The Zigula or Zigua language, ''Chizigua'', is a Bantu language of Tanzania and Somalia, where the Mushunguli (or Mushungulu) dialect is spoken.

Mushunguli

The Mushunguli or Mushungulu dialect is spoken by about 23,000 people from the Bantu ethnic minority of southern Somalia, in

Jamaame Jamame ( so, Jamaame, ar, جمامة, it, Giamama formerly ''Villaggio Regina Margherita''), also spelled Giamame, is a town in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) region of Somalia. There are many farms located near Jamame. The equator pa ...

Kismayo Kismayo ( so, Kismaayo, Maay: ''Kismanyy'', ar, كيسمايو, ; it, Chisimaio) is a port city in the southern Lower Juba (Jubbada Hoose) province of Somalia. It is the commercial capital of the autonomous Jubaland region. The city is situa ...

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port connecting traders across the Indian Oc ...

, and the

Juba River The Jubba River or Juba River ( so, Wabiga Jubba) is a river in southern Somalia which flows through the autonomous region of Jubaland. It begins at the border with Ethiopia, where the Dawa and Ganale Dorya rivers meet, and flows directly sout ...

valley.Ethnologue – Mushungulu
/ref> Mushunguli shows affinities with adjacent Bantu varieties. In particular, it shares strong lexical and grammatical similarities with the language of the

Zigua people The Zigula or Zigua (''Wazigua'' in Swahili) are a Bantu ethnic and linguistic people hailing from far northern Pwani Region and western southern Tanga Region. In Tanga Region they are the majority in Handeni District, northern Kilindi District ...

who inhabit

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, one of the areas in south-eastern Africa where many Bantu in Somalia are known to have been captured from as slaves during the 19th century.Refugee Reports November 2002 Volume 23, Number 8
Ethnologue notes that the Mushunguli in Tanzania are the '' Wazegua''. Many Mushunguli Bantu men also speak as working languages the Afro-Asiatic

Maay Mai-Mai, commonly spelled Maay Maay (also known as ''Af-Maay'', ''Af-Maymay'', or simply ''Maay''; the ''Mai-Mai'' spelling is rarely used but it is most often spoken), is a dialect of the Somali language of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiat ...

and Somali languages of their Somali neighbors.

Phonology

There is no official or traditional

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and ...

for Mushunguli. However, spelling practices from related Bantu languages can easily be adopted to render the language with minimal phonetic

diacritic A diacritic (also diacritical mark, diacritical point, diacritical sign, or accent) is a glyph added to a letter or to a basic glyph. The term derives from the Ancient Greek (, "distinguishing"), from (, "to distinguish"). The word ''diacriti ...

Vowels

Consonants

The

fricatives A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...

and freely vary with and , respectively.

Tone

Vowel length is not distinctive, but phonetic length is especially associated with falling tones as in ''chîga'' 'leg'. The tone system is similar to that of Tanzanian Zigua.Kenstowicz, Michael. & Charles Kisseberth. 1990. Chizigula tonology: the word and beyond. In S. Inkelas & D. Zec(eds) ''The phonology-syntax connection'', pp. 163-194. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Notes

External links

Zigula dictionary
{{Authority control Northeast Coast Bantu languages