Nambya is a Southern Bantu language spoken by about 100,000 people, mainly in the northwest of Zimbabwe, and also in northeastern Botswana. In Zimbabwe, Nambya is spoken particularly in the town of Hwange in the northwest of Matabeleland North Province. It is officially recognised as an indigenous language in Zimbabwe.
Nambya is also known as Nambzya, Nanzwa or Nanzva, and Nambya speakers call it chiNambya. It is closely related to Kalanga, which is spoken in the southwest of Zimbabwe, and Shona in central and eastern Zimbabwe. Nambya borrows many words from Tonga and Ndebele, and also from English. It is written with the Latin script, and is taught in some schools. There are translations of parts of the Bible, a dictionary, and a few other literary works in Nambya.
The Nambya Cultural Association (NCA) was founded in Hwange the early 1960s to protect and promote the Nambya language and culture.
Download an alphabet chart for Nambya (Excel)
Most consonants followed by h are aspired, those followed by w are labialized, and those followed by y are palatalized.
Inhwizha ndiyo imhuka ilolebha kupinda jose imhuka jinowanika munyika.Inhwizha ihono inolebha kuswika mamita angaba mashanu. Unchibha namakumyoubo ayo malefu kasakasa.
Inhwizha inamabala bala ananga sengwe eli machena namashaba.Kana ichili inhukutuku, inhwizha ina lubala lushaba lunanga senhopi. Lubala lunonda luswibhilila mukukubuka kwayo kuswikila lwaba lushaba lwashapala sobumete.Nolubala lyayo uchena lunoso chenuluka selota.
Source: https://nambya.org/texts-in-nambya/inhwizha-giraffe/
Information about Nambya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambya_language
https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/namb1291
https://ijsra.net/content/identification-description-and-classification-consonants-and-vowel-phonemes-nambya-language
Nambya-English online dictionary
https://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/nambya/
Bangi, Basaa, Bemba, Bena, Benga, Bhaca, Bube, Bukusu, Bulu, Central Teke, Chichewa, Chokwe, Chuwabu, Comorian, Digo, Duala, Eton, Ewondo, Fang, Ganda/Luganda, Gogo, Gusii, Gwere, Haya, Hehe, Herero, Ibinda, Ikizu, Ikoma, Jita, Kamba, Kiga, Kikuyu, Kimbundu, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Kisi, Kogo, Kongo, Konjo, Koti, Kukuya, Kunda, Kuria, Lambya, Lingala, Loma, Lozi, Luba-Katanga, Luchazi, Lunda, Luvale, Makaa, Makonde, Makhuwa, Mandekan, Maore, Masaaba, Mbukushu, Mbunda, Mende, Mongo, Mushungulu, Mwani, Nambya, Nande, Ngoni, Nkore, North Teke, Northern Ndebele (South Africa), Northern Ndebele (Zimbabwe), Northern Sotho, Nyamwezi, Nyakyusa, Nyemba, Nyole, Nyungwe, Nzadi, Oroko, OshiWambo, Pagibete, Punu, Ronga, Safwa, Sena, Sengele, Shona, Soga, Songe, Southern Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Sukuma, Swahili, Swati, Tanga, Tembo, Tonga, Tshiluba, Tsonga, Tswa, Tswana, Tumbuka, Umbundu, Venda, Vwanji, Xhosa, Yao, Yasa, Zigula, Zinza, Zulu
Languages written with the Latin alphabet
Page created: 11.06.24. Last modified: 11.06.24
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