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Chewa (also known as Nyanja, ) 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 much of Southern,
Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...
and
East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...
, namely the countries of
Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
, where it is an
official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...
, and
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
and
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 ...
. The
noun class In linguistics, a noun class is a particular category of nouns. A noun may belong to a given class because of the characteristic features of its referent, such as gender, animacy, shape, but such designations are often clearly conventional. Some ...
prefix ''chi-'' is used for languages, so the language is usually called and (spelled in Portuguese). In Malawi, the name was officially changed from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President
Hastings Kamuzu Banda Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1898 – 25 November 1997) was the prime minister and later president of Malawi from 1964 to 1994 (from 1964 to 1966, Malawi was an independent Dominion / Commonwealth realm). In 1966, the country became a republic and ...
(himself of the
Chewa people The Chewa (or AChewa) are a Bantu ethnic group native to central and southern Africa and the largest ethnic group in Malawi. The Chewa are closely related to people in surrounding regions such as the Tumbuka and Nsenga. They are historically ...
), and this is still the name most commonly used in Malawi today. In Zambia, the language is generally known as Nyanja or '(language) of the lake' (referring to
Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, is an African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is the fifth largest fre ...
). Chewa belongs to the same language group ( Guthrie Zone N) as Tumbuka, Sena and Nsenga.


Distribution

Chewa is the most widely known language of
Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...
, spoken mostly in the Central and Southern Regions of that country. "It is also one of the seven official African languages of
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 ...
, where it is spoken mostly in the Eastern Province (the Lusaka Nyanja dialect). It is also spoken in
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
, especially in the provinces of
Tete Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues ...
and
Niassa Niassa is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 129,056 km2 and a population of 1,810,794 (2017). It is the most sparsely populated province in the country. Lichinga is the capital of the province. There are a minimum estimated 450,000 Ya ...
." It was one of the 55 languages featured on the
Voyager spacecraft The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two robotic interstellar probes, ''Voyager 1'' and ''Voyager 2''. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable alignment of Jupiter and Saturn, to fly near th ...
.


History

The Chewa were a branch of the
Maravi Maravi was a kingdom which straddled the current borders of Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, in the 16th century. The present-day name " Maláŵi" is said to derive from the Chewa word "malaŵí", which means "flames". History At its greatest ex ...
people who lived in the Eastern Province of
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 in northern Mozambique as far south as the River Zambezi from the 16th century or earlier. The name "Chewa" (in the form ''Chévas'') itself is first recorded by António Gamitto, who at the age of 26 in 1831 was appointed as second-in-command of an expedition from
Tete Tete is the capital city of Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located on the Zambezi River, and is the site of two of the four bridges crossing the river in Mozambique. A Swahili trade center before the Portuguese colonial era, Tete continues ...
to the court of King
Kazembe Kazembe is a traditional kingdom in modern-day Zambia, Southeastern Congo. For more than 250 years, Kazembe has been an influential kingdom of the Kiluba- Chibemba, speaking the language of the Eastern Luba- Lunda people of south-central Africa ...
in what is now Zambia. His route took him through the country of King Undi west of the Dzalanyama mountains, across a corner of present-day Malawi and on into Zambia. Later he wrote an account including some ethnographic and linguistic notes and vocabularies. According to Gamitto, the Malawi or Maravi people (''Maraves'') were those ruled by King Undi south of the Chambwe stream (not far south of the present border between Mozambique and Zambia), while the Chewa lived north of the Chambwe. Another, more extensive, list of 263 words and phrases of the language was made by the German missionary
Sigismund Koelle Sigismund Wilhelm Koelle or Kölle (July 14, 1823 – February 18, 1902) was a German missionary working on behalf of the London-based Church Missionary Society, at first in Sierra Leone, where he became a pioneer scholar of the languages of Africa ...
who, working in
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...
in West Africa, interviewed some 160 former slaves and recorded vocabularies in their languages. He published the results in a book called '' Polyglotta Africana'' in 1854. Among other slaves was one Mateke, who spoke what he calls "Maravi". Mateke's language is clearly an early form of Nyanja, but in a southern dialect. For example, the phrase "two years" was in Mateke's speech, whereas for Johannes Rebmann's informant Salimini, who came from the Lilongwe region, it was . The same dialect difference survives today in the word or "(to) plant". Apart from the few words recorded by Gamitto and Koelle, the first extensive record of the Chewa language was made by
Johannes Rebmann Johannes Rebmann (January 16, 1820 – October 4, 1876) was a German missionary, linguist, and explorer credited with feats including being the first European, along with his colleague Johann Ludwig Krapf, to enter Africa from the Indian Ocean coa ...
in his ''Dictionary of the Kiniassa Language'', published in 1877 but written in 1853–4. Rebmann was a missionary living near Mombasa in Kenya, and he obtained his information from a Malawian slave, known by the Swahili name Salimini, who had been captured in Malawi some ten years earlier. Salimini, who came from a place called Mphande apparently in the Lilongwe region, also noted some differences between his own dialect, which he called , the "language of the plateau", and the dialect spoken further south; for example, the Maravi gave the name to the tree which he himself called . The first grammar, ''A Grammar of the Chinyanja language as spoken at Lake Nyasa with Chinyanja–English and English–Chinyanja vocabulary'', was written by Alexander Riddel in 1880. Further early grammars and vocabularies include ''A grammar of Chinyanja, a language spoken in British Central Africa, on and near the shores of Lake Nyasa'' by George Henry (1891) and M.E. Woodward's ''A vocabulary of English–Chinyanja and Chinyanja–English: as spoken at Likoma, Lake Nyasa'' (1895). The whole Bible was translated into the Likoma Island dialect of Nyanja by
William Percival Johnson William Percival Johnson (12 March 1854 in St Helens, Isle of Wight – October 1928 in Liuli, Tanganyika) was an Anglican missionary to Nyasaland. After education at Bedford School (1863–1873) and graduation from University College, Oxfor ...
and published as in 1912. Another Bible translation, known as the , was made in a more standard Central Region dialect about 1900-1922 by missionaries of the Dutch Reformed Mission and Church of Scotland with the help of some Malawians. This has recently (2016) been reissued in a revised and slightly modernised version. Another early grammar, concentrating on the
Kasungu Kasungu is a town in the Kasungu District of the Central Region of Malawi. The population of Kasungu was 58,653 according to the 2018 census. Kasungu is approximately north-west of the capital of Malawi, Lilongwe, and is east of Kasungu N ...
dialect of the language, was
Mark Hanna Watkins Mark Hanna Watkins (November 23, 1903 – February 24, 1976) was an Afro-American linguist and anthropologist. He was born in Huntsville, Texas, the youngest of fourteen children of a Baptist minister. He obtained a Bachelor of Science from Prair ...
' ''A Grammar of Chichewa'' (1937). This book, the first grammar of any African language to be written by an American, was a work of cooperation between a young black PhD student and young student from Nyasaland studying in Chicago,
Hastings Kamuzu Banda Hastings Kamuzu Banda (1898 – 25 November 1997) was the prime minister and later president of Malawi from 1964 to 1994 (from 1964 to 1966, Malawi was an independent Dominion / Commonwealth realm). In 1966, the country became a republic and ...
, who in 1966 was to become the first President of the Republic of Malawi. This grammar is also remarkable in that it was the first to mark the tones of the words. Modern monographs on aspects of Chichewa grammar include Mtenje (1986), Kanerva (1990), Mchombo (2004) and Downing & Mtenje (2017). In recent years the language has changed considerably, and a dichotomy has grown between the traditional Chichewa of the villages and the language of city-dwellers.


Phonology


Vowels

Chewa has five vowel sounds: a, ɛ, i, ɔ, u; these are written ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u''. Long or double vowels are sometimes found, e.g. ''áákúlu'' 'big' (class 2), ''kufúula'' 'to shout'. When a word comes at the end of a phrase, its penultimate vowel tends to be lengthened, except for non-Chewa names and words, such as or , in which the penultimate vowel always remains short. The added 'u' or 'i' in borrowed words such as 'laptop' or 'internet' tends to be silent or barely pronounced.


Consonants

Chewa consonants can be plain (i.e. followed by a vowel), labialised (i.e. followed by ''w''), or palatalised (i.e. followed by or combined with ''y''): *''ba'', ''kha'', ''ga'', ''fa'', ''ma'', ''sa'' etc. *''bwa'', ''khwa'', ''gwa'', ''fwa'', ''mwa'', ''swa'' etc. *''bza'', ''tcha'', ''ja'', ''fya'', ''nya'', ''sha'' etc. In this scheme, the place of ''bya'' is taken by the palatalised affricate ''bza'', and the place of ''gya'' is taken by ''ja'', and ''sya'' is replaced by ''sha''. Another way of classifying the consonants is according to whether they are voiced, unvoiced, aspirated, nasal, or
approximant Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a ...
: *''ba'', ''da'', ''ga'' *''pa'', ''ta'', ''ka'' *''pha'', ''tha'', ''kha'' *''ma'', ''na'', ''ng'a'' *''wa'', ''la'', ''ya'' Voiced and aspirated consonants, as well as and can also be preceded by a
homorganic In phonetics, a homorganic consonant (from ''homo-'' "same" and ''organ'' "(speech) organ") is a consonant sound that is articulated in the same place of articulation as another. For example, , and are homorganic consonants of one another since ...
nasal: *''mba'', ''ngwa'', ''nja'', ''mva'', ''nza'' etc. *''mpha'', , , ''mfa'', ''nsa'' etc. The possible consonant combinations can thus be arranged on a table as follows: The spelling used here is that introduced in 1973, which is the one generally in use in the Malawi at the present time, replacing the ''Chinyanja Orthography Rules'' of 1931. Notes on the consonants *In most words, Chewa ''b'' and ''d'' (when not prenasalised) are pronounced implosively, by sucking slightly. However, there is also a plosive ''b'' and ''d'', mostly found in foreign words, such as 'bar', 'expensive' (from Afrikaans ) (in contrast to the implosive ''b'' and ''d'' in native words such as 'wound' and 'which cuts'). A plosive ''d'' is also found in 'to stamp (a document)' and 'confident step'. *The affricate sounds ''bv'' and ''pf'' were formerly commonly heard but are now generally replaced by ''v'' and ''f'', e.g. 'problem', 'bone'. In the dictionary produced by the University of Malawi, the spellings ''bv'' and ''pf'' are not used in any of the headwords, but ''bv'' is used two or three times in the definitions. *The combination ''bz'' is described by Atkins as an "alveolar-labialised fricative". The combination sounds approximately as or . Similarly ''ps'' is pronounced approximately as or . *The sounds written ''ch'', ''k'', ''p'' and ''t'' are pronounced less forcibly than the English equivalents and generally without aspiration. Stevick notes that in relaxed speech, the first three are sometimes replaced with the voiced fricatives , and , and ''t'' can be heard as a voiced flap. In the combination ''-ti'' (e.g. 'how many'), ''t'' may be lightly aspirated. *''h'' is also used in Chewa but mostly only in loanwords such as 'hotel', 'horse', 'monthly allowance given to chiefs'. *''j'' is described by Scotton and Orr as being pronounced "somewhat more forward in the mouth" than in English and as sounding "somewhere between an English ''d'' and ''j''". *''l'' and ''r'' are the same phoneme, representing a retroflex tap , approximately between and . According to the official spelling rules, the sound is written as 'r' after 'i' or 'e', otherwise 'l'. It is also written with 'l' after a prefix containing 'i', as in 'tongue'. *''m'' is syllabic in words where it is derived from ''mu'', e.g. 'relative' (3 syllables), 'teacher' (4 syllables), 'he gave him' (5 syllables). However, in class 9 words, such as 'gift', 'plate', or 'witch', and also in the class 1 word 'cat', the ''m'' is pronounced very short and does not form a separate syllable. In Southern Region dialects of Malawi, the syllabic ''m'' in words like 'lion' is pronounced in a
homorganic In phonetics, a homorganic consonant (from ''homo-'' "same" and ''organ'' "(speech) organ") is a consonant sound that is articulated in the same place of articulation as another. For example, , and are homorganic consonants of one another since ...
manner, i.e. (with three syllables), but in the Central Region, it is pronounced as it is written, i.e. . *''n'', in combinations such as ''nj'', , ''nkh'' etc., is assimilated to the following consonant, that is, it is pronounced or as appropriate. In words of class 9, such as 'snake' or 'minister' it is pronounced very short, as part of the following syllable. However, can also be syllabic, when it is contracted from ''ndi'' 'it is' or ''ndí'' 'and', e.g. 'and to go'; also in the remote past continuous tense, e.g. 'he used to go'. In some borrowed words such as or the combinations ''nk'' and ''nt'' with non-syllabic ''n'' can be found but not in native words. *''ng'' is pronounced as in 'finger' and ''ng’'' is pronounced as in 'singer'. Both of these consonants can occur at the beginning of a word: '
kudu The kudus are two species of antelope of the genus ''Tragelaphus'': * Lesser kudu, ''Tragelaphus imberbis'', of eastern Africa * Greater kudu, ''Tragelaphus strepsiceros'', of eastern and southern Africa The two species look similar, thou ...
', 'cow or ox'. *''w'' in the combinations ''awu'', ''ewu'', ''iwu'', ''owa'', ''uwa'' (e.g. 'voice', 'road', 'sound', 'enter', 'flower') although often written is generally not pronounced. Combinations such as ''gwo'' or ''mwo'' are not found; thus (short for ) 'he is good' but (short for ) 'he is bad'; 'stone' but 'fire'. *''ŵ'', a "closely lip-rounded with the tongue in the close-i position", was formerly used in Central Region dialects but is now rarely heard, usually being replaced by 'w'. ("It is doubtful whether the majority of speakers have in their phoneme inventory" (Kishindo).) The symbol 'ŵ' is generally omitted in current publications such as newspapers. In the dialects that use the sound, it is found only before a, i, and e, while before o and u it becomes .Watkins (1937), p.13. To some linguists (e.g. Watkins) it sounds similar to the Spanish . *''zy'' (as in 'be upside down like a bat') can be pronounced .


Tones

Like most other Bantu languages, Chewa is a tonal language; that is to say, the pitch of the syllables (high or low) plays an important role in it. Tone is used in various ways in the language. First of all, each word has its own tonal pattern, for example: * 'person' (Low, Low) * 'dog' (Rising, High) * 'goat' (Falling, Low) * 'maize' (High, Low, Low) Usually there is only one high tone in a word (generally on one of the last three syllables), or none. However, in compound words there can be more than one high tone, for example: * 'food' (High, High, High; derived from + , 'a thing of eating') A second important use of tone is in the verb. Each tense of the verb has its own characteristic tonal pattern (negative tenses usually have a different pattern from positive ones). For example, the present habitual has high tones on the initial syllable and the penultimate, the other syllables being low: * 'I (usually) help' * 'I (usually) go' The recent past continuous and present continuous, on the other hand, have a tone on the third syllable: * 'I was helping' * 'I was going' * 'I am helping' * 'I am going' Tones can also indicate whether a verb is being used in a
main clause An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...
or in a
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as t ...
such as a relative clause:Stevick et al. (1965), p.147. * 'the week has ended' * 'the week which has ended (i.e. last week)' A third use of tones in Chewa is to show phrasing and sentence intonation. For example, immediately before a pause in the middle of a sentence the speaker's voice tends to rise up; this rise is referred to as a
boundary tone The term boundary tone refers to a rise or fall in pitch that occurs in speech at the end of a sentence or other utterance, or, if a sentence is divided into two or more Prosodic unit, intonational phrases, at the end of each intonational phrase. I ...
. Other intonational tones are sometimes heard, for example a rising or falling tone at the end of a yes-no question.


Grammar


Noun classes

Chewa nouns are divided for convenience into a number of classes, which are referred to by the Malawians themselves by names such as "Mu-A-", but by Bantu specialists by numbers such as "1/2", corresponding to the classes in other
Bantu languages 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 ...
. Conventionally, they are grouped into pairs of singular and plural. However, irregular pairings are also possible, especially with loanwords; for example, 'bank', which takes the concords of class 9 in the singular, has a plural (class 6). When assigning nouns to a particular class, initially the prefix of the noun is used. Where there is no prefix, or where the prefix is ambiguous, the concords (see below) are used as a guide to the noun class. For example, 'possessions' is put in class 1, since it takes the class 1 demonstrative 'this'. Some nouns belong to one class only, e.g. '' (class 1), 'beer' (class 3), '' (class 6), '' (class 14), and do not change between singular and plural. Despite this, such words can still be counted if appropriate: 'two tomatoes', 'two beers', 'one shirt', 'one mosquito'. Class 11 (Lu-) is not found in Chewa. Words like 'razor' and 'skill' are considered to belong to class 5/6 (Li-Ma-) and take the concords of that class. *Mu-A- (1/2): pl. 'person'; pl. 'teacher'; pl. 'child'
(1a/2): pl. 'dog'. Class 1a refers to nouns which have no prefix.
The plural is used only for humans and animals. It can also be used for respect, e.g. 'our teacher'
(1a/6): pl. 'key'; pl. 'dance'
(1a): ''; 'luggage, furniture'; 'fertilizer' (no pl.) *Mu-Mi- (3/4): pl. 'village'; pl. 'tree'; pl. 'life'; pl. 'village'
(3): 'beer'; 'fire'; '' (no pl.) *Li-Ma- (5/6): pl. 'name'; pl. 'problem'; pl. 'hoe'; pl. 'eye'
Often the first consonant is softened or omitted in the plural in this class.
(6): 'water', 'medicine', 'place' (no sg.) *Chi-Zi- (7/8): pl. 'thing'; pl. 'year'
(7): 'maize'; 'love' (no pl.) *I-Zi- (9/10): pl. 'house'; pl. 'goat'
(10): 'beard'; 'relish'; 'intelligence' (no sg.)
(9/6): pl. 'bank' *Ka-Ti- (12/13): pl. 'baby'; pl. 'small thing'
(12): 'method of taking care'; 'way of dancing' (no pl.)
(13): 'sleep' (no sg.) *U-Ma- (14): 'night time'; 'farming'; '' (no pl.)
(14/6): pl. 'bow' Infinitive class: *Ku- (15): 'to see, seeing' Locative classes: *Pa- (16): 'mouth' *Ku- (17): 'neck' *Mu- (18): 'inside the mouth'


Concords

Pronouns, adjectives, and verbs have to show
agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting o ...
with nouns in Chichewa. This is done by means of prefixes, for example: * 'this is my child' (class 1) * 'these are my children' (class 2) * 'this is my maize' (class 7) * 'this is my house' (class 9) Class 2 (the plural of class 1) is often used for respect when referring to elders. According to Corbett and Mtenje, a word like 'father', even though it is singular, will take plural concords (e.g. 'my father is walking, I see him'); they note that to use the singular object-marker would be 'grossly impolite'. The various prefixes are shown on the table below: There are 17 different noun classes, but because some of them share concords there are in fact only 12 distinct sets of prefixes.


Examples of the use of concords

In the examples below, the concords are illustrated mainly with nouns of classes 1 and 2.


Demonstratives 'this' and 'that'

* 'who is this?'; 'who are these?' (or: 'who is this gentleman?' (respectful)) * () 'this child'; () 'these children' * () 'that child'; () 'those children' The shortened forms are more common.


Pronominal , etc.

Prefixed by a supporting vowel, or by 'with' or 'it is', these make the pronouns 'he/she' and 'they': * 'he/she'; 'they' (or 'he/she' (respectful)) * 'with him/her'; 'with them' (or 'with him/her' (respectful)) * 'it is he/she'; 'it is they' For classes other than classes 1 and 2, a demonstrative is used instead of a freestanding pronoun, for example in class 6 or . But forms prefixed by and such as and are found.


, ,

The three pronominal adjectives 'all', 'alone', 'that same' (or 'who') have the same pronominal concords and , this time as prefixes: * 'the whole of Malawi' * 'all the children' * 'on his/her own' * 'on their own' * 'that same child' * 'those same children' In classes 2 and 6, often becomes (e.g. for etc.). The commonly used word 'every' is compounded from the verb 'who is' and 'all'. Both parts of the word have concords: * 'every child' * 'every two children' * 'every house' (class 4) * 'every year' (class 7)


Subject prefix

As with other Bantu languages, all Chewa verbs have a prefix which agrees with the subject of the verb. In modern Chewa, the class 2 prefix (formerly ) has become , identical with the prefix of class 1: * 'the child will go'; 'the children will go' The perfect tense ( 'he/she has gone', 'they have gone') has different subject prefixes from the other tenses (see below).


'who'

The relative pronoun 'who' and demonstrative use the same prefixes as a verb: * 'the child who' * 'the children who' * 'that child' * 'those children' * 'that house' * 'those houses'


Object infix

The use of an object infix is not obligatory in Chewa (for example, means 'I have bought (them)'). If used, it comes immediately before the verb root, and agrees with the object: * 'I have seen him/her'; 'I have seen them' (sometimes shortened to ). The object infix of classes 16, 17, and 18 is usually replaced by a suffix: 'I have seen inside it'. The same infix with verbs with the applicative suffix represents the indirect object, e.g. 'I have written to him'.


Numeral concords

Numeral concords are used with numbers 'one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five', and the words 'how many', 'several': * 'one child'; 'two children'; 'how many children?' The class 1 prefix becomes before : 'two tomatoes'. The number 'ten' has no concord.


Demonstratives and

The demonstrative pronouns 'that one you know' and 'this one we are in' take the concords and in classes 1 and 2. For semantic reasons, class 1 is rare: * 'that child (the one you know)'; 'those children' (those ones you know) * 'this month (we are in)' (class 3); 'these days'; 'here in Malawi (where we are now)' (class 17).


Perfect tense subject prefix

The same concords (derived from ) and , combined with the vowel , make the subject prefix of the perfect tense. In the plural the two prefixes combine into a single vowel: * 'the child has gone; 'the children have gone'


Possessive concord

The concords (derived from ) and are also found in the word 'of': * 'Mphatso's child'; 'Mphatso's children' The same concords are used in possessive adjectives 'my', 'your', 'his/her/its/their', 'our', 'your (plural or respectful singular), 'their'/'his/her' (respectful): * 'my child'; 'my children' 'their' is used only of people ( is used for things). 'of' can be combined with nouns or adverbs to make adjectives: * 'an intelligent child'; 'intelligent children' * a good child'; 'good children' In the same way 'of' combines with the of the infinitive to make verbal adjectives. + usually shortens to , except where the verb root is monosyllabic: * 'a beautiful child'; 'beautiful children' * 'a thieving child'; 'thieving children'


'other' and 'real'

The same and concords are found with the words 'other' and 'real'. In combination with these words the plural concord is converted to : * 'a certain child, another child'; 'certain children, other children' * 'a real child'; 'real children'


Double-prefix adjectives

Certain adjectives ( 'big', 'small'; 'male', 'female'; 'long', 'tall', 'short'; 'fresh') have a double prefix, combining the possessive concord () and the number concord ( or ): * 'a big child'; 'big children' * 'a small child'; 'little children' * 'a male child'; 'male children' * 'a female child'; 'female children'


Historic changes

Early dictionaries, such as those of Rebmann, and of Scott and Hetherwick, show that formerly the number of concords was greater. The following changes have taken place: *Class 2 formerly had the concord (e.g. 'these people'), but this has now become for most speakers. *Class 8, formerly using (Southern Region) or (Central Region) (e.g. 'two years'), has now adopted the concords of class 10. *Class 6, formerly with concords (e.g. 'these eggs'), now has the concords of class 2. *Class 11 () had already been assimilated to class 5 even in the 19th century, although it still exists in some dialects of the neighbouring language Tumbuka. *Class 14, formerly with concords (e.g. 'my flour'), now has the same concords as class 3. *Class 13 () had in Rebmann's time (e.g. 'these small knives'). This prefix still survives in words like 'sleep'. In addition, classes 4 and 9, and classes 15 and 17 have identical concords, so the total number of concord sets (singular and plural) is now twelve.


Verbs


Formation of tenses

Tenses In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, ...
in Chichewa are differentiated in two ways, by their tense-marker (or tense-
infix An infix is an affix inserted inside a word stem (an existing word or the core of a family of words). It contrasts with ''adfix,'' a rare term for an affix attached to the outside of a stem, such as a prefix or suffix. When marking text for int ...
), and by their tonal pattern. Sometimes two tenses have the same tense-marker and differ in their tonal pattern alone. In the following examples, the tense-marker is underlined: * 'I am buying' * 'I usually buy' * 'I was buying', 'I used to buy' * 'I will buy (tomorrow or in future)' * 'I will buy (when I get there)' One tense has no tense-marker: * 'I will buy (soon)' Tenses can be modified further by adding certain other infixes, called 'aspect-markers', after the tense-marker. These are 'always, usually' 'go and', 'come and' or 'in future', and 'only', 'just'. These infixes can also be used on their own, as tense-markers in their own right (compare the use of and in the list of tenses above). For example: * 'I am always buying' * 'I went and bought' * 'I just usually buy' Compound tenses, such as the following, are also found in Chichewa: * 'I have been buying'


Subject-marker

Chichewa verbs (with the exception of the
imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. To form the imperative mood, ...
and
infinitive Infinitive (abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is deri ...
) begin with a
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the Word stem, stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy'' ...
agreeing grammatically with the subject. This prefix is referred to by some grammarians as the 'subject-marker'. * 'we are going' * (for *) 'the tree has fallen' The subject-marker can be: *Personal: 'I', 'you (singular)', 'he, she', 'we', 'you (plural or polite)', 'they'; 'he/she (respectful or polite). (In the perfect tense, the subject-marker for 'he, she' is : 'he has gone'.) *Impersonal: (class 1, 2 or 6), (class 3 or 14), (class 4 or 9), (class 5), etc. *Locative: , , An example of a locative subject-marker is: * 'in the water there are fish' Both the 2nd and the 3rd person plural pronouns and subject-markers are used respectfully to refer to a single person: * 'you are going' (plural or respectful) * 'they have gone' or 'he/she has gone' (respectful) Except in the perfect tense, the 3rd person subject marker when used of people is the same whether singular or plural. So in the present tense the 3rd person subject-marker is ''a-'': * 'he/she is going' * 'they are going', 'he/she is going' (respectful) But in the perfect tense ''wa-'' (singular) contrasts with ''a-'' (plural or respectful): * 'he/she has gone' * 'they have gone', 'he/she has gone' (respectful) When the subject is a noun not in class 1, the appropriate class prefix is used even if referring to a person: * 'the chief is going' (class 9) * 'the babies are going' (class 13)


Object-marker

An object-marker can also optionally be added to the verb; if one is added it goes immediately before the verb-stem. The 2nd person plural adds after the verb: * 'I love you' ( = 'I', = 'you') * 'I love you' (plural or formal) The object-marker can be: *Personal: 'me', 'you', or 'him, her', 'us', or 'them', 'him/her (polite)'. *Impersonal: (class 1), (class 2), (class 3 or 14), etc. *Locative: e.g. 'you know the inside of the house'; but usually a locative suffix is used instead: 'I have seen inside it' *Reflexive: 'himself', 'herself', 'themselves', 'myself', etc. When used with a toneless verb tense such as the perfect, the object-marker has a high tone, but in some tenses such as the present habitual, the tone is lost: * 'I have seen him' * 'I usually see him' With the imperative or subjunctive, the tone of the object-marker goes on the syllable following it, and the imperative ending changes to ''-e'': * 'could you give me some rice?' * 'help me!' * 'you should help him'


Variety of tenses

Chewa has a large number of tenses, some of which differ in some respects from the tenses met with in European languages. The distinction between one tense and another is made partly by the use of infixes, such as and , and partly by the intonation of the verb, since each tense has its own particular tonal pattern.


Near vs. remote

There are five time-frames (remote past, near past, present,
near future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
, and remote future). The distinction between near and remote tenses is not exact. The remote tenses are not used of events of today or last night, but the near tenses can sometimes be used of events of earlier or later than today: * 'I bought (yesterday or some days ago)' (''remote perfect'') * 'I have bought (today)' (''perfect'') * 'I am buying (now)' (''present'') * 'I'll buy (today)' (''near future'') * 'I'll buy (tomorrow or later)' (''remote future'')


Perfect vs. past

Another distinction is between perfect and past. The two perfect tenses imply that the event described had an outcome which still obtains now. The two past tenses usually imply that the result of the action has been reversed in some way: Recent time (today): * 'I have bought it' (and still have it) (''Perfect'') * 'I bought it (but no longer have it)' (''Recent Past'') Remote time (yesterday or earlier): * or 'I bought it' (and still have it) (''Remote Perfect'') * or 'I bought it (but no longer have it)' (''Remote Past'') When used in narrating a series of events, however, these implications are somewhat relaxed: the Remote Perfect is used for narrating earlier events, and the Recent Past for narrating events of today.


Perfective vs. imperfective

Another important distinction in Chewa is between perfective and imperfective aspect. Imperfective tenses are used for situations, events which occur regularly, or events which are temporarily in progress: * 'I used to buy', 'I was buying (a long time ago)' * 'I was buying (today)', 'I used to buy (a long time ago)' * 'I will be buying (regularly)' In the present tense only, there is a further distinction between habitual and progressive: * 'I buy (regularly)' * 'I am buying (currently)'


Other tenses

One future tense not found in European languages is the future, which 'might presuppose an unspoken conditional clause': * 'I will buy' (if I go there, or when I get there) There are also various
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
and potential mood tenses, such as: * 'I should buy' * 'I should be buying' * 'I should buy (in future)' * 'I can buy' * 'I would have bought'


Negative tenses

Negative tenses, if they are main verbs, are made with the prefix . They differ in intonation from the positive tenses. The negative of the tense has the ending instead of : * 'I don't buy' * 'I didn't buy' Tenses which mean 'will not' or 'have not yet' have a single tone on the penultimate syllable: * 'I won't buy' * 'I haven't bought (it) yet' Infinitives, participial verbs, and the subjunctive make their negative with , which is added after the subject-prefix instead of before it. They similarly have a single tone on the penultimate syllable: * 'I should not buy' * 'not to buy'


Dependent clause tenses

The tenses used in certain kinds of dependent clauses (such as relative clauses and some types of temporal clauses) differ from those used in main clauses. Dependent verbs often have a tone on the first syllable. Sometimes this change of tone alone is sufficient to show that the verb is being used in a dependent clause. Compare for example: * 'he is buying' * 'when he is buying' or 'who is buying' Other commonly used dependent tenses are the following: * 'after I bought/buy' * 'before I bought/buy' There is also a series of tenses using a toneless meaning 'when' of 'if', for example: * 'when/if I buy' * 'if in future I buy' * 'whenever I buy' * 'if I had bought'


Verb extensions

After the verb stem one or more extensions may be added. The extensions modify the meaning of the verb, for example: * 'buy' * 'buy for' or 'buy with' (''applicative'') * 'buy for one another' (''applicative + reciprocal'') * 'get bought', 'be for sale' (''stative'') * 'cause to get bought, i.e. sell' (''causative'') * 'be sold (by someone)' (''causative + passive'') The extensions and its intransitive form are called 'reversive'. They give meanings such as 'open', 'undo', 'unstick', 'uncover': * 'open (something)' * 'become open' * 'break something off' * 'get broken off' * 'undo, loosen' * 'become loose, relaxed' Most extensions, apart from the reciprocal 'one another', have two possible forms, e.g. , , , , , . The forms with and are used when the verb stem has , , or . ''u'' can also follow ''e'': * 'fail to happen' * 'cook for someone' * 'sell' * 'melt (transitive)' * 'open' The forms with are used if the verb stem is monosyllabic or has an or in it: * 'eat with' * 'repeat' * 'come from' Extensions with ''o'' are used only with a monosyllabic stem or one with ''o'': * 'get broken off' * 'remove grains of corn from the cob' The extension with a low tone is causative, but when it has a high tone it is intensive. The high tone is heard on the final syllable of the verb: * 'look carefully' * 'try hard' The applicative can also sometimes be intensive, in which case it has a high tone: * 'carry on, keep going' Verbs with when they have a stative or intransitive meaning also usually have a high tone: * 'happen' * 'melt (intransitive), get melted' However, there are some low-toned exceptions such as 'seem' or 'set off'.


Literature


Story-writers and playwrights

The following have written published stories, novels, or plays in the Chewa language: * William Chafulumira * Samuel Josia Ntara or Nthala * John Gwengwe *
E.J. Chadza Ezra Jofiya Chadza (1923-1985) or E.J. Chadza, as he signed his books, was a well-known Malawian teacher, author and poet, writing especially in the Chichewa language of Malawi. Ezra Chadza was born in the village of Ntande in Dedza District in Ma ...
* Steve Chimombo *
Whyghtone Kamthunzi Whyghtone Kamthunzi (31 July 1956 - 18 May 2000) was a leading writer in the Chichewa language of Malawi in the 1980s and 1990s. Kamthunzi was born in the village of Njolomole in Ntcheu district in Malawi. His father was a school teacher. After at ...
* Francis Moto * Bonwell Kadyankena Rodgers * Willie Zingani * Barnaba Zingani * Jolly Maxwell Ntaba


Poets

*
Jack Mapanje Jack Mapanje (born 25 March 1944)E.J. Chadza Ezra Jofiya Chadza (1923-1985) or E.J. Chadza, as he signed his books, was a well-known Malawian teacher, author and poet, writing especially in the Chichewa language of Malawi. Ezra Chadza was born in the village of Ntande in Dedza District in Ma ...
* Benedicto Wokomaatani Malunga * Innocent Masina Nkhonyo


Town Nyanja (Zambia)

An urban variety of Nyanja, sometimes called Town Nyanja, is the lingua franca of the Zambian capital
Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...
and is widely spoken as a second language throughout Zambia. This is a distinctive Nyanja dialect with some features of Nsenga, although the language also incorporates large numbers of English-derived words, as well as showing influence from other Zambian languages such as Bemba. Town Nyanja has no official status, and the presence of large numbers of loanwords and colloquial expressions has given rise to the misconception that it is an unstructured mixture of languages or a form of slang. The fact that the standard Nyanja used in schools differs dramatically from the variety actually spoken in Lusaka has been identified as a barrier to the acquisition of literacy among Zambian children. The concords in Town Nyanja differ from those in Chichewa described above. For example, classes 5 and 6 both have the concord ''ya-'' instead of ''la-'' and ''a-''; class 8 has ''va-'' instead of ''za-''; and 13 has ''twa-'' instead of ''ta-''. In addition, the subject and object marker for "I" is ''ni-'' rather than ''ndi-'', and that for "they" is ''βa-'' (spelled "ba-") rather than ''a-''.Gray, Lubasi & Bwalya (2013) p. 16.


Sample phrases


References


Bibliography

*Atkins, Guy (1950
"Suggestions for an Amended Spelling and Word Division of Nyanja"
''Africa: Journal of the International African Institute'', Vol. 20, No. 3 *Batteen, C. (2005)
"Syntactic Constraints in Chichewa/English code-switching."
*Bickmore, Lee (2021)
"Town Nyanja Verbal Tonology"
*Chirwa, Marion N. (2008)
''Trill Maintenance and Replacement in Chichewa''
(M.A. thesis, University of Cape Town) *Corbett, G.G.; Al D. Mtenje (1987
"Gender Agreement in Chichewa"
''Studies in African Linguistics'' Vol 18, No. 1. *Downing, Laura J.; Al D. Mtenje (2017). ''The Phonology of Chichewa''. Oxford University Press. *Goodson, Andrew, (2011)
''Salimini's Chichewa''
In Paas, Steven (2011). ''Johannes Rebmann: A Servant of God in Africa before the Rise of Western Colonialism'', pp. 239–50. * * *Henry, George, (1904).
A grammar of Chinyanja, a language spoken in British Central Africa, on and near the shores of Lake Nyasa
'' *Hullquist, C.G. (1988). ''Simply Chichewa''. *Hyman, Larry M. & Sam Mchombo (1992)
"Morphotactic Constraints in the Chichewa Verb Stem"
Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society: General Session and Parasession on The Place of Morphology in a Grammar (1992), pp. 350–364. *Hyman, Larry M. & Al D. Mtenje (1999a). "Prosodic Morphology and tone: the case of Chichewa" in René Kager,
Harry van der Hulst Harry van der Hulst (born 1953, The Hague) is Full Professor of linguistics and Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Department of Linguistics of the University of Connecticut. He has been editor-in-chief of the international SSCI peer-review ...
and Wim Zonneveld (eds.) ''The Prosody-Morphology Interface''. Cambridge University Press, 90–133. *Hyman, Larry M. & Al D. Mtenje (1999b). "Non-Etymological High Tones in the Chichewa Verb", ''Malilime: The Malawian Journal of Linguistics'' no.1. *Katsonga-Woodward, Heather (2012). ''Chichewa 101''. . *Kanerva, Jonni M. (1990). ''Focus and Phrasing in Chichewa Phonology''. New York, Garland. *Kishindo, Pascal, (2001)
"Authority in Language"
The Role of the Chichewa Board (1972-1995) in Prescription and Standardization of Chichewa. ''Journal of Asian and African Studies'', No. 62. *Kiso, Andrea (2012)
"Tense and Aspect in Chichewa, Citumbuka, and Cisena"
Ph.D. Thesis. Stockholm University. *Kunkeyani, Thokozani (2007)
"Semantic Classification and Chichewa Derived Nouns"
SOAS Working Papers in Linguistics Vol.15 (2007): 151–157. * *Lehmann, Dorothea (1977) ''An outline of Cinyanja Grammar''. Zambia * Mapanje, John Alfred Clement (1983)
"On the Interpretation of Aspect and Tense in Chiyao, Chichewa, and English"
University College London PhD Thesis. *Marwick, M.G., (1963). "History and Tradition in East Central Africa Through the Eyes of the Northern Rhodesian Cheŵa", ''Journal of African History'', 4, 3, pp. 375–390. *Marwick, M.G., (1964)
"An Ethnographic Classic Brought to Light"
''Africa: Journal of the International African Institute'', Vol. 34, No. 1, pp. 46–56. *Maxson, Nathaniel (2011). ''Chicheŵa for English Speakers: A New and Simplifed Approach''. . * *Mchombo, S. (2006)
"Nyanja"
In ''The Concise Encyclopedia of Languages of the World'' (Elsevier). *Missionários da Companhia de Jesus, (1963). ''Dicionário Cinyanja–Português''. Junta de Investigaçôes do Ultramar. *: The first Chinyanja/Chichewa monolingual dictionary (c.2000). Blantyre (Malawi): Dzuka Pub. Co. (Also published online at the website of th
"Centre for Language Studies of the University of Malawi"
) *Mtenje, Al D. (1986)
''Issues in the Non-Linear Phonology of Chichewa'' part 1''Issues in the Non-Linear Phonology of Chichewa'' part 2
PhD Thesis, University College, London. *Mtenje, Al D. (1987). "Tone Shift Principles in the Chichewa Verb: A Case for a Tone Lexicon", ''Lingua'' 72, 169–207. *Newitt, M.D.D. (1982
"The Early History of the Maravi"
''The Journal of African History'', vol 23, no. 2, pp. 145–162. *Paas, Steven, (2016). ''Oxford Chichewa–English, English–Chichewa Dictionary''. Oxford University Press. *Rebman, John (= Johannes Rebmann), (1877)
''A Dictionary of the Kiniassa Language''
Church Missionary Society (reprinted Gregg, 1968). * *Salaun, N. (1993)
978 Year 978 ( CMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Battle of Pankaleia: Rebel forces under General Bardas Skleros are defeated ...
''Chicheŵa Intensive Course''. Likuni Press, Lilongwe. *Scott, David Clement & Alexander Hetherwick (1929). ''Dictionary of the Nyanja Language''. *Scotton, Carol Myers & Gregory John Orr, (1980)
''Learning Chichewa'', Bk 1''Learning Chichewa'', Bk 2
Peace Corps Language Handbook Series. Peace Corps, Washington, D.C. (For recordings, see External links below.) *Simango, Silvester Ron (2000)
"'My Madam is Fine': The Adaptation of English loanwords in Chichewa"
''Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development'', vol 12, no. 6. * Stevick, Earl et al. (1965)
''Chinyanja Basic Course''
Foreign Service Institute, Washington, D.C. (Recordings of this are available on the internet.) *Wade-Lewis, Margaret (2005)

''Histories of Anthropology Annual'', vol 1, pp. 181–218. *Watkins, Mark Hanna (1937)
''A Grammar of Chichewa: A Bantu Language of British Central Africa''
''Language'', Vol. 13, No. 2, Language Dissertation No. 24 (Apr.-Jun., 1937), pp. 5–158. *Woodward, M.E., (1895).
A vocabulary of English–Chinyanja and Chinyanja–English as spoken at Likoma, Lake Nyasa
'' Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.


External links

* Tola Akindipe, George Kondowe
Learn Chichewa on Mofeko

Online English–Chichewa Dictionary

My First Chewa Dictionary
kasahorow
Chichewa at Omniglot

English / Chichewa (Nyanja) Online Dictionary

Bible, 1922 version digitalized

Complete Bible (, 1922, revised 1936) in Nyanja, chapter by chapter

Buku Lopatulika Bible, 2014 version

Johnson's 1912 translation of Genesis 1-3 into the Likoma dialect, in various formats

Johnson's translation of the Book of Common Prayer in the Likoma dialect (1909)

Holy Quran in Chichewa


* Willie T. Zingani
"Come and see"
Chichewa book in pdf form. * Bonwell Kadyankena Rodgers

Agoloso Presents - Nkhokwe ya Zining'a za m'Chichewa.pdf. * Bonwell Kadyankena Rodgers

Agoloso Presents - Mikuluwiko ya Patsokwe.pdf.
OLAC resources in and about the Nyanja languageZodiak Radio live radio in English and ChichewaM.V.B. Mangoche ''A Visitor's Notebook of Chichewa''
Elementary phrasebook.
Complete recording of New Testament
(without text) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chichewa Language Chewa language, Nyasa languages Languages of Malawi Languages of Mozambique Languages of Zambia Languages of Zimbabwe