| Nambya | |
|---|---|
| Nanzva | |
| Native to | Zimbabwe,Botswana |
| Ethnicity | Nambya people |
Native speakers | (100,000 cited 2000–2004)[1] |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Zimbabwe (both Kalanga and Nambya) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | nmq – Nambya |
| Glottolog | namb1291 |
| ELP | Nambya |
Nambya,Nambiya orNanzwa/Nanzva, is aBantu language spoken by theNambya people.[2] It is spoken in northwesternZimbabwe, particularly in the town ofHwange,[3][4] with a few speakers in northeasternBotswana. It is either classified as a dialect ofKalanga or as a closely related language.[5] The Zimbabwean constitution, in particular the Education Act, as amended in 1990, recognises Nambya and Kalanga as separate indigenous languages.[5]
Nambya is atonal language. It has a simple 5 vowel system and a typical Bantu consonant-vowel (CV)syllable structure. The language has onsetless syllables, but these are restricted to the word-initial position, making Nambya typical of theSouthern Bantu languages.[5]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Mid | e | o | |
| Open | a |
Like many Bantu languages, Nambya has a highlyagglutinative morphology.[5]
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