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The Mwani language, also known by its native name Kimwani, (Kimwani [kiˈmwani]) is a Bantu language spoken on the coast of the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique, including the Quirimbas Islands. Although it shares high lexical similarity (60%) with Swahili, it is not intelligible with it. It is spoken by around 120,000 people (including 20,000 who use it as their second language). Speakers also use Portuguese (the official language of Mozambique), Swahili and Makhuwa language. Kiwibo, the dialect of the Island of Ibo is the prestige dialect. Kimwani (sometimes spelled as Quimuane) is also called Mwani (sometimes spelled as: Mwane, Muane) and Ibo. According to Anthony P. Grant[5] Kimwani of northern Mozambique appears to be the result of imperfect shift towards Swahili several centuries ago by speakers of Makonde, and Arends et al. suggest it might turn out to be a Makonde–Swahili mixed language.[6]

Mwani
Kimwani
Native toMozambique[1]
EthnicityMwani
Native speakers
100,000 (2006)[2]
2nd language: 20,000[3]
Language family
Niger–Congo?
Writing system
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3wmw
Glottologmwan1247
G.403[4]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Name


The name of the language comes from the word "Mwani", meaning "beach". The prefix "Ki" means the language of, so "Kimwani" literally means "language of the beach".


Sounds


Kimwani (similar to Swahili) is unusual among sub-Saharan languages in having lost the feature of lexical tone (with the exception of some verbal paradigms where its use is optional). It does not have the penultimate stress typical of Swahili; it has movable pitch accent. Labialization of consonants (indicated by a [w] following the consonant) and palatalization of r (ry; [rj]) are frequent. Nasalization of vowels occurs only before a nasal consonant n followed by a consonant.


Vowels


Kimwani has five vowel phonemes: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/, that is: its vowels are close to those of Spanish and Hawaiian. It does not have a distinction of closed and open mid vowels typical of Portuguese or French and found in some other Bantu languages like Lingala, Fang, and perhaps Sukuma.

The pronunciation of the phoneme /i/ stands between International Phonetic Alphabet [i] and [e]. Vowels are never reduced, regardless of stress. The vowels are pronounced as follows:

Kimwani has no diphthongs; in vowel combinations, each vowel is pronounced separately.


Consonants


Two symbols in a table cell denote the voiceless and voiced consonant, respectively.

Consonants of Kimwani[7]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosives and
affricates
p, b t, d tʃ, dʒ k, g
Fricatives f, v s, z ʃ h
Trill r
Approximants w l j

Orthography


Kimwani can be spelled in three ways: using orthography similar to Swahili, using a slightly modified spelling system used in Mozambique schools or using a Portuguese-based spelling. Here are the differences:

Kimwani spelling systems differences
Swahili language spelling Modified spelling Portuguese spelling Translation
/tʃ/ chala cala tchala finger
/dʒ/ juwa juwa djua Sun
/k/ kitabu kitabu quitabo book
/ŋ/ ng'ombe ng'ombe ngombe cow
/ɲ/ nyoka nyoka nhoca snake
/s/ fisi fisi fissi hyena
/z/ meza meza mesa table
/ʃ/ kushanga kushanga cuxanga to admire
/w/ wakati wakati uacate time
/j/ kipya kipya quípia new
/i/ sukili sukili suquile sugar
/u/ ufu ufu ufo flour

Numbers


moja (1), mbili (2), natu (3), n’né (4), tano (5)

sita (6), saba (7), nane (8), kenda (9)

kumi (10), kumi na moja (11),kumi na mbili (12)

Ishirini (20), thelathini (30), arubaini (40), hamsini (50)

sitini (60), sabini (70), themanini (80), tisini (90)

mia (100), mia mbili (200)

Elfu (1000) elfu mbili (2000)


References


  1. Ethnologue list of countries where Kimwani is spoken
  2. Mwani at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  3. "Mwani: a language of Mozambique". Ethnologue: Languages of the World (14th ed.). SIL International. Retrieved November 1, 2011.
  4. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  5. Smith, Norval; Veenstra, Tonjes (2001). Creolization and Contact. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 94. ISBN 90-272-5245-9.
  6. Arends, Muysken, & Smith (1995), Pidgins and Creoles: An Introduction
  7. A sketch of Kimwani by Petzell, Malin

На других языках


- [en] Mwani language

[fr] Mwani (langue)

Le mwani, ou kimwani, est une langue bantoue parlée au Mozambique, où elle est une langue d’enseignement. En 2006, elle est parlée par près de 100 000 personnes dans la province de Cabo Delgado, le long de la côte et sur les Îles Quirimbas, par les populations Mwani.

[ru] Мвани

Мвани (Ibo, Kimwani, Muane, Mwane, Mwani, Quimuane) — язык, на котором говорят на находящимся на расстоянии от берега архипелаге Керимба; на побережье провинции Кабу-Делгаду, к северу от городов Пемба, от Аримба до Пальма, Ибо и Мачимбоа-да-Прая, в Мозамбике. Имеет диалекты вибо (кивибо), кисанга (кикисанга, киссанга), нкоджо (кинкоджо) и нсимбва (кинсимбва), из которых вибо является престижным диалектом. Также носители мвани используют португальский язык (официальный язык Мозамбика), суахили и макуа (макхува).



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