Nyamwezi language

Nyamwezi
Region	Tanzania
Ethnicity	Nyamwezi
Native speakers	(1.5 million cited 1987–2016)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Sukuma-Nyamwezi Nyamwezic Nyamwezi; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-2	nym
ISO 639-3	Either:; nym – Nyamwezi; kcz – Konongo
Glottolog	nyam1276 Nyamwezi; kono1265 Konongo
Guthrie code	F.22[2]

Nyamwezi is a major Bantu language of central Tanzania. It forms a dialect continuum with Sukuma, but is more distinct from other neighboring languages.

Nyamwezi proper and Konongo are often considered distinct languages. Ruwila may be a third.[3]

Phonology

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	plain	p b		t d		ɟ	k ɡ
Plosive	prenasal	ᵐb		ⁿd		ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Affricate	plain				c͡ʃ
Affricate	prenasal				ᶮc͡ʃ
Fricative	plain	β	f v	s z	ʃ			h
Fricative	prenasal		ᶬf ᶬv	ⁿs ⁿz	ᶮʃ
Nasal		m̥ m		n̥ n		ɲ̊ ɲ	ŋ̊ ŋ
Approximant				l		j	w

Prenasalized voiceless stops [ᵐp ⁿt] may also frequently occur, as a result of loan words.
Nasal sounds /m ŋ/ may also occur as labialized [mʷ ŋʷ].

Tones present in Nyamwezi are high /v́/, low /v̀/, and rising /v̌/.[4]

Nyamwezi at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
Konongo at Ethnologue (22nd ed., 2019)
Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
Maganga, Clement; Schadeberg, Thilo C. (1992). Kinyamwezi: Grammar, Texts, Vocabulary. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 15–53.

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