛː ɔ ɔː
Open a aː

Speakers

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References

  1. Luvale at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. "Luvale (Chiluvale)". Omniglot. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  4. Albaugh, Ericka A.; de Luna, Kathryn M. (2018). Tracing language movement in Africa. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 263, 267, 269, 271. ISBN   9780190657550.
  5. 1 2 Horton, A. E. (1949). A Grammar of Luvale (2nd ed.). Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press.

Further reading