Login
Login

Kwangali language

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in Namibia and Angola}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Kwangali

|nativename=Rukwangali

|states=Namibia, Angola

|region=Kavango West

|speakers=152,000

|date=2018

|ref={{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/kwn|title=Kwangali|work=Ethnologue|access-date=15 August 2018}}

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Volta-Congo

|fam4=Benue–Congo

|fam5=Bantoid

|fam6=Southern Bantoid

|fam7=Bantu

|fam8=Kavango–Southwest

|fam9=Kavango

|iso3=kwn

|glotto=kwan1273

|glottorefname=Kwangali

|guthrie=K.33

}}

Kwangali, or RuKwangali, is a Bantu language spoken by 85,000 people along the Kavango River in Namibia, where it is a national language, and in Angola. It is one of several Bantu languages of the Kavango which have click consonants; these are the dental clicks c and gc, along with prenasalization and aspiration.

Maho (2009) includes Mbunza as a dialect, but excludes Sambyu, which he includes in Manyo.

Phonology

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan="2" |

!Bilabial

!Labio-
dental

!Alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Glottal

colspan="2" |Nasal

| {{IPA link|m}}

|

| {{IPA link|n}}

| {{IPA link|ɲ}}

|

|

rowspan="5" |Plosive

!voiceless

| {{IPA link|p}}

|

| {{IPA link|t}}

| {{IPA link|tʃ}}

| {{IPA link|k}}

|

aspirated

| {{IPA link|pʰ}}

|

| {{IPA link|tʰ}}

|

| {{IPA link|kʰ}}

|

voiced

| {{IPA link|b}}

|

| {{IPA link|d}}

| {{IPA link|dʒ}}

| {{IPA link|ɡ}}

|

prenasal vl.

| {{IPA link|ᵐpʰ}}

|

| {{IPA link|ⁿtʰ}}

|

| {{IPA link|ᵑkʰ}}

|

prenasal vd.

| {{IPA link|ᵐb}}

|

| {{IPA link|ⁿd}}

| {{IPA link|ⁿdʒ}}

| {{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}

|

rowspan="4" |Fricative

!voiceless

|

| {{IPA link|f}}

| {{IPA link|s}}

| {{IPA link|ʃ}}

|

| {{IPA link|h}}

voiced

| {{IPA link|β}}

| {{IPA link|v}}

| {{IPA link|z}}

|

|

|

prenasal vl.

|

| {{IPA link|ᶬf}}

| {{IPA link|ⁿs}}

|

|

|

prenasal vd.

|

| {{IPA link|ᶬv}}

| {{IPA link|ⁿz}}

|

|

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

|

|

| {{IPA link|l}}

| {{IPA link|j}}

| {{IPA link|w}}

|

colspan="2" |Trill

|

|

| {{IPA link|r}}

|

|

|

A dental click type {{IPA|[ǀ]}} may also be heard,{{fix|text=how many consonants is this?}} being adopted from the neighboring Khoisan languages. The clicks may also tend to be heard as alveolar {{IPA|[!]}}.Dammann (1957)

= Vowels =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!

!Front

!Central

!Back

High

|{{IPAlink|i}}   {{IPA link|iː}}

|

|{{IPAlink|u}}   {{IPA link|uː}}

Mid

|{{IPAlink|e}}   {{IPA link|eː}}

|

|{{IPAlink|o}}   {{IPA link|oː}}

Low

|

|{{IPAlink|a}}   {{IPA link|aː}}

|

Short vowels of /i e o u/ may also be pronounced as [ɪ ɛ ɔ ʊ].{{Cite book|last=Sommer|first=Gabi|title=Western Savanna|publisher=London & New York: Routledge|year=2003|location=Nurse, Derek and Philippson, Gérard (eds.), The Bantu languages|pages=566–580}}

References

{{Reflist}}

  • Dammann, Ernst (1957). Studien zum Kwangali: Grammatik, Texte, Glossar. Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter
  • Derek Nurse & Gérard Philippson, The Bantu languages, 2003:569.

= Books =

  • Rukwangali/English for Children, Éditions du Cygne, 2013, {{ISBN|978-2-84924-310-7}}
  • [http://www.seghea.com/pat/bible/moRukwangali.html Biblical passages in Kwangali]

{{Languages of Namibia}}

{{Languages of Angola}}

{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M)}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwangali Language}}

Category:Kavango languages

Category:Languages of Angola

Category:Languages of Namibia

{{Bantu-lang-stub}}