Nyungwe (''Cinyungwe'' or Nhungue) is a
Bantu language of Mozambique. It is used as a
trade language throughout
Tete Province.
Geographic distribution
Nyungwe is spoken by more than 439,000 people 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 ...
along the
Zambezi River
The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...
, principally in
Tete Province.
Official status
While Portuguese is the only official language of Mozambique, Nyungwe is one of the recognized national languages.
Phonology
The phonological inventory is:
Vowels
Consonants
History
Many vocabulary words collected by David Livingstone in Tete in the 1850s, and Courtois in the 1890s are similar to the words in common use by Nyungwe-speaking people today.
Examples
References
External links
O Centro de Estudos de Línguas Moçambicanas (NELIMO)The Mozambican authority on languages.
Publications in Nyungwe at lidemo.net
A blog about the Nyungwe Bible translation
{{Narrow Bantu languages, N-S
Nyasa languages
Languages of Mozambique