Mbukushu language

Mbukushu
Thimbukushu
Native to	Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zambia
Region	Kavango East
Native speakers	95,000 (2020) [1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu (Zone K) Mbukushu
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mhw
Glottolog	mbuk1240
Guthrie code	K.333 [1] [2]

Mbukushu or Thimbukushu is a Bantu language spoken by 45,000 people along the Kavango East Region in Namibia, where it is a national language, and in Botswana, Angola and Zambia.

In 2022 it was selected among a variety of Mother Tongue languages to be taught in Botswana Primary Schools in the year 2023.

Mbukushu is one of several Bantu languages of the Kavango which have click consonants; Mbukushu has three: tenuis c, voiced gc, and nasalized nc, as well as prenasalized ngc, which vary between speakers as dental, palatal, and postalveolar. ^[3] It also has a nasal glottal approximant.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Click	voiceless		ᵏǀ
	voiced		ᶢǀ
	prenasal vl.		ᵑǀᵏ
	prenasal vd.		ᵑǀᶢ
Nasal		m		n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t̪	t	tʃ	k
	voiced	b		d	dʒ	ɡ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd̪	ⁿd	ⁿdʒ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	θ	( s )	ʃ		h
	voiced	v	ð	( z )	[ ʝ ]	ɣ
	nasal	ᶬv	ⁿð				h̃
Approximant					j	w
Trill				r

• Sounds /s, z/ are only heard from loanwords.
• /j/ may also be heard as a palatal fricative [ʝ]. ^[4]
• Click sounds may also range to being alveolar [ᵏǃ, ᶢǃ, ᵑǃᵏ, ᵑǃᶢ] or palatal [ᵏǂ, ᶢǂ, ᵑǂᵏ, ᵑǂᶢ]. ^[5]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a

References

1. Mbukushu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard (2003). The Bantu Languages. Routledge. p. 37. ISBN   0700711341.
4. Wynne, Ronald C. (1980). English-Mbukushu dictionary. Avebury Publishing Co.
5. Fisch, Maria (1998). Thimbukushu grammar. Windhoek: Out of Africa Publ.

External links

• Mbukushu sound files at UCLA