The Ovambo () language is a

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

spoken by the Ovambo people in southern Angola and northern Namibia, of which the written standards are Kwanyama and

Ndonga Ndonga, also called Oshindonga, is a Bantu language, Bantu dialect spoken in Namibia and parts of Angola. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible with Kwanyama dialect, Kwanyama, ...

. The native name for the language is ''Oshiwambo'' (also written ''Oshivambo''), which is also used specifically for the Kwanyama and Ndonga dialects. It is the largest spoken local language in Namibia, particularly by the Ovambo people. The language is closely related to that of the

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

and Himba, the Herero language (''Otjiherero''). An obvious sign of proximity is the prefix used for language and dialect names,

Proto-Bantu Proto-Bantu is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Bantu languages, a subgroup of the Southern Bantoid languages. It is thought to have originally been spoken in West/Central Africa in the area of what is now Cameroon.Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2 ...

''*ki-'' (class 7, as in the name of the

Swahili language Swahili, also known by its local name , is the native language of the Swahili people, who are found primarily in Tanzania, Kenya and Mozambique (along the East African coast and adjacent litoral islands). It is a Bantu language, though Swahili ...

, ''Kiswahili''), which in Herero has evolved to ''Otji-'' and in Ovambo further to ''Oshi-''.

History

After Namibia's independence in 1990, the area previously known as

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts of ...

was divided into the

Ohangwena Ohangwena is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Eenhana. Major settlements in the region are the towns Eenhana and Helao Nafidi aa well as the self-governed village of Okongo. , Ohangwena had 150,724 registered voters. Ohangw ...

Omusati Omusati ( ng, Mopane, after the dominant tree in the area) is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Outapi. The towns of Okahao, Oshikuku and Ruacana as well as the self-governed village Tsandi are situated in this region. , Omus ...

Oshana Oshana is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Oshakati. The towns of Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa, all situated with this region, form an urban cluster with the second largest population concentration in Namibia after the ...

and Oshikoto Regions. The population, estimated at between 700,000 and 750,000, fluctuates remarkably. This is because of the indiscriminate border drawn up by the Portuguese and

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

s during colonial rule, which cut through the Oukwanyama tribal area, placing some in Angola and others in Namibia. This results in regular cross-border movement. There are approximately one million Oshiwambo speakers in Namibia and Angola. Though it is mainly spoken in the northern regions of Namibia, it is widely spoken across the rest of the country by populations of migrant workers from Ovamboland. These workers comprise a large part of the population in many towns, particularly in the south, where there are jobs in the mining industry. For example, in Lüderitz, an 18-hour drive from Ovamboland, at least 50% of the population speaks Oshiwambo.

Name

The names ''Ambo'' and ''Ovambo'' appear to have originally been exonyms. Despite extensive speculation, their origin remains unknown. The country was called ''Ovamboland'' and ''Amboland'' by the German colonial authorities. In English, ''Ovamboland'' predominates, though ''Ambo country'' is sometimes used, and in English publications from Namibia, ''Owamboland, Wamboland,'' and ''Owambo'' are seen. The endemic forms are ''Owambo kingdoms are'' Ndonga, Kwanyama and Kwambi The people are generally called the ''Ovambo'' or ''Ambo'' in English. The endemic forms are ''Aawambo'' (Ndonga) and ''Ovawambo'' (Kwanyama); the singular in both cases is ''Omuwambo''. The language is generally called ''Ovambo, Ambo,'' or ''Oshiwambo'' in English; the endonym in both standards is ''Oshiwambo.''

Ovambo tribes and dialects

There are eight dialects, including the two written standards Kwanyama and Ndonga. The following table contains the names, areas, dialect names and the locations of the Ovambo tribes according to T. E. Tirronen's ''Ndonga-English Dictionary''. The table also contains information concerning which noun class of Proto-Bantu the words belong to. Maho (2009) lists the following as distinct languages in the Ovambo cluster: *Kwanyama **Kafima **Evale **Mbandja **Mbalanhu **Ndongwena **Kwankwa **Dombondola **Esinga *Ndonga *Kwambi *Ngandjera *Kwaluudhi **Kolonkadhi-Eunda

References

External links

PanAfrican L10n page on Oshiwambo
{{Narrow Bantu languages, N-S