Tumbuka language

Chitumbuka (also known as Senga) is a Bantu language which is spoken primarily in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.Michigan State University African Studies Center information page
It is the native and primary language of at least 11 groups of Bantu peoples, namely, the Senga, Tumbuka, Yombe, Phoka, Henga, Balowoka, Fungwe, Hewe, Northern Ngoni, Kamanga and Tonga people (Malawi), with 12 known and studied dialects. The ''chi-'' prefix in front of ''Tumbuka'' means ''"the language of",'' so the language is usually called ''Chitumbuka'' even in English publications''.'' In Northern Malawi, Chitumbuka is spoken in all 6 districts of the region, namely, Rumphi, Mzimba (including Mzuzu City), Karonga, Chitipa, Nkhata-Bay, and Monkey Bay. In Central Malawi, it is spoken primarily in 3 districts of Kasungu, Nkhotakota and Ntchisi. In the Eastern Province of Zambia, Chitumbuka is spoken mainly in 5 districts, namely, Lumezi, Chasefu, Lundazi and Chama, with some in Chipangali and Chipata. In Muchinga Province of Zambia, Chitumbuka is spoken in the districts of Isoka, Mafinga and surrounding areas. In Southern Tanzania, it is spoken in Mbeya, Rungwe and Njombe districts that share boundary with Northern Malawi.Kiso (2012), pp.21ff. In Zimbabwe, Chitumbuka is spoken to the lesser extent in Harare due to migrant labour by over 20,000 people who migrated in early 18th century.

Speakers

In 2024, there were approximately 7.1 million native Chitumbuka speakers from all the 3 countries, excluding speakers from Zimbabwe whose data was not added. In Malawi and Zambia, there are nearly 1,600,000 people who speak it as their second language.

''In 1998, The World Almanac'' recorded the number of Chitumbuka speakers at 2 million speakers, though other sources estimated a higher number than that. The majority of Chitumbuka speakers live in Malawi and Zambia, with half a million living in South Tanzania, and over 20,000 in Zimbabwe.

Official and regional status

In 1947, Chitumbuka was made an official language of Malawi for 21 years along with Chewa and English. It was in 1968 when Hastings Kamuzu Banda removed the language as a result of his one-nation, one-language policy. The Chitumbuka language suffered a lot during the rule of President Banda. It was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media. With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Chitumbuka programmes were started again on the radio.

Dialects

There are several dialects of Chitumbuka spoken in three countries. Malawi has Chikamanga, Chiphoka and Chihewe dialects that are spoken in Rumphi and Karonga Districts; Chiwenya spoken in Chitipa District and Chitumbuka spoken in Mzimba and NkhataBay Districts, including Mzuzu City. The Rumphi variant is often regarded as the most "linguistically pure" and is sometimes called "real Chitumbuka".

Orthography

Two systems of writing Tumbuka are in use: the traditional spelling (used for example in the Chitumbuka version of Wikipedia and in the newspaper ), in which words such as 'people' and 'year' are written with 'b' and 'ch', and the new official spelling (used for example in the Citumbuka dictionary published online by the Centre for Language Studies and in the online Bible), in which the same words are written with 'ŵ' and 'c', e.g. ''ŵanthu'' and ''caka''. (The sound 'ŵ' is a closely rounded pronounced with the tongue in the close-i position.) There is some uncertainty over where to write 'r' and where 'l', e.g. (Dictionary) or (Bible) 'food'. (In fact and are allophones of the same phoneme.) There is also hesitation between the spellings 'sk' and 'sy' (both and ('bamboo') are found in the Citumbuka dictionary).

Phonology

Vowels

The same vowels , , , , and syllabic are found in Tumbuka as in the neighbouring languages.

Consonants

Tumbuka consonants are similar to those of the neighbouring languages of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, but with certain differences. The continuant sounds , and , which are absent or marginal in other related languages, are common in Tumbuka. Also common are the palatalised sounds , , , , , , and . In Tumbuka there are no affricates such as , , , . The sounds and are never nasalised in Tumbuka, so that Nyanja ('fish') = Tumbuka . The sound is found only in foreign words such as ('shirt') and ('sugar'). Tumbuka sometimes corresponds to , for example Chewa 'to be ill' = Tumbuka , Chewa 'to eat' = Tumbuka . The pronunciation of "sk" and "zg" varies according to dialect.

Tumbuka consonants are frequently either palatalised (i.e. followed by /y/) or rounded (i.e. followed by /w/.) Some of them can also be preceded by a homorganic nasal (/n/, /ng'/ or /m/). The possible consonant combinations are shown in the table below:

Tone

Tumbuka has a tonal accent but in a very limited way, in that every word, spoken in isolation, has the same falling tone on the penultimate syllable (which also coincides with stress). It is therefore not possible in Tumbuka to contrast two different words or two different tenses tonally, as it is in other Bantu languages. However, this penultimate falling tone occurs not on every word, but only on the last word of a phonological phrase; e.g. in the following sentence, only the second word has a tone, the first being toneless:
* 'we are cooking porridge'

A greater variety of tonal patterns is found in the ideophones (expressive words) of Tumbuka; for example Low ( 'disintegrating into small pieces'), High ( 'swooping low (of birds)'), High-Low ( 'sound of thing bursting'), and Low-High ( 'sudden disappearance'), etc.

Intonational tones are also used in Tumbuka; for example, in yes-no questions there is often a High-Low fall on the final syllable of the question:
* 'are you also weeding the maize?'

There does not seem to be any consistent, direct correlation between tone in Tumbuka and focus.

Nouns

Noun classes

As is usual with Bantu languages, Tumbuka nouns are grouped into different noun classes according to their singular and plural prefixes. Each class of noun has its own adjective, pronoun, and verb agreements, known as 'concords'. Where the agreements disagree with the prefix, the agreements take precedence in deciding the class of noun. For example, the noun 'possessions', despite having the prefix ''ka-'', is placed in class 1, since one says 'these possessions' using the class 1 demonstrative . Malawians themselves (e.g. in the University of Malawi's Citumbuka dictionary) refer to the noun classes by traditional names such as "Mu-Ŵa-"; Bantu specialists, however, refer to the classes by numbers (1/2 etc.) corresponding to the noun-classes of other Bantu languages. Occasionally nouns do not correspond to the classes below, e.g. 'chief' (class 9) irregularly has a plural ''mafumu'' in class 6.

Class 1/2 (Mu-Ŵa-)

Some nouns in this class lack the prefix Mu-:
* pl. = person
* pl. = foreigner, white man
* pl. = child
* pl. = donkey
* pl. = maternal uncle
* (no pl.) = goods, possessions

Class 3/4 (Mu-Mi-)
* pl. = head
* pl. = fig-tree
* pl. = life
* pl. = heart

Class 5/6 (Li-Ma-)
* pl. = breast
* pl. = government, district
* pl. = bottle
* pl. = tribe, nation
* pl. = eye
* (no singular) = water
* pl. = hill
* pl. = problem, trouble
* pl. = hand

Class 7/8 (Ci-Vi-)
* pl. = year
* pl. = country, land
* pl. = farm animal
* pl. = drunkard
* pl. = whip

Class 9/10 (Yi-Zi-)
* pl. = plate
* pl. = money
* pl. = brick
* pl. = chicken
* pl. = fish

Class 11 (Lu-)

Some speakers treat words in this class as if they were in class 5/6.
* = side
* = fame
* = tongue

Class 12/13 (Ka-Tu-)
* pl. = small thing
* pl. = baby
* pl. = bird
* (no singular) = sleep

Class 14/6 (U-Ma-)

These nouns are frequently abstract and have no plural.
* = night
* = farming
* pl. = bridge
* pl. = bow

Class 15 (Ku-) Infinitive
* = to buy, buying
* = to steal, stealing

Classes 16, 17, 18 (Pa-, Ku-, Mu-) Locative
* = underneath
* = in front, before
* = inside

Concords

Verbs, adjectives, numbers, possessives, and pronouns in Tumbuka have to agree with the noun referred to. This is done by means of prefixes, infixes, or suffixes called 'concords' which differ according to the class of noun. Class 1 has the greatest variety of concords, differing for pronouns, subject prefix, object infix, numbers, adjectives, and possessives:
* = this child
* = one child
* = that child
* = the whole child
* = every child
* = the child saw him
* = the small child
* = Khumbo's child
* = my child
* = the child has seen

Other noun classes have a smaller variety of concords, as can be seen from the table below:

Sample phrases and text

The following is a list of phrases that can be used when one visits a region whose primary language is Tumbuka:

Verbs

Subject prefix

All verbs must have a subject prefix, which agrees with the subject noun. For example, the word 'hunter' is class 7, so if it is subject, the verb has the prefix ''ci-'':
: = 'the hunter killed a lion'

It is also possible for the subject to be a locative noun (classes 16, 17, 18), in which case the verb has a locative prefix:
: = 'on the mat there sat down a child'

The locative prefix ''ku-'' (class 17) is also used impersonally when discussing the weather:
: = 'it's cold these days'

When the subject is a personal pronoun, the subject prefixes are as follows (the pronoun itself may be omitted, but not the subject prefix):
: = 'I bought' (''nkha-'' stands for ''ni-ka-'')
: = 'you bought' (informal, singular)
: = 'he, she bought'
: = 'we bought'
: = 'you bought' (plural or respectful)
: = 'they bought', 'he/she bought' (plural or respectful)

In the perfect tense, these are shortened to , e.g. 'we have bought'.

In Karonga dialect, in the 3rd person singular ''a-'' is found instead of ''wa-'', and the 3rd plural is ''wa-'' instead of ''ŵa-'', except in the perfect tense, when ''wa-'' and ''ŵa-'' are used.

Object-marker

To indicate the object, an infix can be added to the verb immediately before the verb root. Generally speaking, the object-marker is optional:
: = 'Pokani has bought a car' (class 9)
: = 'Changa carried the luggage' (class 1)

The object-marker agrees with the class of the object, as shown on the table of concords above.

The object-marker can also be a locative (classes 16, 17, or 18):
: = 'Kondwani has climbed on top of the house'

The locative markers for personal pronouns are as follows:
: = 'he has seen me'
: = 'he has seen you'
: = 'he has seen him/her'
: = 'he has seen us'
: = 'he has seen you' (plural or respectful)
: = 'he has seen them'

Tenses

Tenses in Tumbuka are made partly by adding infixes, and partly by suffixes. Unlike Chichewa, tones do not form any part of the distinction between one tense and another.

In the past a distinction is made between hodiernal tenses (referring to events of today) and remote tenses (referring to events of yesterday or some time ago). However, the boundary between recent and remote is not exact.

Another distinction is made between past and perfect tenses. When a perfect tense is used it carries an implication that the resulting situation still exists at the time of speaking, for example: 'the pumpkins have spread () over the garden'. The present perfect can also be used in verbs expressing a current situation such as 'I am sitting' or 'I am pleased'. The remote perfect is used for events which happened some time ago but of which the effects still apply today, such as 'the rock has fallen' or 'he (has) died'.

The future tenses similarly distinguish near from remote events. Some tenses imply that the event will take place elsewhere, for example 'I will go and visit'.

Compound tenses are also found in Tumbuka, such as 'he had slept', 'he had just left' and 'he will have sold'.

Other future tenses are given by Vail (1972) and others.

In the 1st person singular, ''ni-ku-'' and ''ni-ka-'' are shortened to ''nkhu-'' and ''nkha-'': 'I am going', 'I go', 'I used to go'.

Negative verbs

To make the negative of a verb in Tumbuka, the word or is added at or near the end of the clause. It seems that is preferred by younger speakers:
:
:'he is not writing a letter'

:
:'we will not work tomorrow'

With the present perfect tense, however, a separate form exists, adding ''-nda-'' and ending in ''-e'':
:
:'yes, I have met him'

:
:'no, I haven't met him'

The Ngoni influence on Tumbuka

All Tumbuka dialects have to some extent been affected by the Zulu language (chiNgoni), most especially in Mzimba District. Ngoni originated from the Ndwandwe people who were neighbours to the Zulu clan prior to being conquered by the Zulu and assimilated into the Zulu identity. The language the Ndwandwe spoke was thus nearly identical Zulu. Below are some examples of words found in chitumbuka that are of Zulu/Ndwandwe origin, though most of them have original Tumbuka counterpart words that can be used interchangeably at the speakers will, (excluding 'munwe/minwe' meaning 'finger/fingers' for example, that seemingly did not have an original counterpart or the original word has been lost). The word njowi is used for finger/s.
The Mzimba dialect oes so far as to have click consonants in words like "urinate", which do not occur in other dialects.

Examples

Months in Tumbuka:

An example of a folktale translated into Tumbuka and other languages of Northern Malawi is given in the Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi carried out by the Centre for Language Studies of the University of Malawi.Language Mapping Survey
p. 60-64. The Tumbuka version of the folktale goes as follows:

:
:

:

:

:(Translation)
:THE TORTOISE AND THE HARE
:Tortoise went to beg food from people. To carry his bag, he tied it to a long string and wore it round his neck. As he walked along, the bag was coming behind him.

:As he was on his way, Hare came up behind him and said, "There it is, my bag!" Tortoise said "The bag is mine, see this string I've tied now I'm pulling it as I go." Hare refused to accept this and said "Let's go the Court, so that it can judge us." The Court examined the case and cut Tortoise's string which he'd tied the bag with. They took that bag and gave it to Hare.

:Another day when Hare was walking along, Tortoise found him and said, "There it is, my tail!" Hare said, "Nonsense, this is my tail, Tortoise." Tortoise refused to accept this and said, "What I've got is mine." They went to the Court so that it could make a judgement. In that Court, the case went in Tortoise's favour. They cut off Hare's tail and gave it to Tortoise.

Some vocabulary

Helpful phrases

* = Yes
* = No
* = Thank you
* = We are thankful
* = I want some food !
* = could you give me some food?
* = I do not speak chiTumbuka!
* = Travel well.
* = I would like water to drink.

Greetings

* = Good morning. (How did you wake up?)
* = Fine. And you? (I woke up well. I don't know about you?)
* = How are you?
* = I am fine, how are you?
* = Good afternoon. (How did you spend the day?)
* = Good afternoon. How are you? (I spent the day well. I don't know about you?)
* = somewhat more formal than "Hi". Perhaps best translated as "Greetings".
* = We shall meet again.

People

The plural ba- (ŵa-) is often used for politeness when referring to elders:
* = boy
* = boys
* = girl
* = girls
* = young ladies
* = a woman with babies
* = mother
* = dad
* = grandmother
* = grandmother, also used when addressing old female persons
* = grandfather
* = paternal aunt
* = maternal aunt usually your mother's younger/older sister
* = maternal uncle
* = paternal uncle usually your father's younger/older brother
* = my brother/ sister (for addressing a sibling of the opposite sex)
* = my young brother / sister (for addressing a sibling of the same sex)
* = my elder brother / sister (for addressing a sibling of the same sex)

Verbs

* = to play
* = to laugh
* = to eat
* = to sleep
* = to walk
* = to run
* = to write
* = to do laundry
* = to bath
* = to cook
* = to dig / cultivate
* = to plant
* = to dance
* = to sing

Animals

* = tortoise
* = hare
* = hippo
* = hyena
* = snake
* = pig
* = cow
* = dog
* = cat
* = sheep
* = lion
* = goat
* = chicken

See also

*Tumbuka people

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