| Zigula | |
|---|---|
| Mushunguli | |
| Chizigula | |
| Native to | Tanzania,Somalia |
| Ethnicity | Zigua,Mushungulu |
Native speakers | 480,000 (2009–2020)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | Either:ziw – Zigulaxma – Mushungulu |
| Glottolog | zigu1244 |
G.31,311[2] | |
| ELP | Mushungulu |
| 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. | |
| People | Wazigula |
|---|---|
| Language | Chizigula |
TheZigula orZigua language,Chizigua, is aBantu language of Tanzania and Somalia, where the Mushunguli (or Mushungulu) dialect is spoken.[3]
The Mushunguli or Mushungulu dialect is spoken by about 34,000 people from theBantu ethnic minority of southern Somalia, inJamaame,Kismayo,Mogadishu, and theJuba River valley.[4]
Mushunguli shows affinities with adjacent Bantu varieties. In particular, it shares strong lexical and grammatical similarities with the language of theZigua people who inhabitTanzania, one of the areas in south-eastern Africa where many Bantu in Somalia are known to have been captured from as slaves during the 19th century.[5]Ethnologue notes that the Mushunguli in Tanzania are theWazegua.[4]
Many Mushunguli Bantu men also speak as working languages theAfro-AsiaticMaay andSomali languages of theirSomali neighbors.[4]
There is no official or traditionalorthography for Mushunguli. However, spelling practices from related Bantu languages can easily be adopted to render the language with minimal phoneticdiacritics.
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | ɪ | ʊ |
| Mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Open | a | |
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Plosive | plain | p | t | t͡ʃ | k |
| implosive | ɓ | ɗ | ʄ | ɠ | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | θ ~s | ʃ | |
| voiced | v | ð ~z | ɦ | ||
| Approximant | w | l | j | ||
| Flap | ɾ | ||||
Thefricatives[z] and[s] freely vary with[ð] and[θ], respectively.
Vowel length is not distinctive, but phonetic length is especially associated with falling tones as inchîga 'leg'. The tone system is similar to that of Tanzanian Zigua.[6][7]
| National | |
|---|---|
| Other | |
