Makonde
Chi(ni)makonde
Native toTanzania, Mozambique, Malawi, Kenya
EthnicityMakonde, Ndonde Hamba
Native speakers
(2.1 million cited 1987–2016)[1]
Dialects
  • ? Matembwe–Machinga
  • Mabiha
  • Ndonde Hamba (Mawanda)
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
kde – Makonde
mvw – Machinga
njd – Ndonde Hamba
wtb – Matambwe
Glottologmako1251  Makonde
mach1265  Machinga
mata1313  Matambwe
P.23,24,25[2]
PersonMmakonde
PeopleWamakonde
LanguageKimakonde
CountryUmakonde

Makonde, or Kimakonde, is the language spoken by the Makonde, an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania and northern Mozambique.[3] Makonde is a central Bantu language closely related to Yao. The Matambwe (Matembwe) and Mabiha (Maviha) dialects are divergent, and may not be Makonde.[4][full citation needed]

A mosquito-borne viral fever first identified on the Makonde Plateau is named Chikungunya, which is derived from the Makonde root verb kungunyala (meaning "that which bends up", "to become contorted," or "to walk bent over").[5] The derivation of the term is generally falsely attributed to Swahili.[6]

Phonology

The following are the consonants and vowels of the Makonde language:[7]

Vowels

Front Back
High i u
Mid e o
Low a

There also tends to be a rising final vowel sound /vv́/ within vowel combinations.

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t k
voiced b d ɡ
prenasal ᵐb ⁿd ᶮɟ ᵑɡ
Affricate tʃ
Fricative s h
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Lateral l
Approximant ʋ j w

References

  1. ^ Makonde at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Machinga at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Ndonde Hamba at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Matambwe at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Hammarström (2015) Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: a comprehensive review: online appendices
  4. ^ Nurse 2003
  5. ^ Morens DM and Fauci AS (2014). "Chikungunya at the Door — Déjà Vu All Over Again?". New England Journal of Medicine. 371 (10): 885–887. doi:10.1056/NEJMp1408509. PMID 25029435.
  6. ^ Singh, SS; Manimunda, SP; Sugunan, AP; Sahina, Vijayachari P (2008). "Four cases of acute flaccid paralysis associated with chikungunya virus infection". Epidemiol Infect. 136 (9): 1277–80. doi:10.1017/S0950268807009739. PMC 2870928. PMID 18634716.
  7. ^ Kraal, Pieter J. (2005). A Grammar of Makonde (Chinnima, Tanzania). pp. 16–32.


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