Kalanga language

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Kalagan language, Zezuru language, or Shona dialect.
Kalanga
TjiKalanga/Ikalanga
Native toZimbabwe, Botswana
RegionSouthWest parts of Zimbabwe Central, North Central and NorthEast Botswana
EthnicityKalanga people
Native speakers
700,000 in Zimbabwe,
850,000 in Botswana (2012-2015)[1]
Official status
Official language in
 Zimbabwe (both Kalanga and Nambya) Botswana-recognized language nationally.
Language codes
ISO 639-3Either:
kck – Kalanga
nmq – Nambya
Glottologkala1405
S.16[2]
Linguasphere99-AUT-ai

Kalanga[pronunciation?], or TjiKalanga (in Zimbabwe), is a Bantu language spoken by the Kalanga people in Botswana and Zimbabwe. It has an extensive phoneme inventory, which includes palatalised, velarised, aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants,[3] as well as whistled sibilants.

Kalanga is recognised as an official language by the Zimbabwean Constitution of 2013 and is taught in schools in areas where its speakers predominate. The iKalanga language is closely related to the Nambya, TshiVenda, and KheLobedu languages of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Classification and varieties

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Linguists place Kalanga (S.16 in Guthrie's classification) and Nambya (in the Hwange region of Zimbabwe) as the western branch of the Shona group (or Shonic, or Shona-Nyai) group of languages, collectively coded as S.10.

Kalanga has a dialectal variation between its Botswana and Zimbabwean varieties and they use slightly different orthographies. Historically, Wentzel mentioned Kalanga proper in the east and Lilima (Tjililima, Humbe) on the west, as well as varieties that are now rare or extinct: Nyai (Rozvi), Lemba (Remba), Lembethu (Rembethu), Twamamba (Xwamamba), Pfumbi, Jaunda (Jawunda, Jahunda), and †Romwe, †Peri, †Talahundra (Talaunda).[2][4]

Phonology

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Consonants

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Labial Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar 		Palatal Velar Glottal
plain alveolar plain lab. plain lab. plain lab. plain lab.
Plosive voiceless p t̪ (tʷ) k kʷ
voiced b d̪ d dʷ ɡ ɡʷ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᵑɡ ᵑɡʷ
aspirated pʰ t̪ʰ tʰ tʰʷ kʰ kʰʷ
breathy pʱ tʱ kʷʱ
ejective (tʼ)
Affricate voiceless p͡s t̪͡s̪ t͡ʃ
voiced b͡z d̪͡z̪ d̪͡z̪ʷ d͡ʒ b͡ɡ
prenasal ⁿd͡ʒ
aspirated t̪͡s̪ʰ t̪͡s̪ʰʷ p͡kʰ
breathy t̪͡s̪ʱ t͡ʃʱ
ejective t͡ʃʼ
Fricative voiceless f s sʷ ʃ ʃʷ (x) (xʷ)
voiced v z zʷ ʒ ɦ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ
Trill r
Approximant lateral l
central β̞ j w
breathy wʱ
  • Phonemes /tʰʷ, p͡s, b͡z, t͡ʃʼ/ occur only as marginal phonemes.
  • Sounds /tʼ, tʷ, x, xʷ/ are sounds that are borrowed from Tswana.[3]

Vowels

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Kalanga has a typical five-vowel system:

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

References

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  1. ^ "Kalanga". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2018-08-14.
  2. ^ a b Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ a b Mathangwane, Joyce T. (1999). Ikalanga phonetics and phonology: a synchronic and diachronic study. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
  4. ^ Wentzel, Petrus Johannes (1981). The Relationship between Venda and Western Shona. Ph.D. Thesis. Univ. of South Africa.

Further reading

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  • Chebanne, A. M. & Rodewald, M. K & Pahlen, K. W. (1995) Ngatikwaleni iKalanga: A Manual for Writing Kalanga as Spoken in Botswana. Gaborone: Botswana Society.
  • Chebanne, Andy & Schmidt, Daniel (2010). "Kalanga: Summary Grammar". Cape Town, South Africa: CASAS Monograph 75.
  • Dube, Limukani T. 2021. "Zimbabwe’s Kalanga Orthography: The Strengths and Shortcomings of the 2008 Writing System." Arusha Working Papers in African Linguistics, 3(1): 42-51.
  • Letsholo, R. (2013). "Object Markers in Ikalanga". Linguistic Discovery. Dartmouth College.
  • Mathangwane, Joyce T. (1999) Ikalanga Phonetics and Phonology: A Synchronic and Diachronic Study. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications.
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Kalanga language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
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