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

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