Manyika dialect
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Manyika is a Shona language largely spoken by the
Manyika tribe The Manyika tribe are a Shona people with its own dialect, Manyika. The majority of Manyika comes from the eastern region of Zimbabwe and in neighbouring Mozambique. The dialect is widely spoken in Manicaland Province and in certain areas of Manica ...
in the eastern part of
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and across the border in
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
. It includes dialects ChiBocha, ChiUngwe, and ChiManyika, from which the broad Manyika language gets its name. ChiManyika is spoken by people in the northern parts of Manicaland Province of Zimbabwe, (Nyanga, Honde Valley Mutasa area) whilst ChiBocha is spoken by people in the southern part of Manicaland. Manyika differs from the more predominant
Zezuru Shona (; sn, chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. It was codified by the colonial government in the 1950s. According to ''Ethnologue'', Shona, comprising the Zezuru, Korekore and Karanga dialects, is spoken by about 7 ...
dialect in a variety of small ways.


Characteristics

Certain variations in vocabulary and word prefixes exist. For example, the prefix 'va-' (used in Shona before male names to signify seniority and respect) is replaced by 'sa-' in the Manyika language. Also the prefix 'va-' used as in people, for example standard Shona ''vanhu vakaenda vakawanda'', is replaced by 'wa-' to become ''wanhu wakaenda wakawanda''. As a result, the Manyika do not use the prefix 'va' in any form as they pronounce it as either 'sa' or 'wa'. This is how they are generally recognised as being Manyika. The verbs in this language are tonally divided into two groups. The tonal patterns of the verbs belonging to one group are as shown below in the case of the infinitive, which has ku- as its prefix: *''kupá'' 'to give', ''kubátá'' 'to catch', ''kupómérá'' 'to scold', ''kukúrúdzíra'' 'to encourage'; *''kumúpá'' 'to give him (something)', ''kumúbátá'' 'to catch him', ''kumúpómérá'', ''kumúkúrúdzíra''; *''kuzvípa'' 'to give (something to) oneself', ''kuzvíbatá'' 'to catch oneself', ''kuzvípomerá'', ''kuzvíkurudzirá''. These tonal patterns can be represented by kuCV’CV’CV’X, kuÓCV’CV’CV’X, kuŔXCá, where X stands for a string of phonemes of any length, O for an object prefix, and R for a reflexive prefix, with an adjustment rule to the first two formulae that if X=Ø, the last CV’ can be Ø, and if both are Ø, the second CV’ can also be Ø, and with one to the last formula that if X=Ø, Cá becomes Ca. The tonal patterns of the verbs belonging to the other group are as shown below: *''kubwa'' 'to leave', ''kumutsa'' 'to wake up', ''kutarisa'' 'to look at', ''kuswatanudza'' 'to make (somebody) stand up'; *''kumúmútsa'', ''kumútárisa'', ''kumúswátanudza''; *''kuzvímutsá'', ''kuzvítarisá'', ''kuzvíswatanudzá''. The tonal representation would be: kuX, kuÓCV’X, kuŔXCá. This language has many indicative tenses (such as Remote Past, Recent Past, Past Progressive, Present, etc.) including negative ones.


References


External links

*Stevick, Earl W., M. Mataranyika & L. Mataranyika (1965
''Shona Basic Course''
Foreign Service Institute, Washington ("based on the speech of two individuals, representing Manyika varieties of Shona, but with certain systematic emendations in the direction of the more central dialects"). (Recordings of this course are also available on the Internet.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Manyika Language Languages of South Africa Shona languages