Makonde, or Kimakonde, is the language spoken by the Makonde, an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Makonde is a central Bantu language closely related to Yao. The Matembwe and Mabiha (Maviha) dialects are divergent, and may not be Makonde (Nurse 2003).
Makonde | |
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Chi(ni)makonde | |
Native to | Tanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya |
Ethnicity | Makonde, Ndonde Hamba |
Native speakers | 1.4 million (2006)[2] |
Language family | Niger–Congo?
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Dialects |
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Writing system | Latin |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | Variously:kde – Makonde, Mabihamvw – Machinganjd – Ndonde Hamba[3] |
Glottolog | mako1251 Makondemach1265 Machinga |
Guthrie code | P.23,24,25 [4] |
Makonde | |
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Person | Mmakonde |
People | Wamakonde |
Language | Kimakonde |
Country | Umakonde |
A mosquito-borne viral fever first identified on the Makonde Plateau is named 'Chikungunya', which is derived from the Makonde root verb kungunyala (meaning "that which bends up", "to become contorted," or "to walk bent over").[5] The derivation of the term is generally falsely attributed to Swahili.[6]
The following are the consonants and vowels of the Makonde language:[7]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
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Plosive | voiceless | p | t | k | ||
voiced | b | d | ɡ | |||
prenasal | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮɟ | ᵑɡ | ||
Affricate | tʃ | |||||
Fricative | s | h | ||||
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
Lateral | l | |||||
Approximant | ʋ | j | w |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i | u |
Mid | e | o |
Low | a |
There also tends to be a rising final vowel sound /vv́/ within vowel combinations.
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Note: The Guthrie classification is geographic and its groupings do not imply a relationship between the languages within them. |
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