Kimbundu
Bantu language of northwest Angola
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kimbundu, a Bantu language[3] which has sometimes been called Mbundu[4] or North Mbundu (to distinguish it from Umbundu, sometimes called South Mbundu),[5] is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola.[6]
| Kimbundu | |
|---|---|
| North Mbundu | |
| Native to | Angola |
| Region | Bengo Province, Luanda Province, Icolo e Bengo Province, Cuanza Norte Province, Cuanza Sul Province, Malanje Province |
| Ethnicity | Ambundu |
Native speakers | 3.7 million (2024)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
Official language in | Angola ("National language") |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | kmb |
| ISO 639-3 | kmb |
| Glottolog | kimb1241 |
H.21[2] | |
It is the native language of 3.728 million people (as of 2024), with its speakers mostly concentrated in the north-west of the country, notably in the Bengo, Luanda, Icolo e Bengo, Cuanza Norte, Cuanza Sul, and the Malanje provinces.[1] It is spoken by the Ambundu.[nb 1]
| Northern Mbundu | |
|---|---|
| Person | Mumbundu |
| People | Ambundu or Akwambundu |
| Language | Kimbundu |
| Country | Ndongo and Matamba |
Phonology
Consonants
Allophones:
[ɸ] and [β] are allophones of /p/ and /b/, respectively, before /a/ and /u/. The phoneme /l/ is phonetically a flap [ɾ], a voiced plosive [d] or its palatalized version [dʲ] when before the front high vowel /i/. In the same way, the alveolars /s/, /z/ and /n/ are palatalized to [ʃ], [ʒ] and [ɲ], respectively, before [i]. There may be an epenthesis of [g] after /ŋ/ in word medial positions, thus creating a phonetic cluster [ŋg] in a process of fortition.
There is long distance nasal harmony, in which /l/ is realized as [n] if the previous morphemes contain /m/ or /n/, but not prenasalized stops.
Vowels
There are two contrasting tones: a high (á) and a low tone (à). There is also a downstep in cases of tonal sandhi.
Vowel harmony
There is vowel harmony in two groups (the high vowels /i, u/ and the mid and low vowels /e, o, a/) that applies only for verbal morphology. In some morphemes, vowels may be consistently deleted to avoid a hiatus.[7]
Kimbundu alphabet
Loans
European Portuguese
There is a small number of words of Kimbundu origin and many of those are indirect loans, borrowed via Angolan Portuguese.
The examples generally understood by most or all speakers of Angolan and European Portuguese include
bué (pronounced [bwɛ], "very, a lot"),[9]
cota ([ˈkɔtɐ], "old person"[10])
mambo ([ˈmɐ̃bu])
Conjugation
| Personal pronouns | Translation |
|---|---|
| Eme | I |
| Eie / Eye | You |
| Muene | He or she |
| Etu | We |
| Enu | You |
| Ene | They |
Conjugating the verb to be (kuala; also kukala in Kimbundu) in the present:[11]
| Eme ngala | I am |
| Eie uala / Eye uala / Eie wala / Eye wala | You are |
| Muene uala / Muene wala | He or she is |
| Etu tuala / Etu twala | We are |
| Enu nuala / Enu nwala | You are |
| Ene ala | They are |
Conjugating the verb to have (kuala ni; also kukala ni in Kimbundu) in the present :
| Eme ngala ni | I have |
| Eie / Eye uala ni | You have |
| Muene uala ni | He or she has |
| Etu tuala ni | We have |
| Enu nuala ni | You have |
| Ene ala ni | They have |
Notes
- Ambundu is the short form for Akwa Mbundu, where 'Akwa' means 'from', or 'of', or more originally 'originally from' and 'belonging to'. In Kimbundu language, the particle Akwa is shortened into simply A, so that instead of Akwa Mbndu, it becomes Ambundu; similarly the term Akwa Ngola becomes ANgola, then Angola. Ngola was the title for kings in the historic Northern Angolan kingdom, before the Portuguese invasion.
