Kwanyama

Kwanyama
Kwanyama
Oshikwanyama
Native to	Namibia and Angola
Region	Ovamboland
Native speakers	(250,000 in Namibia (2006);; 420,000 in Angola cited 1993)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Kavango–Southwest Southwest Bantu Ovambo Kwanyama; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kj
ISO 639-2	kua
ISO 639-3	kua
Glottolog	kuan1247
Guthrie code	R.21
Linguasphere	99-AUR-la

Kwanyama or Cuanhama is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Oshindonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form.

The entire Christian Bible has been translated into Kwanyama and was first published in 1974 under the name Ombibeli by the South African Bible Society.^[3] Jehovah's Witnesses released the modern translation of the new testament, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama in 2019,^[4] both printed and electronic online version.

Phonology

Consonants
		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t~t̪	tʃ	k
	voiced	b	d~d̪	dʒ
	prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd	ⁿdʒ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	(s)	ʃ	x	h
Fricative	voiced	v
Nasal	voiced	m	n	ɲ
Nasal	voiceless	m̥	n̥	ɲ̊	ŋ̊
Approximant		w	l	j

/t/ and /d/ are dentalized when followed by a front vowel /i/. An /s/ sound can only occur in loanwords.

Vowels
	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

Tones

Kwanyama has two tones : high and low.

References

^ Kwanyama at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
^ Ombibeli, 1974, front page
^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Release the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama". Jw.org. 20 August 2019.

Bibliography

Crane, Thera; Lindgren-Streicher, Karl; Wingo, Andy (2004). Hai ti! A Beginner's Guide to Oshikwanyama (PDF).
Halme, Riikka (2004). A Tonal Grammar of Kwanyama. pp. 12-18.
Zimmerman, W.; Hasheela, P. (1998). Oshikwanyama Grammar. Windhoek: Gamsberg Macmillan.