| Mwani | |
|---|---|
| Kimwani | |
| Native to | Mozambique[1] |
| Ethnicity | Mwani |
| speakers | L1: 150,000 (2017)[2] L2: 20,000 (no date)[2] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | wmw |
| Glottolog | mwan1247 |
G.403[3] | |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
TheMwani language, also known by its native nameKimwani, (Kimwani[kiˈmwani]) is a Bantu language spoken on the coast of theCabo Delgado Province ofMozambique, including theQuirimbas Islands. Although it shares high lexical similarity (60%) withSwahili, it is not intelligible with it. It is spoken by around 167,150 people (including 147,150 who speak it as a first language and 20,000 who use it as their second language). Speakers also usePortuguese (the official language ofMozambique),Swahili andMakhuwa language.Kiwibo, the dialect of the Island ofIbo is the prestige dialect.Kimwani (sometimes spelled asQuimuane) is also calledMwani (sometimes spelled as:Mwane, Muane) andIbo. According to Anthony P. Grant[4] Kimwani of northernMozambique appears to be the result of imperfect shift towardsSwahili several centuries ago by speakers ofMakonde, and Arends et al. suggest it might turn out to be a Makonde–Swahilimixed language.[5]
The name of the language comes from the word "Mwani", meaning "beach". The prefix "Ki" means the language of, so "Kimwani" literally means "language of the beach".
Kimwani (similar toSwahili) is unusual among sub-Saharan languages in having lost the feature oflexical tone (with the exception of some verbal paradigms where its use is optional). It does not have the penultimate stress typical ofSwahili; it has movablepitch accent.Labialization of consonants (indicated by a [w] following the consonant) andpalatalization ofr (ry; [rj]) are frequent.Nasalization of vowels occurs only before a nasal consonantn followed by a consonant.
Kimwani has five vowelphonemes:/a/,/e/,/i/,/o/, and/u/, that is: its vowels are close to those ofSpanish andHawaiian. It does not have a distinction ofclosed andopenmid vowels typical ofPortuguese orFrench and found in some otherBantu languages likeLingala,Fang, and perhapsSukuma.
The pronunciation of the phoneme /i/ stands betweenInternational Phonetic Alphabet [i] and [e]. Vowels are neverreduced, regardless ofstress. The vowels are pronounced as follows:
Kimwani has nodiphthongs; in vowel combinations, each vowel is pronounced separately.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive & affricate | voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
| voiced | b | d | dʒ | g | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
| voiced | v | z | ||||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
Kimwani can be spelled in three ways: using orthography similar toSwahili, using a slightly modified spelling system used in Mozambique schools or using aPortuguese-based spelling. Here are the differences:
| Swahili language spelling | Modified spelling | Portuguese spelling | Translation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /tʃ/ | chala | cala | tchala | finger |
| /dʒ/ | juwa | juwa | djua | Sun |
| /k/ | kitabu | kitabu | quitabo | book |
| /ŋ/ | ng'ombe | ng'ombe | ngombe | cow |
| /ɲ/ | nyoka | nyoka | nhoca | snake |
| /s/ | fisi | fisi | fissi | hyena |
| /z/ | meza | meza | mesa | table |
| /ʃ/ | kushanga | kushanga | cuxanga | to admire |
| /w/ | wakati | wakati | uacate | time |
| /j/ | kipya | kipya | quípia | new |
| /i/ | sukili | sukili | suquile | sugar |
| /u/ | ufu | ufu | ufo | flour |
moja (1), mbili (2), natu (3), n’né (4), tano (5)
sita (6), saba (7), nane (8), kenda (9)
kumi (10), kumi na moja (11), kumi na mbili (12)
Ishirini (20), thelathini (30), arubaini (40), hamsini (50)
sitini (60), sabini (70), themanini (80), tisini (90)
mia (100), mia mbili (200)
Elfu (1000) elfu mbili (2000)
