Nambya language

Nambya
Nambya
Nanzva
Native to	Zimbabwe, Botswana
Ethnicity	Nambya people
Native speakers	100,000 (2000–2004)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Shona languages Kalanga-Nyamba Nambya; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Official status
Official language in	Zimbabwe (both Kalanga and Nambya)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	; nmq – Nambya
Glottolog	namb1291
ELP	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,^[2]^[3] with a few speakers in northeastern Botswana. It is either classified as a dialect of Kalanga or as a closely related language.^[4] The Zimbabwean constitution, in particular the Education Act, as amended in 1990, recognises Nambya and Kalanga as separate indigenous languages.^[4]

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.^[4]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

Morphology

Like many Bantu languages, Nambya has a highly agglutinative morphology.^[4]

References

^ Nambya at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
^ Ndhlovu, Finex (2009-01-01). The Politics of Language and Nation Building in Zimbabwe. Peter Lang. p. 54. ISBN 9783039119424.
^ Kamwangamalu, Nkonko; Baldauf, Richard B. Jr.; Kaplan, Robert B. (2016-04-08). Language Planning in Africa: The Cameroon, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Routledge. p. 220. ISBN 9781134916887.
^ a b c d Kadenge, Maxwell, D.Phil. (March 2010). "Some Segmental Phonological Processes Involving Vowels in Nambya: A Preliminary Descriptive Account" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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[e25-1] Nambya at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)

[2] Ndhlovu, Finex (2009-01-01). The Politics of Language and Nation Building in Zimbabwe. Peter Lang. p. 54. ISBN 9783039119424.

[3] Kamwangamalu, Nkonko; Baldauf, Richard B. Jr.; Kaplan, Robert B. (2016-04-08). Language Planning in Africa: The Cameroon, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Routledge. p. 220. ISBN 9781134916887.

[:0-4] Kadenge, Maxwell, D.Phil. (March 2010). "Some Segmental Phonological Processes Involving Vowels in Nambya: A Preliminary Descriptive Account" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)