The Ovambo () language is a dialect cluster spoken by the Ovambo people in southern

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and northern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

, of which the written standards are Kwanyama and Ndonga. The native name for the language is ''Oshiwambo'' (also written ''Oshivambo''), which is also used specifically for the Kwanyama and Ndonga dialects. It is the largest spoken local language in Namibia, particularly by the Ovambo people. The language is closely related to that of the Herero and Himba, the Herero language (''Otjiherero''). An obvious sign of proximity is the prefix used for language and dialect names, Proto-Bantu ''*ki-'' (class 7, as in the name of the Swahili language, ''Kiswahili''), which in Herero has evolved to ''Otji-'' and in Ovambo further to ''Oshi-''.

History

After Namibia's independence in 1990, the area previously known as Ovamboland was divided into the Ohangwena, Omusati, Oshana and Oshikoto Regions. The population, estimated at between 700,000 and 750,000, fluctuates remarkably. This is because of the indiscriminate border drawn up by the Portuguese and German Empires during colonial rule, which cut through the Oukwanyama tribal area, placing some in

Angola , national_anthem = "Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and others in Namibia. This results in regular cross-border movement. There are approximately one million Oshiwambo speakers in Namibia and Angola. Though it is mainly spoken in the northern regions of Namibia, it is widely spoken across the rest of the country by populations of migrant workers from Ovamboland. These workers comprise a large part of the population in many towns, particularly in the south, where there are jobs in the mining industry. For example, in Lüderitz, an 18-hour drive from Ovamboland, at least 50% of the population speaks Oshiwambo.

Name

The names ''Ambo'' and ''Ovambo'' appear to have originally been exonyms. Despite extensive speculation, their origin remains unknown. The country was called ''Ovamboland'' and ''Amboland'' by the German colonial authorities. In English, ''Ovamboland'' predominates, though ''Ambo country'' is sometimes used, and in English publications from

, ''Owamboland, Wamboland,'' and ''Owambo'' are seen. The endemic forms are ''Owambo kingdoms are'' Ndonga, Kwanyama and Kwambi The people are generally called the ''Ovambo'' or ''Ambo'' in English. The endemic forms are ''Aawambo'' (Ndonga) and ''Ovawambo'' (Kwanyama); the singular in both cases is ''Omuwambo''. The language is generally called ''Ovambo, Ambo,'' or ''Oshiwambo'' in English; the endonym in both standards is ''Oshiwambo.''

Ovambo tribes and dialects

There are eight dialects, including the two written standards Kwanyama and Ndonga. The following table contains the names, areas, dialect names and the locations of the Ovambo tribes according to T. E. Tirronen's ''Ndonga-English Dictionary''. The table also contains information concerning which

noun class In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some ...

of Proto-Bantu the words belong to. Maho (2009) lists the following as distinct languages in the Ovambo cluster: *Kwanyama **Kafima **Evale **Mbandja **Mbalanhu **Ndongwena **Kwankwa **Dombondola **Esinga *Ndonga *Kwambi *Ngandjera *Kwaluudhi **Kolonkadhi-Eunda

References

External links

PanAfrican L10n page on Oshiwambo
{{Narrow Bantu languages, N-S