Luvale language
| Luvale | |
|---|---|
| Chiluvale | |
| Native to | Angola, Zambia |
| Ethnicity | Lovale |
Native speakers | (640,000 cited 2001–2010)[1] |
| Latin (Luvale alphabet) Luvale Braille | |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lue |
| Glottolog | luva1239 |
K.14[2] | |
| ELP | Lua error in Module:Endangered_Languages_Project at line 21: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). |
Luvale (also spelt Chiluvale, Lovale, Lubale, Luena, Lwena) is a Bantu language spoken by the Lovale people of Angola and Zambia.
Is is the native language of 180 thousand people in Angola (as of 2024), mostly in the Moxico Leste Province, where a third of the population speaks it as a native language.[3] It is recognized as a regional language for educational and administrative purposes in Zambia, where about 168,000 people speak it (as of 2006). Luvale uses a modified form of the Latin alphabet in its written form.[4]
Luvale is closely related to Chokwe.
Vocabulary
[edit | edit source]It contains many loanwords from Portuguese from colonial contact during 20th century,[5] such as:
| Luvale | Portuguese | English |
|---|---|---|
| xikata | escada | ladder |
| xikitelu | mosquitero | mosquito net |
| ngatwe | gato | cat |
| mbalili | barril | powder keg (lit. barrel) |
| kaluwaxa | carro | bicycle |
| semana | semana | week |
Most verbs begin with "ku" in the infinitive form. In a modern dictionary, verbs are listed without the "ku" prefix, unlike in older dictionaries.
| Verb | Without Prefix | English infinitive |
|---|---|---|
| kutonga | tonga | to sew |
| kwimba | imba | to sing |
| kwehuka | ehuka | to step aside |
Phonology
[edit | edit source]| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p | t | tʃ | k | |
| prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮdʒ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | h | |
| voiced | v | z | ʒ | |||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
Consonants may also occur as labialized [ʷ] or palatalized [ʲ].
Vowels
[edit | edit source]| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i iː | u uː | |
| Close-mid | e eː | o oː | |
| Open-mid | ɛ ɛː | ɔ ɔː | |
| Open | a aː |
Speakers
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ^ Luvale at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
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Further reading
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External links
[edit | edit source]
- Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- Moses C.B. Mulongesa, Vishimo vya Kuuko, Lubuto Library Special Collections, accessed May 3, 2014.
- Luvale language books, Lubuto Library Special Collections
- OLAC resources in and about the Luvale language
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