Tongwe language

Last updated
Tongwe
Bende
Native to Tanzania
Native speakers
40,000 (1999–2001) [1]
Dialects
  • Tongwe
  • Bende
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Either:
tny   Tongwe
bdp   Bende
Glottolog tong1320   Tongwe
bend1258   Bende
F.10 (F.11–12) [2]
ELP Bende

Tongwe (Sitongwe) and Bende (Sibende) constitute a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone F.10 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003), [3] they form a valid node. Indeed, at 90% lexical similarity they may be dialects of a single language.

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References

  1. Tongwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
    Bende at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. Nurse, Derek; Philippson, Gérard, eds. (2003). The Bantu languages. London: Routledge. ISBN   9780700711345.