Havu (or Haavu or Kihavu) is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages. T ...

of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. It is spoken mainly in the Idjwi and Kalehe territories of Sud-Kivu Province, in the east of the DRC. It is closely related to the

Shi language Shi, or Nyabungu, is a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nyindu variety is heavily influenced by Lega, and speakers consider it a dialect of Lega rather than Shi, as Shi speakers see it. Maho (2009) leaves it unclassif ...

. The Havu language is also spoken in the city of

Goma Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the w ...

, north of the island. However, ethnic Havu in Goma are not using the language as much as those on the island of Idjwi.DeWitt, Stephanie. 2019. ''Language Choice among the Havu of the Democratic Republic of Congo: Comparing two speech communities an urban center and an isolated island.'' Dallas International University: MA thesis.

References

Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Great Lakes Bantu languages {{Bantu-lang-stub