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Shambala language

{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in Tanzania}}

{{About|the African language|other uses|Shambala (disambiguation)}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Sambaa

|nativename=kisambaa

|states=Tanzania

|ethnicity=Shambaa

|speakers= {{sigfig|664,000|2}}

|date=2001

|ref=e18

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Volta-Congo

|fam4=Benue–Congo

|fam5=Bantoid

|fam6=Southern Bantoid

|fam7=Bantu

|fam8=Northeast Bantu

|fam9=Northeast Coast Bantu

|fam10=Seuta

|iso3=ksb

|glotto=sham1280

|glottorefname=Shambala

|guthrie=G.23

}}

Sambaa or Shambaa or Shambala is a Bantu language of Tanzania.

Overview

Sambaa, also Kisambaa, (ki)Shambaa, (ki)Shambala is spoken by the Shambaa in the Usambara mountains in the Lushoto District and Muheza District, Tanga Region, of northern Tanzania. Some dialectal variation exists between the language as spoken in the area around Lushoto and the areas around Mlalo and Mtae, possibly also between the Shambaa of the Western Usambara Mountains and the Eastern Usambara Mountains.

Phonology

= Vowels =

Five vowels are noted as [i, ɛ, a, ɔ, u].

= Consonants =

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

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Alveolar

!Palatal

!Velar

!Glottal

rowspan="4" |Plosive/
Affricate

!voiceless

|{{IPAlink|p}}

|{{IPAlink|t}}

|{{IPAlink|tʃ}}

|{{IPAlink|k}}

|

voiced

|{{IPAlink|b}}

|{{IPAlink|d}}

|{{IPAlink|ɟ}}

|{{IPAlink|ɡ}}

|

vl. prenasal

|{{IPA|ᵐ̥p}}

|{{IPA|ⁿ̥t}}

|

|{{IPA|ᵑ̊k}}

|

vd. prenasal

|{{IPA|ᵐb}}

|{{IPA|ⁿd}}

|{{IPA|ᶮɟ}}

|{{IPA|ᵑɡ}}

|

rowspan="2" |Fricative

!voiceless

|{{IPAlink|f}}

|{{IPAlink|s}}

|{{IPAlink|ʃ}}

|

|{{IPAlink|h}}

voiced

|{{IPAlink|v}}

|{{IPAlink|z}}

|

|{{IPAlink|ɣ}}

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

|{{IPAlink|m}}

|{{IPAlink|n}}

|{{IPAlink|ɲ}}

|{{IPAlink|ŋ}}

|

colspan="2" |Approximant

|{{IPAlink|w}}

|{{IPAlink|l}}

|{{IPAlink|j}}

|

|

The diacritics within prenasal voiceless plosives are devoiced as [ᵐ̥ ⁿ̥ ᵑ̊].{{Cite book |last=Riedel |first=Kristina |title=The syntax of object marking in Sambaa: A comparative Bantu perspective |publisher=University of Leiden |year=2009}}

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20060205120340/http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/toc/people/Shambaa.html Shambaa Information]

{{Languages of Tanzania}}

{{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H)}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Languages of Tanzania

Category:Northeast Coast Bantu languages

{{Bantu-lang-stub}}