Mwanga language

Last updated
Namwanga
Ichinamwanga
Native to Zambia, Tanzania
Ethnicity Mwanga people
Native speakers
(230,000 cited 1987– 2010 census) [1]
Dialects
  • Iwa
  • Tambo
Language codes
ISO 639-3 mwn
Glottolog nyam1275
M.22,26,27 [2]

Mwanga, or Namwanga (Nyamwanga), is a Bantu language spoken by the Mwanga people in the Muchinga Province of Zambia [3] (mainly in the districts of Isoka and Nakonde) and in Mbeya Region, Tanzania. The 2010 Zambian census found 140,000 speakers. The current number in Tanzania is unknown; Ethnologue cites a figure from 1987 of 87,000. [1]

Contents

There are also some speakers of Namwanga in the north-west part of Chitipa District in northern Malawi. [4]

The Namwanga language is similar to the Mambwe language spoken by the Mambwe people of Mbala and Mpulungu districts and the Lungu people also found in Isoka. Other similar smaller peoples include the Lambyas, the Nyikas and the Wandyas.

Alphabet

Nyamwanga has 5 vowels and 17 consonants, a total of 22 letters

Vowels: A E I O U

Consonants: B D F G HJ K L M N P S SH T V W Y Z

Sample text

Namwanga Names

Favourite foods

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Namwanga at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. Lee S. Bickmore (2000). "Downstep and fusion in Namwanga". Cambridge Journals (Cambridge University Press). Retrieved 2007-02-24.
  4. University of Malawi Language Mapping Survey (2006), p. 29.