Ngangela Language
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Luchazi (Lucazi, ''Chiluchazi'') 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 ...
of
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
and
Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...
. Luchazi is the principal language of the
Ngangela Ganguela (pronunciation: gang'ela) or Nganguela is the name of a small ethnic group living in Angola, but since colonial times the term has been applied to a number of peoples East of the Bié Plateau. In addition to the Nganguela proper, this et ...
Group.Emil Pearson, "Luchazi Grammar", pp. 5 Ngangela is a term coined by the Vimbundu traders and missionaries in 18th century to describe the tribes occupying the area of eastern-central Angola.


Phonology


Consonants

The following table displays all the consonants in Luchazi:Gerhard Kubik, 2006, ''Tusona: Luchazi Ideographs : a Graphic Tradition of West-Central Africa'', pp. 300, 303 : Occur rarely, may only exist in loanwords. The position of the speech-organs in producing the consonants is different from the positions taken in producing the similar sounds in European languages. T and D, for example, are lower than in English but higher than in Portuguese. L is flatter-tongued than in either English or Portuguese. The language contains many consonantal glides, including the prenasalized plosives and the voiceless alveolar sibilant affricate (the ts sound).


Vowels

Source: The close front vowel (i), when occurring before another vowel, becomes a
semi-consonant In phonetics and phonology, a semivowel, glide or semiconsonant is a sound that is phonetically similar to a vowel sound but functions as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable. Examples of semivowels in English are ''y' ...
and is written y, unless it is immediately preceded by a consonant, when it remains i. Examples: yange, viange. The vowels have the Continental or Italian values. They are shorter when unstressed and are prolonged when doubled or when stressed at the end of a word. * The vowel a is Long when accented, as ''a'' in ''tata, nana''. Short when unstressed or before two consonants or ''y'' or ''s'' and in monosyllabic adverbs, as ''a'' in ''tata, paya, asa, hanga''. Prolonged when doubled or stressed at the end of a word or syllable. Example: ''ku laako''. * The vowel e is Long when accented, as ''a'' in ''heta, seza''. Short when unstressed, as ''a'' in ''hete, seze''. Short with the value of ''e'' in ''henga, lenda'' before two consonants. Exceptions are hembo and membo (due to coalescence of vowels). Many words derived from Portuguese have the short vowel though not followed by two consonants. Examples: ''pena, papelo, luneta, ngehena,'' etc. Prolonged when stressed at the end of a word. * The vowel i is Long when accented, as ''e'' in ''tina, sika''. Short when unstressed or before two consonants, as ''e'' in ''citi, linga''. In monosyllabics it is short, as ''i'' in ''it''. Examples: ni, ndi. Prolonged when stressed. Examples: ti, fui. * The vowel o is Long when accented, as ''o'' in ''sota, koka''. Short when unstressed, as ''o'' in ''soko, loto''. Short, with value of ''o'' in ''onga, yoya, kosa, luozi, ndo'', before two consonants or y or s, and sometimes before z and in some monosyllables. The o is long in ''zoza'' and ''ngozi''. Sometimes prolonged when stressed at the end of a word. Example: ''to''. * The vowel u is Long when accented, as ''u'' in ''tuta, fula''. Short, when unstressed or before two consonants or before s, as ''u'' in ''futuka, mbunga, kusa''.


Orthography

Luchazi is written using the
Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from ...
, with most characters representing the same sound as in English, with some exceptions. c is pronounced like ''ch'' in ''church'', n followed by k or g is always nasal like ''ng'' in ''ring'', the sound of v is bilabial instead of labiodental.Emil Pearson, "Luchazi Grammar", pp. 5


Alphabet

* A - /aː* B - * C/Ch - ͡ʃ/t͡ʃʰ* D - /d̪/ð* E - /e/ɛː* F - * G - * H - /x* I - /iː* J - ͡ʒ* K - * L - * M - * N - * Ny - * O - /ɔː* P - * R - * S - * Sh - * T - /t̪/θ ʲ~t͡sbefore * U - /uː* W - * Y - * Z - D, G, J, R, and Sh only exist in loanwords.


Other letters

* ai - ɪ̯* au - ʊ̯* ei - ɪ̯* ia - ̯a* ie - ̯e* io - ̯o* iu - ̯u* kh - ʰ* mb - b* mph - * nch - t͡ʃʰ* nd - d* ng - g/ŋ* nj - d͡ʒ* nk - * nt - * ph - ʰ* th - ʰ* ua - ̯a* ue - ̯e* ui - ̯i* uo - ̯o


References

{{Authority control Chokwe-Luchazi languages Languages of Angola