Back Idioma tumbuka AST Tumbuka Catalan Tumbuka (Sprache) German Tumbuka lingvo EO Idioma tumbuka Spanish زبان تومبوکا FA Tumbuka Finnish Tumbuka (langue) French Lingua tumbuka GL Harshen Tumbuka HA
| Chitumbuka | |
|---|---|
| Chitumbuka | |
| Native to | Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia |
Native speakers | 7.1 million (2024 estimate) 2.6 million (2000 estimate)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | tum |
| ISO 639-3 | tum |
| Glottolog | tumb1250 |
N.21[2] | |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUS-wc (+ chi-Kamanga) incl. varieties 99-AUS-wca...-wcl |
Chitumbuka is a Bantu language which is spoken in Malawi, Zambia, and Tanzania.[3] It is also known as Tumbuka or Citumbuka — the chi- prefix in front of Tumbuka means "in the manner of" and is understood in this case to mean "the language of the Tumbuka people". Chitumbuka belongs to the same language group (Guthrie Zone N) as other Bantu languages.[4] In Northern Malawi, it is spoken in the districts of Rumphi, Mzuzu, Mzimba, Chitipa, Nkhata-Bay, Monkey Bay and Karonga,[5] as well as in Central Malawi in the districts of Kasungu and Nkhotakota.[6] In Eastern Zambia, Chitumbuka is spoken in the districts of Lumezi, Chasefu, Lundazi and Chama (Senga dialect).[7] In Southern Tanzania, it is spoken in Mbeya and Njombe districts that share boundary with Northern Malawi.[4]
Senga (also called Tumbuka-Senga) is a dialect of Tumbuka[8] spoken in Zambia's Chama district and surrounding areas. [4][8]
The World Almanac in 1998 estimated that there were approximately two million Tumbuka speakers, though other sources estimated a much smaller number while others estimated a higher number. The majority of Tumbuka speakers live in Malawi and Zambia, with a smaller number in South Tanzania.[3]
In 1947, Chitumbuka was made an official language of Malawi for 21 years along with Chewa and English. It was in 1968 when Hastings Kamuzu Banda removed the language as a result of his one-nation, one-language policy.[9] The Chitumbuka language suffered a lot during the rule of President Banda.[10][11][9] It was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media.[9] With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Chitumbuka programmes were started again on the radio.[12][9][13]
There are substantial differences between the form of Chitumbuka spoken in urban areas of Malawi (which borrows some words from Swahili and English) and the "village" or "deep" Chitumbuka spoken in villages. The Rumphi variant is often regarded as the most "linguistically pure" and is sometimes called "real Chitumbuka".[14] The Mzimba dialect has been strongly influenced by Zulu (chiNgoni),[15] even so far as to have clicks in words like chitha [ʇʰitʰa] "urinate", which do not occur in other dialects.[4]
- ^ "AFRICA | 101 Last Tribes - Tumbuka people". www.101lasttribes.com. Retrieved 2024-12-19.
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ a b Michigan State University African Studies Center information page.
- ^ a b c d Kiso (2012), pp.21ff.
- ^ University of Malawi (2006) Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi.
- ^ Falola, Toyin; Jean-Jacques, Daniel (2015-12-14). Africa: An Encyclopedia of Culture and Society [3 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-59884-666-9.
- ^ "Glottolog 5.1 - Senga". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2024-12-08.
- ^ a b "Glottolog 5.1 - Senga". glottolog.org. Retrieved 2024-12-08.
- ^ a b c d Conference, Foundation for Endangered Languages; Argenter, Joan A.; Brown, R. McKenna (2004-01-01). On the Margins of Nations: Endangered Languages and Linguistic Rights: proceedings of the eighth FEL Conference : Barcelona (Catalonia), Spain, 1-3 October 2004 / editors: Joan A. Argenter & R. McKenna Brown. Institut d'Estudis Catalans. ISBN 978-0-9538248-6-1.
- ^ Kondowe, Wellman; Kamanga, Chimwemwe M. M.; Madula, Precious (2024-07-31). Multilingualism in Southern Africa: Issues and Perspectives. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-040-04581-7.
- ^ Shapiro, Ian; Kymlicka, Will (1997). Ethnicity and Group Rights: Nomos XXXIX. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-9772-3.
- ^ Matiki, Alfred J. I. (1998). An Exploration of Language Planning Issues in Malawi. African Studies Center, Boston University.
- ^ Broadcasting, Malawi Ministry of Information and (1966). An Official Handbook.
- ^ Kamwendo (2004), p.282.
- ^ University of Malawi (2006), p.27.