Makhuwa language

Makhuwa
Emakuana
Native to Mozambique, Tanzania, Malawi
Ethnicity Makua
Native speakers
 6.6 million (2006)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 Variously:
vmw – Central Makhuwa
mgh – Makhuwa-Meetto
vmk – Makhuwa-Shirima
kzn – Kokola
llb – Lolo
mny – Manyawa
vmr – Marenje
tke – Takwane
xmc – Makhuwa-Marrevone
xsq – Makhuwa-Saka
Glottolog maku1279  Makua–Lomwe; adds Lomwe & Moniga[2]
chuw1239  Chuwaboic; adds Chuwabo[3]
koko1267  Kokola[4]
many1259  Manyawa[5]
P.31[6]
A Makhuwa family in Nampula.

Makhuwa (Emakhuwa; also spelt Makua and Macua) is the primary Bantu language of northern Mozambique. It is spoken by 4 million Makua people, who live north of the Zambezi River, particularly in Nampula Province, which is virtually entirely ethnically Makua.[7] It is the most widely spoken indigenous language of Mozambique.

Apart from the languages in the same group, eMakhuwa is distinguished from other Bantu languages by the loss of consonant + vowel prefixes in favour of e; compare epula, "rain", with Tswana pula.

Long and short vowels are used for i, e, a, o, u, which is unusually sparse for a Bantu language:

The consonants are more complex: postalveolar tt and tth exist, both p and ph are used. Both x (English "sh") and h exist while x varies with s. Regionally, there are also θ (the "th" of English "thorn"), ð (the "th" of English "seethe"), z and ng. In eLomwe, for instance, the -tt- of eMakhuwa is represented by a "ch" as in English "church".[7]

Makhuwa is closely related to Lomwe.

Phonology

Consonants

Bilabial Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive plain p t ʈ c k
aspirated pʰ tʰ ʈʰ kʰ
Fricative voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced v (θ)~ð z
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Lateral l ʎ
Trill r
Approximant w j

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Open a aː

[7]

Dialects

The names of the dialects vary in different sources. The shibboleth or distinctive variant in the dialects is the treatment of the s:

Maho (2009) lists the following dialects:[6]

Mutual intelligibility between these is limited. Central Makhuwa ("Makhuwa-Makhuwana") is the basis of the standard language. Ethnologue lists Central Makhuwa, Meetto–Ruvuma, Marrevone–Enahara, and Esaka as separate languages, and Chirima as six languages.

The population figures are from Ethnologue for 2006. They tally 3.1 million speakers of Central Makhuwa and 3.5 million of the other varieties, though the Ethnologue article for Central Makhuwa covers Marrevone and Enahara, so these might be double counted.

Reading matter in eMakhuwa

Muluku Onnalavuliha Àn'awe - Ipantte sikosolasiwe sa Biblia ("God speaks to his children" - extracts from the Scriptures for children) Aid to the Church in Need. Edição em Macúa / eMakhuwa) Editorial Verbo Divino, Estella, Navarra, 1997.

References

  1. ↑ Central Makhuwa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Makhuwa-Meetto at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Makhuwa-Shirima at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Kokola at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Lolo at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    Manyawa at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
    (Additional references under 'Language codes' in the information box)
  2. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Makua–Lomwe". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  3. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Chuwaboic". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  4. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Kokola". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  5. ↑ Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Manyawa". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  6. 1 2 Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  7. 1 2 3 4 Relatório do I Seminário sobre a Padronização da Ortografia de Línguas Moçambicanas. NELIMO, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 1989.
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