Malawi Lomwe language

Elhomwe is the mihavane dialect spoken in southeastern Malawi.

Background

The Mozambique Lomwe are one of the four largest ethnic groups living in Malawi and have history of migration to the Mozambique–Malawi border zone. Many Lomwe moved into Malawi, where they mixed with the Nyanja, in the 1930s due to tribal wars in Mozambique. The elhomwe language spoken in Malawi is to a large extent a mihavane dialect while in some district like Thyolo there are traces of Kokholha dialect. The Malawian government has taken a step by broadcasting news in elhomwe language on its MBC radio 1. The establishment of Mulhako Wa Alhomwe by the late President, professor Bingu Wa Muthalika on 25 October, 2008 was another milestone. The Mulhako Wa Alhomwe cultural heritage has its headquarters at Chonde in Mulanje. It was set to preserve lhomwe customs, beliefs anset anguage. It has a library and a school of elhomwe. Although the elhomwe dialect spoken in Malawi is unintelligible with other dialects spoken in Mozambique it shares many similarities including vocabulary. For instance one could note the similarities in the following word forms: "otchuna"(emakhuwa), "onthuna(Imeetto), and "ohuna"(elhomwe) meaning "to want". Similarly the word for"women" is anamwaani(emakhuwa and elhomwe), anumwane(Imeetto).

References

Languages of Malawi Official languages Chewa English Regional languages Malawi Lomwe Ndali Tonga Tumbuka Yao