Gciriku or Dciriku (Also Diriku, Dirico, Manyo or Rumanyo), is a
Bantu language
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The t ...
spoken by 305,000 people along the
Okavango River
The Okavango River (formerly spelled Okovango or Okovanggo), Also known as the Cubango River, is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins at an elevation of in ...
in
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 ea ...
,
Botswana
Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...
and
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
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, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
. 24,000 people speak Gciriku in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
, according to
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
. It was first known in the west via the Vagciriku, who had migrated from the main Vamanyo area and spoke Rugciriku, a dialect of Rumanyo. The name ''Gciriku'' (Dciriku, Diriku) remains common in the literature, but within Namibia the name ''Rumanyo'' has been revived. The Mbogedu dialect is extinct; Maho (2009) lists it as a distinct language, and notes that the names 'Manyo' and 'Rumanyo' are inappropriate for it.
It is one of several Bantu languages of the Okavango which have
click consonant
Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa. Examples familiar to English-speakers are the '' tut-tut'' (British spelling) or '' tsk! tsk!'' ...
s, as in ('bed'), ('flower'), and ('tortoise'). These clicks, of which there are half a dozen (c, gc, ch, and prenasalized nc and nch), are generally all pronounced with a
dental articulation, but there is broad variation between speakers. They are especially common in place names and in words for features of the landscape, reflecting their sources in
Khwe
Khwe (also rendered ''Kxoe, Khoe'' ) is a dialect continuum of the Khoe family of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, and parts of Zambia, with some 8,000 speakers.
Classification
Khwe is a member of the Khoe language family.
The 2000 ...
and
Ju, two members of the
Khoisan language family. Many of the click words in Gciriku, including those in native Bantu vocabulary, are shared with
Kwangali,
Mbukushu Mbukushu is a traditional Kavango people, Kavango kingdom in what is today Namibia. Its people speak the Mbukushu language.
References
World Statesmen.org
* Maria Fisch, ''The Mbukushu in Angola (1730-2002):A History of Migration, Flight and R ...
, and
Fwe.
References
External links
Gciriku vocabulary
{{Authority control
Kavango languages
Languages of Angola
Languages of Botswana
Languages of Namibia
Click languages