Nyakyusa, or Nyakyusa-Ngonde, 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 ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

and

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

spoken by the

Nyakyusa people The Nyakyusa (also called the Sokile, Ngone or Nkone) are a Bantu ethnolinguistic group who live in the mountains of southern Mbeya Region of Tanzania and the Northern Region of Malawi. They speak the Nyakyusa language, a member of the Bantu lan ...

around the northern end of

Lake Malawi Lake Malawi, also known as Lake Nyasa in Tanzania and Lago Niassa in Mozambique, () is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake and the southernmost lake in the East African Rift system, located between Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. It is ...

. There is no single name for the language as a whole; its dialects are Nyakyusa,

Ngonde The Nyakyusa (also called the Sokile, Ngone or Nkone) are a Bantu peoples, Bantu ethnolinguistic group who live in the mountains of southern Mbeya Region of Tanzania and the Northern Region of Malawi. They speak the Nyakyusa language, a member of t ...

(Konde), Kukwe, Mwamba ( Lungulu), and Selya (Salya, Seria) of Tanzania. Disregarding the Bantu language prefixes ''Iki-'' and ''Ki-,'' the language is also known as Konde ~ Nkhonde, Mombe, Nyekyosa ~ Nyikyusa, and Sochile ~ Sokili. Sukwa is often listed as another dialect; however, according to Nurse (1988) and Fourshey (2002), it is a dialect of Lambya. In Malawi, Nyakusa and Kyangonde are spoken in the northern part of

Karonga District Karonga is a district in the Northern Region of Malawi. The district covers an area of 3,355 km.² and has a population of 365,028. It is a border district between Malawi and Tanzania's Mbeya Region's Kyela District. Chitumbuka is the maj ...

, on the shore of Lake Malawi, close to the border with Tanzania, while Nkhonde is spoken the centre of the district, including in the town of

Karonga Karonga is a township in the Karonga District in Northern Region of Malawi. Located on the western shore of Lake Nyasa, it was established as a slaving centre sometime before 1877. As of 2018 estimates, Karonga has a population of 61,609. Th ...

. According to the Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi, carried out by the Centre for Language Studies of the

University of Malawi The University of Malawi (UNIMA) is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whethe ...

, "Nyakyuska, though spoken by very few people, mainly at Iponga in Sub T/ A Mwakawoko’s area, is regarded as the parent language from which Kyangonde and Chinkhonde originated. Kyangonde, on the other hand, is regarded as the most prestigious and standard language/dialect of the district. Chinkhonde is seen as a dialect of Kyangonde which has been heavily influenced by Citumbuka." The same Survey contains a folktale (the Tortoise and the Hare) in Chinkhonde and other languages of Northern Malawi, as well as some comparative vocabulary. Below is the Tortoise and the Hare folktale in Chinkhonde.

Similarities to other African languages

It is closely related to Kyangonde and Swahili and is related to Yao, Bemba, Mambwe-lungu, Chichewa. Sample text from Bible ''Mwalululu, Yehova ikwisa kutwabula ku nifwa, kangi inifwa yitisa kuyako bwila na bwila''! Translation Very soon, Jehovah will free all humans from death, and death will be gone forever!
p. 17.

Writing system

References

Works cited

* * * Languages of Tanzania Languages of Malawi Rukwa languages {{Bantu-lang-stub

Similarities to other African languages

Writing system

Further reading

References

Works cited