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Tumbuka
Sign in to saveAlso known as Tumbuka language, tum, Chitumbuka
Bantu language spoken in Southern and Eastern Africa
Key facts
- Native to
- Malawi (5,220,860) Zambia (2,100,709) Tanzania (740,211) Zimbabwe (20,607)
- Region
- Southeast Africa and Southern Africa
- Ethnicity
- Senga people, Tumbuka , Yombe (Zambia) , Phoka (Malawi) , Henga , Nenya, Northern Ngoni and Tonga people (Malawi)
- Native speakers
- 8.9 million (2024 estimate)
- Language family
- Niger–Congo ? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu ( Zone N ) Tumbuka
- Dialects
- Chikamanga (Malawi) Chiphoka (Malawi) Chisenga (Zambia) Chitumbuka (Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe) Chifililwa (Tanzania) Chiyombe (Zambia) Chihewe(Malawi) Chinenya (Malawi, Tanzania) Chinthali (Malawi) Chikandawire (Malawi, Zambia) Chifungwe (Zambia) Chiwenya (Malawi)
- Writing system
- Latin script Mwangwego script
- Official language in
- Malawi (from 1942 - 1968)
- Recognised minority language in
- Malawi Zambia Tanzania Zimbabwe
- Iso 639 2
- tum
- Iso 639 3
- tum
- Glottolog
- tumb1250
- Guthrie code
- N.21
- Linguasphere
- 99-AUS-wc (+ chi-Kamanga) incl. varieties 99-AUS-wca...-wcl
via Wikipedia infobox
~28 min read
Encyclopedic overview
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Topics
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Tumbuka” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.