Kimatuumbi language

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Matumbi
Kimatuumbi
Spoken in: Tanzania 
Region: Kilwa district
Total speakers: 70,000
Language family: Niger-Congo
 Atlantic Congo
  Volta-Congo
   Benue-Congo
    Bantoid
     Southern
      Narrow Bantu
       Central
        P
         Matumbi
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: bnt
ISO 639-3: mgw

Kimatuumbi, also known as Matumbi, is a language spoken in Tanzania in the Kipatimu region of the Kilwa district, south of the Rufiji river. It is a Bantu language, P13 in Guthrie's classification. Kimatuumbi is closely related to the Ngindo, Mbunga, Rufiji and Ndengereko languages. It is spoken by about 70 000 people, according to the Ethnologue.

Matuumbi is the Kimatuumbi word for 'hills' (singular form: tuumbi, class 5/6). Ki- is a Bantu noun class prefix attached to nouns of the class that includes languages (cf. Kiswahili, Kikongo).


[edit] References

  • Odden, David (1996) The Phonology and Morphology of Kimatuumbi. (The Phonology of the World's Languages). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  • Krumm, B. (1912) Grundriss einer Grammatik des Kimatuumbi. Mitteilungen des Seminars für Orientalischen Sprachen, III.