Havu (or Haavu or Kihavu) 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 ...

of the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. It is spoken mainly in the

Idjwi Idjwi, or Ijwi, is an inland island in Lake Kivu which forms part of South Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At in length and with an area of , it is the second-largest lake island in Africa and the tenth largest in the wor ...

and Kalehe territories of

Sud-Kivu Province South Kivu (''Jimbo la Kivu Kusini'' in Swahili), (french: Sud-Kivu) is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Bukavu. History South Kivu Province was created from Sud-Kivu District in 1989, when the exis ...

, in the east of the DRC. It is closely related to the

Shi language Shi, or Nyabungu, is a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Nyindu variety is heavily influenced by Lega, and speakers consider it a dialect of Lega rather than Shi, as Shi speakers see it. Maho (2009) leaves it unclassif ...

. The Havu language is also spoken in the city of

Goma Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the weste ...

, north of the island. However, ethnic Havu in Goma are not using the language as much as those on the island of Idjwi.DeWitt, Stephanie. 2019. ''Language Choice among the Havu of the Democratic Republic of Congo: Comparing two speech communities an urban center and an isolated island.'' Dallas International University: MA thesis.

References

Ethnic groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Great Lakes Bantu languages {{Bantu-lang-stub