Luyana (Luyaana), also known as ''Luyi'' (Louyi, Lui, Rouyi), 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 in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

and perhaps in small numbers in neighboring countries. It appears to be an divergent lineage of Bantu. It is spoken by the Luyana people, a subgroup of the

Lozi people Lozi people, or Barotse, are a southern African ethnic group who speak Lozi or Silozi, a Sotho–Tswana language. The Lozi people consist of more than 46 different ethnic groups and are primarily situated between Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbab ...

. ''Ethnologue'' lists Kwandi, Mbowe, Mbume, and possibly Kwangwa ("Kwanga") as dialects. Maho (2009) classifies these as distinct languages; it is not clear if any of them are part of the divergent Luyana branch of Bantu, or if they are

Kavango languages Kavango may refer to: ;Geographical features: * Okavango River, a river in southwest Africa, which drains into the Okavango Delta * Okavango Delta, a delta in Botswana * Okavango Basin, an endorheic basin that includes the Okavango River and Okavan ...

. The writing system of the Luyana language was developed in 2011 and uses the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...

. The language is taught in

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

s and

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

s.https://www.ethnologue.com/language/lyn Luyana , Ethnologue

Phonology

Vowels

Luyana has five simple vowels: ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', and ''u''.Jacottet, E. 1896
/ref> ''o'' is almost always open and is rarely closed. Wherever there may be hesitation between ''o'' and ''u'', ''u'' should be used. There are no diphthongs. When two vowels meet, they contract, or one is omitted.

Consonants

The Luyana consonant system has approximately 25 phonemes. The consonant inventory of the language is shown below.

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

References

See also