Fipa (Fipa: ''Ichifipa'') 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 ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

. It is spoken by the

Fipa people The Fipa (or Wafipa) are a Bantu ethno-linguistic group based in the Sumbawanga Rural District, Sumbawanga Rural and Nkasi District, Nkasi districts of Rukwa Region in southwestern Tanzania speaking the Fipa language, Fipa and Mambwe language, Ma ...

, who live on the Ufipa plateau in the

Rukwa Region Rukwa Region(''Mkoa wa Rukwa'' in Swahili language, Swahili) is one of Tanzania's 31 administrative Regions of Tanzania, regions The region covers a land area of , which is comparable in size to the combined land area of the nation state of Hait ...

of South West

between

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

and

Lake Rukwa Lake Rukwa is an endorheic lake located in the Rukwa Valley of Rukwa Region, Songwe Region and Katavi Region in southwestern Tanzania. The lake is the third largest inland body of water in the country. Geography The alkaline Lake Rukwa lies ...

. The ethnic group of the

is larger than the group of Fipa language speakers. On the Tanzanian side, people who speak

Mambwe-Lungu The Mambwe and Lungu peoples living at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and Zambia speak a common language with minor dialectical differences. Perhaps half of the Fipa people The Fipa (or Wafipa) are a Bantu ethno-linguistic gr ...

may identify as Fipa and consider their language to be a dialect of Fipa.

Lungu Lungu may refer to: People Politicians *Edgar Lungu (1956–2025), President of Zambia (2015–2021) *Esther Lungu (born 1961), Former First Lady of Zambia * Gheorghe Lungu (politician) (born 1949), Moldovan politician * Tasila Lungu (born 1983), Z ...

and Mambwe are also spoken in Zambia where they are considered languages and their speakers are considered to be ethnic groups in their own right, although linguists consider Lungu and Mambwe to be dialects of a single language. There are three dialects: Milanzi (also referred to as IchiSukuuma), Kwa (Ichikwa) and Nkansi. Maho (2009) classifies M.131 Kulwe (Kuulwe, no ISO code) as closest to Fipa. Otherwise the dialects are Milanzi (Fipa-Sukuma, ''Icisukuuma''), South Fipa, Kandaasi (''Icikandaasi''), Siiwa (''Icisiiwa''), Nkwaamba (''Icinkwaamba''), Kwa (''Icikwa''), Kwaafi (''Icikwaafi''), Ntile (''Icintile,'' Cile), Peemba (''Icipeemba'').

Notes

References

* Labroussi, Catherine. 1998. ''Le couloir de lacs: Contributions linguistique à l’histoire des populations du sud-ouest de la Tanzanie''. Doctoral Dissertation, INALCO. * Labroussi, Catherine. 1999. Vowel systems and spirantization in S.W. Tanzania. In ''Bantu historical linguistics'', ed. Jean-Marie Hombert and Larry M. Hyman, 335–377. Stanford, CA: CSLI Publications. * Struck, Bernhard. 1911. ''Die Fipasprache''. Anthropos 6:951–994. * Walsh, Martin T., and Imani N. Swilla. 2000. ''Linguistics in the corridor: A review of research on the Bantu languages of south-west Tanzania, north-east Zambia and north Malawi''. Ms, Dar es Salaam. * Whiteley, W. H. 1964. Suggestions for recording a Bantu language in the field. ''Tanganyika Notes and Records'' 62:1–19. * Willis, Roy G. 1966. ''The Fipa and related peoples of south-west Tanzania and north-east Zambia''. London: International African Institute. * Willis, Roy G. 1968. The Fipa. In ''Tanzania before 1900'', ed. Andrew Roberts, 82–95. Nairobi: East African Publishing House. * Willis, Roy G. 1978. ''There was a certain man: Spoken art of the Fipa''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. * Woodward, Mark, Anna-Lena Lindfors, and Louise Nagler. 2008. ''A sociolinguistic survey of the Fipa language community: Ethnic diversity and dialect diversity''. SIL Electronic Survey Report, SIL International.

External links

SIL sociolinguistic survey of the Fipa language community
Languages of Tanzania Rukwa languages {{Bantu-lang-stub