Bantu Languages - Notable Bantu Languages

Notable Bantu Languages

Following are the principal Bantu languages of each country. Included are those languages that constitute at least 1% of the population and have at least 10% the number of speakers of the largest Bantu language in the country.

Most languages are best known in English without the class prefix (Swahili, Tswana, Ndebele), but are sometimes seen with the (language-specific) prefix (Kiswahili, Setswana, Sindebele). In a few cases prefixes are used to distinguish languages with the same root in their name, such as Tshiluba and Kiluba (both Luba), Umbundu and Kimbundu (both Mbundu). The bare (prefixless) form typically does not occur in the language itself, but is the basis for other words based on the ethnicity. So, in the country of Botswana the people are the Batswana, one person is a Motswana, and the language is Setswana; and in Uganda, centred on the kingdom of Buganda, the dominant ethnicity are the Baganda (sg. Muganda), whose language is Luganda.

Lingua franca

  • Swahili (Kiswahili) (350,000; tens of millions as L2)

Angola

  • South Mbundu (Umbundu) (4 million)
  • North Mbundu (Kimbundu) (3 million)
  • Ovambo (Ambo) (Oshiwambo) (500,000)
  • Luvale (Chiluvale) (500,000)
  • Chokwe (Chichokwe) (500,000)

Botswana

  • Tswana (Setswana) (1 million)
  • Kalanga (Ikalanga) (150,000)

Burundi

  • Kirundi (5 million)

Cameroon

  • Beti (1.7 million: 900,000 Bulu, 600,000 Ewondo, 120,000 Fang, 60,000 Eton, 30,000 Bebele)
  • Basaa (230,000)
  • Duala (350,000)

Central African Republic

  • Mbati (60,000)

Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa)

  • Lingala (Ngala) (2 million; 7 million with L2 speakers)
  • Luba-Kasai (Tshiluba) (6.5 million)
  • Kituba (4.5 million), a Bantu creole
  • Kongo (Kikongo) (3.5 million)
  • Luba-Katanga (Kiluba) (1.5+ million)
  • Songe (Lusonge) (1+ million)
  • Nande (Orundandi) (1 million)
  • Tetela (Otetela) (800,000)
  • Yaka (Iyaka) (700,000+)
  • Shi (700,000)
  • Yombe (Kiyombe) (670,000)

Equatorial Guinea

  • Beti (Fang) (300,000)
  • Bube (40,000)

Kenya

  • Gikuyu (7 million)
  • Luhya (5.4 million)
  • Kamba (4 million)
  • Meru (Kimeru) (2.7 million)
  • Gusii (2 million)

Lesotho

  • Sotho (Sesotho) (1.8 million)
  • Zulu (Isizulu) (300,000)

Malawi

  • Chewa (Nyanja) (Chichewa) (7 million)
  • Tumbuka (1 million)
  • Yao (1 million)

Mozambique

  • Makhuwa (3 million; 5.5 million all Makua)
  • Tsonga (Xitsonga) (1.7 million) (Also known as Changana/Xangana)
  • Shona (Ndau) (1.6 million)
  • Lomwe (1.5 million)
  • Sena (1.3 million)
  • Tswa (1.2 million)
  • Chuwabu (1.0 million)
  • Chopi (800,000)
  • Ronga (700,000)
  • Chewa (Nyanja) (Chichewa) (600,000)
  • Yao (Chiyao) (500,000)
  • Nyungwe (400,000)
  • Tonga (400,000)
  • Makonde (400,000)

Namibia

  • Ovambo (Ambo, Oshiwambo) (800,000, incl. Kwanyama, Ndongo, Kwambi)
  • Herero (200,000)

Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville)

  • Kituba (1.2+ million)
  • Kongo (Kikongo) (1.0 million)
  • Teke languages (500,000)
  • Yombe (350,000)
  • Suundi (120,000)
  • Mbosi (110,000)
  • Lingala (100,000; ? L2 speakers)

Rwanda

  • Kinyarwanda (Kinyarwanda) (7 million)

South Africa

  • Zulu (Isizulu) (10 million)
  • Xhosa (Isixhosa) (8 million)
  • Sotho (Sesotho) (4 million)
  • Pedi (Sepedi) (4 million)
  • Tswana (Setswana) (3.5 million)
  • Tsonga (Xitsonga) (2 million)
  • Swazi (Siswati) (1 million)
  • Venda (Tshivenda) (1 million)

Swaziland

  • Swazi (Siswati) (1 million)

Tanzania

Swahili is the national language
  • Sukuma (5.5 million)
  • Gogo (1.5 million)
  • Haya (Kihaya) (1.3 million)
  • Chaga (Kichaga) (1.2+ million : 600,000 Mochi, 300,000+ Machame, 300,000+ Vunjo)
  • Nyamwezi (1.0 million)
  • Makonde (1.0 million)
  • Ha (1.0 million)
  • Nyakyusa (800,000)
  • Hehe (800,000)
  • Luguru (700,000)
  • Bena (600,000)
  • Shambala (650,000)
  • Nyaturu (600,000)

Uganda

  • Ganda (Luganda) (7.5 million)
  • Nkore-Kiga (3.5 million : 2.3 million Nyankore, 1.2 million Kiga (Chiga))
  • Soga (Lusoga) (2 million)
  • Masaba (Lumasaba) (1.1 million)
  • Nyoro-Tooro (1.1 million)
  • Kinyarwanda (Kinyarwanda) (750,000)
  • Konjo (600,000)
  • Gwere (400,000)

Zambia

  • Bemba (3.3 million)
  • Tonga (1.0 million)
  • Chewa (Nyanja) (Chichewa) (800,000)
  • Lozi (Silozi) (600,000)
  • Lala-Bisa (600,000)
  • Nsenga (550,000)
  • Tumbuka (Chitumbuka) (500,000)
  • Lunda (450,000)
  • Nyiha (400,000+)
  • Mambwe (Lungu) (400,000)

Zimbabwe

  • Shona languages (15.4 million incl. Karanga, Zezuru, Kalanga, Korekore, Ndau, Manyika)
  • Ndebele (2 million)
  • Tonga
  • Venda

This list is incomplete; an attempt at a full list of Bantu languages (with various conflations and a puzzlingly diverse nomenclature) was found in The Bantu Languages of Africa, 1959.

Read more about this topic:  Bantu Languages

Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or languages:

    “In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
    —For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)

    “The very natural tendency to use terms derived from traditional grammar like verb, noun, adjective, passive voice, in describing languages outside of Indo-European is fraught with grave possibilities of misunderstanding.”
    —Benjamin Lee Whorf (1897–1934)