Kwanyama

Kwanyama
Oshikwanyama
Native toNamibia and Angola
RegionOvamboland
Native speakers
(250,000 in Namibia (2006);
420,000 in Angola cited 1993)[1]
Language codes
ISO 639-1kj
ISO 639-2kua
ISO 639-3kua
Glottologkuan1247
R.21[2]
Linguasphere99-AUR-la

Kwanyama or Cuanhama is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Oshindonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form.

The entire Christian Bible has been translated into Kwanyama and was first published in 1974 under the name Ombibeli by the South African Bible Society.[3] Jehovah's Witnesses released the modern translation of the new testament, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama in 2019,[4] both printed and electronic online version.

Phonology

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Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t~t̪ tʃ k
voiced b d~d̪ dʒ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ⁿdʒ ᵑɡ
Fricative voiceless f (s) ʃ x h
voiced v
Nasal voiced m n ɲ
voiceless m̥ n̥ ɲ̊ ŋ̊
Approximant w l j

/t/ and /d/ are dentalized when followed by a front vowel /i/. An /s/ sound can only occur in loanwords.

Vowels
Front Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Tones

Kwanyama has two tones : high and low.

Grammar

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Verbs

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Verbs are inflected for two tenses: present and non-present. There is a mandatory subject concord before verbs, indicating person, tense, and negation. Verbs are divided into two categories, active and stative, each of which have different subject concords. The future tense in active verbs is indicated by inserting the auxiliary ka after the nonpast subject concord.

Kwanyama subject concords
Active Stative
Person Negation Past Nonpast Person Negation Past Present Future
1S + Onda Ohandi/Ohai 1S + Onda li ndi Ondi Ohandi ka kala ndi
- Inandi Itandi - Kandi li ndi Kandi/ Nghi Itandi ka kala ndi
2S + Owa Oto 2S + Owa li u Ou Oto ka kala u
- Ino Ito - Kwa li u Ku Ito ka kala u
3S + Okwa Ota 3S + Okwa li e oku Ota ka kala e
- Ina Ita - Ka li e Ke Ita ka kala e
1P + Otwa Ohatu 1P + Otwa li tu Otu Ohatu ka kala tu
- Inatu Itatu - Katwa li tu Katu Itatu ka kala tu
2P + Omwa Otamu 2P + Omwa li mu Omu Otamu ka kala mu
- Inamu Itamu - Kamwa li mu Kamu Itamu ka kala mu
3P + Ova Otaa/Otava 3P + Ova li ve Ove Otava ka kala ve
- Inaa/Inava Itaa/Itava - Kava li ve Kave Itava ka kala ve

Another way to negate a verb is to add the prefix ha- before the verb stem (ex. okwiimba 'to sing' -> okuhaimba 'to not sing').[5]

References

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  1. ^ Kwanyama at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Ombibeli, 1974, front page
  4. ^ "Jehovah's Witnesses Release the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama". Jw.org. 20 August 2019.
  5. ^ A Beginners Guide to Oshikwanyama (PDF). Peace Corps.

Bibliography

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Further reading

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  • Turvey, B. H. C. (1977) Kwanyama-English Dictionary; compiled by B. H. C. Turvey; edited by W. Zimmermann and G. B. Taapopi. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press ISBN 0854943153 (based on the work compiled by George Tobias & Basil Henry Capes Turvey, 1954)
[edit]
Kwanyama test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator


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