Mambwe-Lungu language

Mambwe
Lungu
Native to	Tanzania, Zambia
Ethnicity	Mambwe, Lungu, Fipa
Native speakers	500,000 (2002 & 2010 censuses)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Rukwa Mbozi Mwika Mambwe
Dialects	Mambwe (Ichimambwe) Cilungu/Lungu (Ichirungu, Adong) Fipa-Mambwe (Kifipa cha kimambwe)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mgr
Glottolog	mamb1296[2]
Guthrie code	M.14–15[3]

The Mambwe and Lungu peoples living at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and Zambia speak a common language with minor dialectical differences. Perhaps half of the Fipa people to their north speak it as a native language. When spoken by the Fipa, it is called "Fipa-Mambwe"; this is also the term for the branch of Bantu languages which includes Fipa and Mambwe-Lungu.

Mambwe language is spoken by the people who are found in Rukwa region, southern Sumbawanga town. It is a language which is one of the three dialects spoken by the indigenous people of Rukwa Region. People of this region speak Fipa, Mambwe and Kinyiha. Mambwe language is spoken likely to Fipa but there variation in which some terms are understood among the speaker of these two languages Mambwe language is also spoken in some parts of Zambia as their mother tongue although they differ in manners of articulation.

References

1. Mambwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin; Bank, Sebastian, eds. (2016). "Mambwe-Lungu". Glottolog 2.7. Jena: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
3. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online

External links

• small Mambwe–English dictionary