Indigenous Languages
Zambia is widely claimed to have over 70 languages, although many of these might be better regarded as dialects. Some of these languages have a long history within Zambia, while others, such as Lozi, arose as a result of 18th and 19th-century migrations. All of Zambia's vernacular languages are members of the Bantu family and are closely related to one another.
Seven vernacular language have official status. Together these represent the major languages of each province: Bemba (Northern province, Luapula and the Copperbelt), Nyanja (Eastern province and Lusaka), Lozi (Western province), Tonga (Southern province), and Kaonde, Luvale and Lunda (North-western province). These seven languages are used, together with English, in early primary schooling and in some government publications.
According to the 2000 census, Zambia's most widely spoken languages are Bemba (spoken by 50% of the population as either a first or second language), Nyanja (37%), Tonga (15%) and Lozi (11%).
In some languages, particularly Bemba and Nyanja, Zambians distinguish between a "deep" form of the language, associated with older and more traditional speakers in rural areas, and urban forms (sometimes called "town language" or Chitauni) that incorporate a large number of borrowings from English and other innovations.
An urban variety of Nyanja is the lingua franca of the capital Lusaka and is widely spoken as a second language throughout Zambia. Bemba, which is the country's largest indigenous language, also serves as a lingua franca is some areas.
Read more about this topic: Languages Of Zambia
Famous quotes containing the words indigenous and/or languages:
“What is a country without rabbits and partridges? They are among the most simple and indigenous animal products; ancient and venerable families known to antiquity as to modern times; of the very hue and substance of Nature, nearest allied to leaves and to the ground,—and to one another; it is either winged or it is legged. It is hardly as if you had seen a wild creature when a rabbit or a partridge bursts away, only a natural one, as much to be expected as rustling leaves.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is time for dead languages to be quiet.”
—Natalie Clifford Barney (1876–1972)