| Chitumbuka | |
|---|---|
| Chitumbuka | |
| Native to | Malawi,Tanzania,Zambia |
| Ethnicity | Tumbuka people,Senga people,Yombe people (Zambia) |
Native speakers | 7.1 million (2024 estimate)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
Official language in | Malawi (from 1942 - 1968) |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | tum |
| ISO 639-3 | tum |
| Glottolog | tumb1250 |
N.21[2] | |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUS-wc (+ chi-Kamanga) incl. varieties 99-AUS-wca...-wcl |
Chitumbuka is aBantu language which is spoken inMalawi,Zambia, andTanzania.[3] It is the native language of at least five groups of people, namely, theSenga,Tumbuka,Yombe,Phoka/Hewe andTonga people with 12 dialects.[4] It is also known asTumbuka orCitumbuka — thechi- prefix in front ofTumbuka means"in the manner of" and is understood in this case to mean "the language of theTumbuka people". Chitumbuka belongs to the same language group (Guthrie Zone N) as other Bantu languages.[5] InNorthern Malawi, it is spoken in 6 districts ofRumphi,Mzuzu,Mzimba,Chitipa,Nkhata-Bay, Monkey Bay andKaronga.[6] InCentral Malawi, it is spoken in 2 districts ofKasungu andNkhotakota. In the Eastern Province of Zambia, Chitumbuka is spoken in 4 districts, namely,Lumezi,Chasefu,Lundazi andChama.[7] In Muchinga Province of Zambia, Chitumbuka is spoken in the districts ofIsoka and surrounding areas.[8] In Southern Tanzania, it is spoken inMbeya andNjombe districts that share boundary with Northern Malawi.[5][9][8]
Senga (also called Tumbuka-Senga) is a dialect of Tumbuka[10] spoken in Zambia's Chama district and surrounding areas.[5][10]
The World Almanac in 1998, now an outdated number, estimated that there were approximately two million Tumbuka speakers, though other sources estimated a higher number. The majority of Tumbuka speakers live in Malawi and Zambia, with half a million living in South Tanzania.[11]
In 1947, Chitumbuka was made an official language of Malawi for 21 years along with Chewa and English. It was in 1968 whenHastings Kamuzu Banda removed the language as a result of his one-nation, one-language policy.[12] The Chitumbuka language suffered a lot during the rule of President Banda.[13][14][12] It was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media.[12] With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Chitumbuka programmes were started again on the radio.[15][12][16]
There are several dialects of Chitumbuka spoken in three countries. Malawi has Chikamanga, Chiphoka and Chihewe dialects that are spoken inRumphi and Karonga Districts; Chiwenya spoken in Chitipa District and Chitumbuka spoken in Mzimba and NkhataBay Districts, including Mzuzu City. The Rumphi variant is often regarded as the most "linguistically pure" and is sometimes called "real Chitumbuka".[17][18][5]
Two systems of writing Tumbuka are in use: the traditional spelling (used for example in the Chitumbuka version of Wikipedia and in the newspaperFuko), in which words such asbanthu 'people' andchaka 'year' are written with 'b' and 'ch', and the new official spelling (used for example in the Citumbuka dictionary published online by the Centre for Language Studies and in the online Bible), in which the same words are written with 'ŵ' and 'c', e.g.ŵanthu andcaka. (The sound 'ŵ' is a closely rounded [w] pronounced with the tongue in the close-i position.)[19] There is some uncertainty over where to write 'r' and where 'l', e.g.cakulya (Dictionary) orcakurya (Bible) 'food'. (In fact [l] and [r] areallophones of the samephoneme.) There is also hesitation between the spellings 'sk' and 'sy' (bothmiskombe andmisyombe ('bamboo') are found in the Citumbuka dictionary).[20]
The same vowels/a/,/ɛ/,/i/,/ɔ/,/u/ and syllabic/m̩/ are found in Tumbuka as in the neighbouring languages.[21]
Tumbuka consonants are similar to those of the neighbouring languages of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, but with certain differences. The continuant sounds/ɣ/,/β/ and/h/, which are absent or marginal in other related languages, are common in Tumbuka. Also common are the palatalised sounds/vʲ/,/fʲ/,/bʲ/,/pʲ/,/skʲ/,/zgʲ/, and/ɽʲ/. In Tumbuka there are no affricates such as/psʲ/,/bzʲ/,/t͡s/,/d͡z/. The sounds/s/ and/z/ are never nasalised in Tumbuka, so that Nyanjansómba ('fish') = Tumbukasomba. The sound/ʃ/ is found only in foreign words such asshati ('shirt') andshuga ('sugar'). Tumbuka/ɽ/ sometimes corresponds to/d/, for example Chewakudwala 'to be ill' = Tumbukakulwala, Chewakudya 'to eat' = Tumbukakulya. The pronunciation of "sk" and "zg" varies according to dialect.
Tumbuka consonants are frequently either palatalised (i.e. followed by /y/) or rounded (i.e. followed by /w/.) Some of them can also be preceded by ahomorganic nasal (/n/, /ng'/ or /m/). The possible consonant combinations are shown in the table below:
| labial | dental | palatal | velar | glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | pal. | plain | lab. | pal. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | |||
| nasal | m /m/ | mw /mʷ/ | my /mʲ/ | n /n/ | nw /nʷ/ | ny /nʲ/ | ng' /ŋ/ | ng'w /ŋʷ/ | ||||
| plosive/ affricate | unvoiced | p /p/ | pw /pʷ/ | py /pʲ/ | t /t/ | tw /tʷ/ | ty /tʲ/ | c /t͡ʃ/ | cw /t͡ʃʷ/ | k /k/ | kw /kʷ/ | |
| voiced | b /ɓ/ | bw /ɓʷ/ | by /bʲ/ | d /ɗ/ | dw /ɗʷ/ | dy /ɗʲ/ | j /d͡ʒ/ | jw /d͡ʒʷ/ | g /g/ | gw /gʷ/ | ||
| aspirated | ph /pʰ/ | phw /pʷʰ/ | phy /pʲʰ/ | th /tʰ/ | thw /tʷʰ/ | thy /tʲʰ/ | ch /t͡ʃʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | khw /kʷʰ/ | |||
| nasalised | mb /ᵐb/ | mbw /ᵐbʷ/ | mby /ᵐbʲ/ | nd /ⁿd/ | ndw /ⁿdʷ/ | (ndy)[a] /ⁿdʲ/ | nj /ⁿd͡ʒ/ | ng /ᵑg/ | ngw /ᵑgʷ/ | |||
| nasalised aspirated | mph /ᵐpʰ/ | mphw /ᵐpʷʰ/ | mphy /ᵐpʲʰ/ | nth /ⁿtʰ/ | nthw /ⁿtʷʰ/ | (nthy) /ⁿtʲʰ/ | nch /ⁿt͡ʃʰ/ | nkh /ᵑkʰ/ | nkhw /ᵑkʷʰ/ | |||
| fricative | unvoiced | f /f/ | fw /fʷ/ | fy /fʲ/ | s /s/ | sw /sʷ/ | sk (sy) /sʲ/ | (sh) /ʃ/ | h /h/ | |||
| voiced | v /v/ | vw /vʷ/ | vy /vʲ/ | z /z/ | zw /zʷ/ | zg /zʲ/ | ||||||
| semivowel/liquid | ŵ /β/ | w /w/ | l/r /ɽ/ | lw/rw /ɽʷ/ | ly/ry /ɽʲ/ | y /j/ | gh /ɣ/ | |||||
Tumbuka has atonal accent but in a very limited way, in that every word, spoken in isolation, has the same falling tone on the penultimate syllable (which also coincides with stress).[24] It is therefore not possible in Tumbuka to contrast two different words or two different tenses tonally, as it is in other Bantu languages. However, this penultimate falling tone occurs not on every word, but only on the last word of a phonological phrase; e.g. in the following sentence, only the second word has a tone, the first being toneless:[25]
A greater variety of tonal patterns is found in theideophones (expressive words) of Tumbuka; for example Low (yoyoyo 'disintegrating into small pieces'), High (fyá: 'swooping low (of birds)'), High-Low (phúli 'sound of thing bursting'), and Low-High (yií 'sudden disappearance'), etc.[26]
Intonational tones are also used in Tumbuka; for example, in yes-no questions there is often a High-Low fall on the final syllable of the question:[27]
There does not seem to be any consistent, direct correlation between tone in Tumbuka andfocus.[28]
As is usual with Bantu languages, Tumbuka nouns are grouped into different noun classes according to their singular and plural prefixes. Each class of noun has its own adjective, pronoun, and verb agreements, known as 'concords'. Where the agreements disagree with the prefix, the agreements take precedence in deciding the class of noun. For example, the nounkatundu 'possessions', despite having the prefixka-, is placed in class 1, since one sayskatundu uyu 'these possessions' using the class 1 demonstrativeuyu. Malawians themselves (e.g. in the University of Malawi's Citumbuka dictionary) refer to the noun classes by traditional names such as "Mu-Ŵa-"; Bantu specialists, however, refer to the classes by numbers (1/2 etc.) corresponding to the noun-classes of other Bantu languages. Occasionally nouns do not correspond to the classes below, e.g.fumu 'chief' (class 9) irregularly has a pluralmafumu in class 6.
Class 1/2 (Mu-Ŵa-)
Some nouns in this class lack the prefix Mu-:
Class 3/4 (Mu-Mi-)
Class 5/6 (Li-Ma-)
Class 7/8 (Ci-Vi-)
Class 9/10 (Yi-Zi-)
Class 11 (Lu-)
Some speakers treat words in this class as if they were in class 5/6.[29]
Class 12/13 (Ka-Tu-)
Class 14/6 (U-Ma-)
These nouns are frequently abstract and have no plural.
Class 15 (Ku-) Infinitive
Classes 16, 17, 18 (Pa-, Ku-, Mu-) Locative
Verbs, adjectives, numbers, possessives, and pronouns in Tumbuka have to agree with the noun referred to. This is done by means of prefixes, infixes, or suffixes called 'concords' which differ according to the class of noun. Class 1 has the greatest variety of concords, differing for pronouns, subject prefix, object infix, numbers, adjectives, and possessives:[30][31][32]
Other noun classes have a smaller variety of concords, as can be seen from the table below:
| noun | English | this | num | that | all | subj | object | adj | of | perf | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | mwana | child | uyu | yu- | uyo | yose | wa- | -mu- | mu- | wa | wa- |
| 2 | ŵana | children | aŵa | ŵa- | awo | wose | ŵa- | -ŵa- | ŵa- | ŵa | ŵa- |
| 3 | mutu | head | uwu | wu- | uwo | wose | wu- | -wu- | wu- | wa | wa- |
| 4 | mitu | heads | iyi | yi- | iyo | yose | yi- | -yi- | yi- | ya | ya- |
| 5 | jiso | eye | ili | li- | ilo | lose | li- | -li- | li- | la | la- |
| 6 | maso | eyes | agha | gha- | agho | ghose | gha- | -gha- | gha- | gha | gha- |
| 7 | caka | year | ici | ci- | ico | cose | ci- | -ci- | ci- | ca | ca- |
| 8 | vyaka | years | ivi | vi- | ivyo | vyose | vi- | -vi- | vi- | vya | vya- |
| 9 | nyumba | house | iyi | yi- | iyo | yose | yi- | -yi- | yi- | ya | ya- |
| 10 | nyumba | houses | izi | zi- | izo | zose | zi- | -zi- | zi- | za | za- |
| 11 | lwande | side | ulu | lu- | ulo | lose | lu- | -lu- | lu- | lwa | lwa- |
| (or: | ili | li- | ilo | lose | li- | -li- | li- | la | la-) | ||
| 12 | kayuni | bird | aka | ka- | ako | kose | ka- | -ka- | ka- | ka | ka- |
| 13 | tuyuni | birds | utu | tu- | uto | tose | tu- | -tu- | tu- | twa | twa- |
| 14 | uta | bow | uwu | wu- | uwo | wose | wu- | -wu- | wu- | wa | wa- |
| 15 | kugula | buying | uku | ku- | uko | kose | ku- | -ku- | ku- | kwa | kwa- |
| 16 | pasi | underneath | apa | pa- | apo | pose | pa- | -pa- | pa- | pa | pa- |
| 17 | kunthazi | in front | uku | ku- | uko | kose | ku- | -ku- | ku- | kwa | kwa- |
| 18 | mukati | inside | umu | mu- | umo | mose | mu- | -mu- | mu- | mwa | mwa- |
The following is a list of phrases that can be used when one visits a region whose primary language is Tumbuka:
| Tumbuka | English |
|---|---|
| Moni | Hello |
| Monile | hello, to a group of people |
| Muli makola? Mwaŵa uli? | how are you? |
| Muli makola? Mwaŵa uli? | How are you?, to a group of people |
| Nili makola | I'm okay |
| Tili makola | We're okay |
| Naonga (chomene) | Thank you (a lot) |
| Yewo (chomene) | Thanks (a lot) |
| Ndiwe njani zina lako? | What is your name? |
| Zina lane ndine.... | My name is.... |
| Nyengo ili uli? | What is the time? |
| Ningakuvwila? | Can I help you? |
| Uyende makola | Goodbye/go well/safe travels |
| Mwende makola | Goodbye/go well/safe travels (said to a group of people) |
| Enya/ Eh | Yes |
| Yayi/Chala | No |
| Kwali | I don't know |
| Mukumanya kuyowoya Chizungu? | Can you speak English? |
| Nayambapo kusambilila ChiTumbuka | I've just started learning Tumbuka |
| Mukung'anamula vichi? | What do you mean? |
| Chonde, ningaluta kubafa? | May I please go to the bathroom? |
| Nakutemwa/Nkhukutemwa | "I love you" |
| Phepa | Sorry |
| Phepani | Sorry (to agroup of people) |
| Banja | Family |
| Yowoya | Talk/speak |
All verbs must have a subject prefix, which agrees with the subject noun.[33] For example, the wordciŵinda 'hunter' is class 7, so if it is subject, the verb has the prefixci-:
It is also possible for the subject to be a locative noun (classes 16, 17, 18), in which case the verb has a locative prefix:[35]
The locative prefixku- (class 17) is also used impersonally when discussing the weather:[36]
When the subject is a personal pronoun, the subject prefixes are as follows (the pronoun itself may be omitted, but not the subject prefix):
In the perfect tense, these are shortened ton-a-, w-a-, w-a-, t-a-, mw-a-, ŵ-a-, e.g.t-a-gula 'we have bought'.
InKaronga dialect, in the 3rd person singulara- is found instead ofwa-, and the 3rd plural iswa- instead ofŵa-, except in the perfect tense, whenwa- andŵa- are used.[38]
To indicate the object, an infix can be added to the verb immediately before the verb root. Generally speaking, the object-marker is optional:[39]
The object-marker agrees with the class of the object, as shown on the table of concords above.
The object-marker can also be a locative (classes 16, 17, or 18):[40]
The locative markers for personal pronouns are as follows:[41]
Tenses in Tumbuka are made partly by adding infixes, and partly by suffixes. Unlike Chichewa, tones do not form any part of the distinction between one tense and another.
In the past a distinction is made between hodiernal tenses (referring to events of today) and remote tenses (referring to events of yesterday or some time ago). However, the boundary between recent and remote is not exact.[42]
Another distinction is made between past and perfect tenses. When a perfect tense is used it carries an implication that the resulting situation still exists at the time of speaking, for example: 'the pumpkins have spread (zathambalala) over the garden'.[43] The present perfect can also be used in verbs expressing a current situation such asndakhala 'I am sitting' orndakondwa 'I am pleased'. The remote perfect is used for events which happened some time ago but of which the effects still apply today, such aslibwe lilikuwa 'the rock has fallen' orwalikutayika 'he (has) died'.[44]
The future tenses similarly distinguish near from remote events. Some tenses imply that the event will take place elsewhere, for examplendamukuchezga 'I will go and visit'.[45]
Compound tenses are also found in Tumbuka, such aswati wagona 'he had slept',wakaŵa kuti wafumapo 'he had just left' andwazamukuŵa waguliska 'he will have sold'.[46]
| Tense | Tense marker | Example | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present infinitive | ku- | ku-luta | ‘to go' |
| Present simple | -ku- | wa-ku-luta | ‘he/she goes/is going’ |
| Present habitual | -ku-...-anga | wa-ku-lut-anga | ‘he/she goes’ (some speakers only) |
| Present perfect | -a- | w-a-luta | ‘he/she has gone’ |
| Present perfect continuous | -a-...-anga | w-a-lut-anga | ‘he/she has been going' |
| Remote perfect | -liku- | wa-liku-luta | ‘he/she has gone’ |
| Recent past simple | -angu- | w-angu-luta | ‘he/she went’ (today) |
| Recent past continuous | -angu-...-anga | w-angu-lut-anga | ‘he/she was going' (today) |
| Remote past simple | -ka- | wa-ka-luta | ‘he/she went’ |
| Remote past continuous | -ka-...-anga | wa-ka-lut-anga | ‘he/she was going/used to go' |
| Near future | ...-enge | wa-lut-enge | 'he will go' (now or today) |
| Emphatic future[48] | -ti-...-enge | wa-ti-lut-enge | 'he will certainly go' |
| Distal future[49] | -amu-(ku)- | w-amuku-gula | ‘he/she will buy’ (elsewhere) |
| Remote future | -zamu-(ku)- | wa-zamu-luta | ‘he/she will go’ (tomorrow or later) |
| Remote future continuous | -zamu-...-anga | wa-zamu-lut-anga | ‘he/she will be going' (tomorrow or later) |
| Present subjunctive | -e | ti-lut-e | ‘let's go' |
| Distal subjunctive | -ka-...-e | wa-ka-gul-e | ‘so that he can buy (elsewhere)' |
| Potential | -nga- | wa-nga-luta | 'he can go'[50] |
Other future tenses are given by Vail (1972) and others.[51]
In the 1st person singular,ni-ku- andni-ka- are shortened tonkhu- andnkha-:nkhuluta 'I am going', 'I go',nkhalutanga 'I used to go'.[52]
To make the negative of a verb in Tumbuka, the wordyayi orcha(ra) is added at or near the end of the clause. It seems thatyayi is preferred by younger speakers:[53]
With the present perfect tense, however, a separate form exists, adding-nda- and ending in-e:[54]
Words of Ngoni (Zulu/Ndwandwe) origin found in Tumbuka:
All Tumbuka dialects have to some extent been affected by the Ngoni language, most especially in Mzimba District of Malawi. Ngoni is a language that originates from the Ndwandwe people who were neighbours to the Zulu clan prior to being conquered by the Zulu and being assimilated into the Zulu identity. The language the Ndwandwe spoke was thus nearly identical Zulu. Below are some examples of words found in chitumbuka that are of Zulu/Ndwandwe origin, though most of them have original Tumbuka counterpart words that can be used interchangeably at the speakers will, (excluding 'munwe/minwe' meaning 'finger/fingers' for example, that seemingly did not have an original counterpart or the original word has been lost). The word njowi is used for finger/s.
| English | Tumbuka | Tumbuka-Ngoni dialect |
|---|---|---|
| See | Wona | Bheka |
| Smoke | Khweŵa | Bhema |
| Man | Mwanalume | Doda |
| Virgin | Mwali | Nthombi |
Months in Tumbuka:
| English | Tumbuka |
|---|---|
| January | Mathipa |
| February | Muswela |
| March | Nyakanyaka |
| April | Masika |
| May | Vuna |
| June | Zizima |
| July | Mphepo |
| August | Mpupulu |
| September | Lupya |
| October | Zimya |
| November | Thukila |
| December | Vula |
An example of a folktale translated into Tumbuka and other languages of Northern Malawi is given in the Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi carried out by the Centre for Language Studies of the University of Malawi.[55] The Tumbuka version of the folktale goes as follows:
The plural ba- (ŵa-) is often used for politeness when referring to elders:
