Nambya language
{{Short description|Bantu language of northwest Zimbabwe and Botswana}}
{{use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Nambya
| nativename = Nanzva
| pronunciation =
| region =
| ethnicity = Nambya people
| speakers = {{sigfig|105,000|1}}
| date = 2000–2004
| ref = e25
| familycolor = Niger-Congo
| fam2 = Atlantic–Congo
|fam3=Volta-Congo
| fam4 = Benue–Congo
|fam5=Bantoid
| fam6 = Southern Bantoid
| fam7 = Bantu
|fam8=Shona languages
| fam9 =Kalanga-Nyamba
| nation = Zimbabwe (both Kalanga and Nambya)
| lc1 = nmq
| ld1 = Nambya
| glotto = namb1291
| glottorefname = Nambya
}}
Nambya, or Nanzwa/Nanzva, is a Bantu language spoken by the Nambya people. It is spoken in northwestern Zimbabwe, particularly in the town of Hwange,{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xe59ZMZjEQYC&q=nambya+hwange&pg=PA55|title=The Politics of Language and Nation Building in Zimbabwe|last=Ndhlovu|first=Finex|date=2009-01-01|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=9783039119424|pages=54|language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6TsCwAAQBAJ&q=nambya+hwange&pg=PA220|title=Language Planning in Africa: The Cameroon, Sudan and Zimbabwe|last1=Kamwangamalu|first1=Nkonko|last2=Baldauf|first2=Richard B. Jr.|last3=Kaplan|first3=Robert B.|date=2016-04-08|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781134916887|pages=220|language=en}} with a few speakers in northeastern Botswana. It is either classified as a dialect of Kalanga or as a closely related language.{{Cite journal |url = http://www.jpanafrican.org/docs/vol3no6/3.5SomeSegmental.pdf|title = Some Segmental Phonological Processes Involving Vowels in Nambya: A Preliminary Descriptive Account|last = Kadenge|first = Maxwell |journal=The Journal of Pan African Studies |volume=3 |issue=6 |date = March 2010 |pages=239–252}} The Zimbabwean constitution, in particular the Education Act, as amended in 1990, recognises Nambya and Kalanga as separate indigenous languages.
Phonology
Nambya is a tonal language. It has a simple 5 vowel system and a typical Bantu consonant-vowel (CV) syllable structure. The language has onsetless syllables, but these are restricted to the word-initial position, making Nambya typical of the Southern Bantu languages.
= Vowels =
Morphology
Like many Bantu languages, Nambya has a highly agglutinative morphology.
References
{{Reflist}}
Further reading
- {{cite journal |last=Borland |first=Colin H. |year=1984 |title=Conflicting methodologies of Shona dialect classification |journal=South African Journal of African Languages |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=1–12|doi=10.1080/02572117.1984.10586564 }}
- {{cite thesis |last=Chabata |first=Emmanuel |year=2007 |title=The Nambya Verb With Special Emphasis On The Causative |publisher=University of Oslo |degree=PhD |oclc=553889339}}
- {{cite book |last=Doke |first=Clement Martyn |year=1931 |title=A comparative study of Shona phonetics |location=Johannesburg |publisher=University of the Witwatersrand Press}}
- {{cite book |last=Hachipola |first=Simooya Jerome |year=1998 |title=A Survey of the Minority Languages of Zimbabwe |location=Harare |publisher=University of Zimbabwe Publications |isbn=9780908307661 |oclc=42736812}}
- {{cite book |last=Hasselbring |first=Sue |year=2000 |title=A sociolinguistic survey of the languages of Botswana |series=Sociolinguistic studies of Botswana language series |volume=1 |location=Gaborone |publisher=Basarwa Languages Project}}
- {{cite thesis |last=Kadenge |first=Maxwell |year=2006 |title=The Phonology of Nambya |publisher=University of Zimbabwe |degree=MA}}
- {{cite book |last=Moreno |first=Augustine |year=1988 |title=Nambya dictionary |location=Gweru |publisher=Mambo Press}}
- {{cite book |volume=1-3 |last=Wentzel |first=Petrus Johannes |year=1983 |title=Nau dzabaKalanga |trans-title=A history of the Kalanga |location=Pretoria |publisher=University of South Africa}}
Category:Languages of Zimbabwe
Category:Languages of Botswana
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