Chopi, (also spelled ''Copi, Tschopi,'' and ''Txopi)'', 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 ...
spoken along the southern coast of
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
.
Maho (2009) lists the possibly extinct Lenge dialect as a distinct language.
Phonology
Consonants
*Sounds /t͡sᶲ, t͡sᶲʰ, d͡zᵝ, ⁿd͡zᵝ/, are typically heard as labial-alveolar affricates
͡sᶲ, p͡sᶲʰ, b͡zᵝ, ᵐb͡zᵝ however in recent years there has been a shift in pronunciation having them pronounced purely as alveolar.
*Consonants when preceding /j, w/ are always either palatalized
ʲor labialized
ʷ
*/ɟ/ may also be heard as an implosive
�in free variation.
*/v/ may also be heard as an affricate
͡vin free variation.
Vowels
* Nasalized vowel sounds
��may be heard when preceding nasal consonants.
References
{{Authority control
Southern Bantu languages
Languages of Mozambique