| Tonga | |
|---|---|
| Zambezi | |
| isiTonga | |
| Native to | Zambia,Zimbabwe |
| Ethnicity | Tonga,Kafwe Twa |
Native speakers | 1.5 million (2001–2010 census)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin (Tonga alphabet) Tonga Braille | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Zimbabwe |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | toi – inclusive codeIndividual code: dov – Dombe |
| Glottolog | tong1318 Tongadomb1246 Toka-Leya-Dombe |
M.64[2] | |
| ELP | Dombe |
Tonga (Chitonga), also known asZambezi, is aBantu language primarily spoken by theTonga people (Bantu Batonga) who live mainly in the Southern province, Lusaka province, Central Province and Western province ofZambia, and in northernZimbabwe. The language is also spoken by theIwe, Toka and Leya people among others, as well as many bilingual Zambians and Zimbabweans. In Zambia Tonga is taught in schools as first language in the whole of Southern Province, Lusaka and Central Provinces.
The language is a member of theBantuBotatwe group and is classified as M64 byGuthrie. Despite similar names, Zambian Tonga is not closely related to theTonga of Malawi (N15), theTonga language of Mozambique (Gitonga: S62), or Tonga of the Tete province in northwestern Mozambique, which is closely related to Sena and Nyungwe.
It is one of the majorlingua francas in Zambia, together withBemba,Lozi andNyanja. There are two distinctive dialects of Tonga: Valley Tonga and Plateau Tonga. Valley Tonga is mostly spoken in theZambezi valley and southern areas of the Batonga while Plateau Tonga is spoken more aroundMonze District and the northern areas of the Batonga.[3]
Tonga developed as a spoken language and was not put into written form until missionaries arrived in the area in the 19th century. Although there are a growing number of publications in the language, it is not completely standardized, and speakers of the same dialect may have different spellings for the same words once put into written text.[4]
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | iiː | uuː | |
| Mid | eeː | ooː | |
| Open | aaː |
Tonga or Citonga follows the standardBantu language structure. A single word may incorporate a subject-marker, a tense-marker, a direct object, and even an indirect object, combined with the verb root itself.
| Tense[8] | Tense marker | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Subject-(tense marker)-verb root-(ending) | First person "ndi" doing something s/he shouldn't be doing "kukuta" | |
| Present Simple | -(verb root) | Ndakuta |
| Present Perfect | -a-(verb root)-ide | Ndikutide |
| Present Continuous | -la- | Ndilakuta |
| Habitual Present Tense | -la-(verb root)-a | Ndilakuta |
| Recent Past (Past of Today) | -ali-(verb root)-ide | ndalikutide |
| Simple Past | -aka- | ndakakuta |
| Recent Past Continuous | -ali-ku-(verb root) | ndalikukuta |
| Habitual Past Continuous | -akali-ku-(verb root) | Ndakalikukuta |
| Remote Past | -aka- | ndakakuta |
| Near Future | -la- | Ndilakuta |
| Simple Future | -ya-ku-(verb root)-a | Ndiyakukuta |
| Future Habitual | -niku-(verb root)-a | ndinikukuta |
| Extended Future (Tomorrow or after tomorrow) | -yaku-(verb)-a | ndiyakukuta |
Tonga is atonal language, with high and low-toned syllables. The placement of the tones is complex and differs from that of other Bantu languages; for example, a syllable which is low in Tonga may be high in the cognate word in other Bantu languages and vice versa.[9] Several scholars, beginning withA. E. Meeussen in 1963,[10] have tried to discover the rules for where to place the tones.
One feature of the tonal system is that high tones tend to get disassociated from their original place and move to the left, as is illustrated in these examples:[11]
In these words, the original high tone of the root-sí has moved to the prefixibu-, whereas the low tone of-su has not affected the prefix.
The above example of a noun is relatively easy to explain. However, the tones of the verbal system are more complex. An example of one of the puzzles discussed by bothMeeussen andGoldsmith can be seen below:
The high tone on the tense-markerla in the fourth verb is puzzling. If it comes from the verb rootbon, it is hard to see why it does not also appear in the 1st personndi-la-bon-a.
Some scholars, such asCarter[12] andGoldsmith,[9] have analysed Tonga as having both tones and accents (the accents in Tonga being mainly on low-toned syllables). Others, such as Pulleyblank, analyse the same data purely in terms of tonal rules, without the need to introduce accents.
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| Other | |
