Sumbwa language

{{Short description|Bantu language of Tanzania}}

{{Distinguish|Sumbawa language}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Sumbwa

|nativename=Kisumbwa

|region=Tanzania

|ethnicity=Sumbwa people

|speakers= 361,000

|date= 2009

|ref = {{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/suw|title=Sumbwa|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2018-08-14|language=en}}

|familycolor=Niger-Congo

|fam2=Atlantic–Congo

|fam3=Volta-Congo

|fam4=Benue–Congo

|fam5=Bantoid

|fam6=Southern Bantoid

|fam7=Bantu (Zone F.20)

|fam8=Northeast Bantu

|fam9=Takama

|fam10=Nyamwezic

|iso3=suw

|glotto=sumb1240

|glottorefname=Sumbwa

|guthrie=F.23

}}

Sumbwa (or Sisumbwa/Lusumbwa) is a Bantu language spoken in northwestern Tanzania.

The language is mainly spoken in Bukombe, Mbogwe and Geita districts (Geita Region); Kahama district (Shinyanga Region); Biharamulo district (Kagera Region) and Urambo district (Uyowa) – Tabora Region. Given the 2002 Census figures and population increases since then, the number of Sisumbwa speakers may be estimated as follows: Bukombe: 137,115; Kahama: 100,377; Geita: 79,490; Biharamulo: 4,306; Ilemela: 85; Kishapu: 110; Kwimba: 152; Misungwi: 103; Nzega: 358; Shinyanga (R): 2,260; Urambo: 36,755; This estimation gives 361,111 Sisumbwa speakers. These are the figures recorded in the Tanzania Language Atlas (2009:3), and this puts the language at no. 25 out of the 150 Tanzanian languages identified.

Sumbwa is still largely undescribed as there is an old grammar (Capus 1898), a trilingual dictionary (Kahigi 2008a) and description of some components of the morphology (Kahigi 2005; Kahigi 2008b).