Kalanga, or TjiKalanga (in Zimbabwe), is a

Bantu language The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

spoken by the Kalanga people in

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and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

which belongs to the Shonic(Shona-Nyai) group of Language. It has an extensive phoneme inventory, which includes palatalised, velarised, aspirated and breathy-voiced consonants, as well as whistled sibilants. Kalanga is recognized as an official language by the Zimbabwean Constitution of 2013 and is taught in schools in areas where its speakers predominate. The iKalanga language is closely related to the Nambya, TshiVenda, and KheLobedu languages of Zimbabwe and

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Classification and varieties

Linguists place Kalanga (S.16 in Guthrie's classification) and Nambya (in the Hwange region of Zimbabwe) as the western branch of the Shona group (or Shonic, or Shona-Nyai) group of languages, collectively coded as S.10. Kalanga has a dialectal variation between its

and Zimbabwean varieties and they use slightly different orthographies. Historically, Wentzel mentioned Kalanga (proper) and Lilima (Tjililima/Humbe) on the west. TJI-LILIMA TjiLilima is the Kalanga language dialect popularly used in everyday speech as well as in a lot of documentation made and developed in Botswana. The use and rise of this specific dialect was brought on by the population group that uses it. This population group includes people who come from the Southern parts of the Tutume district, the Tonota district as well as those from the country's North east district. Combined,the people of these districts speak the TjiLilima dialect and refer to themselves as either BaLilima or BaWhumbe. This dialect has also managed to spill into the diaspora communities of Bulilima and Mangwe districts because of the closeness of the two (2) groups of people and communities with each other. The Bulilima-Mangwe area used to be a base for the Tjikalanga proper dialect(Tjindondondo), however the dialect is now facing being overshadowed by the TjiLilima. TJI-GWIZI This dialect derives it's name from the settlement patterns of the language users who(unlike other Bakalanga people) preferred to settle where there are a lot of rivers(gwizi) and therefore adopting the name.The following most popular dialect of the Kalanga people is the TjiGwizi (sometimes referred to as TjiDeti). Like the TjiLilima dialect, TjiGwizi was also made popular by its many speakers and users who are found in many villages and towns and also occupy large areas of land in present day Botswana. This dialect is spoken and used in the northern parts of the Tutume District as well as all over the Boteti area, however there is not a lot of documentation written and produced in this specific dialect. TJI-TALAUNDA The third Kalanga language dialect worth noting is the dialect of the Batalaunda people who are also found in Botswana as well as in the country of Zimbabwe. In Botswana their majority population can be found in

Serowe Serowe (population approximately 60,000) is an urban village in Botswana's Botswana Central District, Central District. A trade and commercial centre, it is Botswana's third largest village. Serowe has played an important role in Botswana's histor ...

& Mahalapye villages where they have been living alongside the Ngwato tribe and other tribes for many years. In Zimbabwe this dialect can be found in the Matobo District as well as the Gwanda District.TjiTalaunda has striking similarities with both TjiGwizi and TjiLilima despite them being over 200 kilometres away from each other. The Batalaunda pride themselves in being the only Kalanga tribe using a singular totem which is the Moyo(heart). TJI-NANZWA The BaNanzwa get their name from the Kalanga word Nanzwa which refers to the direction "North". This basically means that they are the Bakalanga tribe who are found north of all other Bakalanga peoples and tribes. They speak the Nanzwa dialect(sometimes treated as a different language in its own right). The language has slightly different pronunciations from the other dialects because of it mixing with other tribes they stay with. This Kalanga dialect is also spoken in other parts of Zimbabwe particularly the Hwange area where a huge number of the Bananzwa reside and have been for over a hundred years. TjiNanzwa is feared to be close to extinction because a very large number of the language users are adopting the three above mentioned dialects. TJIKALANGA PROPER(TJINDONDONDO) The last popular Kalanga dialect is the Tjindondondo dialect which is the main dialect of communication amongst the Bakalanga of that area. It is by far the largest, most spoken and most documented of the Kalanga language dialects holding a huge presence in both countries. Despite all the other language being used in different areas, Tjindondondo is considered to be more ancient to the others and more original since it has many similarities with all the others and can be understood by all the other speakers of the Kalanga dialects. This dialect is more widely used in the Bulilimamangwe districts as well as the Tsholotsho area. A lot of work has since been done and made on this dialect and the language has since then been resuscitated in schools in the country of

where it is an official language. The Kalanga language used to have many other dialects which seem to have gone or are going into disuse because the speakers of those dialects saw it better to adopt the dialects of the popular ones. Such dialects are the Nyai (Rozvi), Lemba (Remba), Lembethu (Rembethu), Twamamba (Xwamamba), Pfumbi, Jaunda (Jawunda, Jahunda), and †Romwe, †Peri. The Jawunda dialect was about to become extinct, however there are collaborations underway to help resuscitate the dialect to its former status,especially in its native district of Gwanda in Zimbabwe. The natives in partnership with the government are helping the minority dialects get noticed and supported.

Phonology

Consonants

* Phonemes occur only as marginal phonemes. * Sounds are sounds that are borrowed from Tswana.

Vowels

Kalanga has a typical five-vowel system:

References

External links