Kimbundu

Infobox Language
name=Mbundu
nativename=Kimbundu
states=flagicon|Angola Angola
region=Luanda Province
speakers=3,000,000 (1999) [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=kmb]
rank=
familycolor=Niger-Congo
fam2=Atlantic-Congo
fam3=Volta-Congo
fam4=Benue-Congo
fam5=Bantoid
fam6=Southern
fam7=Narrow Bantu
fam8=Central
nation=
agency=
iso1=|iso2=kmb|iso3=kmb

Kimbundu is one of the most widely spoken languages in Angola, especially in the north-west of the country, notably in the Luanda province.

There are eleven variants of the Kimbundu language: Ngola, Dembo, Jinga, Bondo, Bângala, Songo, Ibaco, Luanda, Quibala, Libolo and Quissama.

During the Portuguese colonial period, a 1919 decree banned the use of local languages in schools and made Portuguese obligatory. This heavily reduced the use of Kimbundu amongst educated and urban populations in favour of Portuguese.

Since the 1960s, Ambundu populations which had emigrated from rural to urban areas in the west of Angola, notably Luanda and Malanje, have helped to produce a mix of Kimbudu and Portuguese that they call Ambaca. In order to distinguish themselves from the rural Mbundu populations, they also refer to themselves as Ambundu or Akwaluanda.

Script

The Kimbundu script was developed by Capuchin and Jesuit missionaries. While they produced many texts and grammars, most of them demonstrated a fundamental misunderstanding or oversimplification of the Kimbundu language. The unfortunate effects of this are still felt today, though since independence, great strides to elaborate and codify orthography and grammar of all Angolan national languages have been made.

Kimbundu uses the relatively shallow orthography standardized by the MPLA for use in all Angolan national languages. Important differences from the Portuguese-based orthography used by the colonizers include the omission of the consonant "r" (as there is no [r] in Kimbundu) and the rules governing vowel orthography (diphthongs are not allowed and vowels are thus changed to "w" or "y" depending on the environment). It has 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u), the u also having the function of a semi-vowel. Certain consonants are represented by two letters, such as mb in mbambi (gazelle), or nj in njila (bird).

Vocabulary

"muthu", "person", "kima", "thing"; "kudya", "food"; "tubya", "fire"; "lumbu", "wall"

Some Kimbundu words were influential to Romance languages like Portuguese, with words like "banjo" (supposedly from "mbanza"), "bwe", "baza", "kuatu", "kamba", "arimo", "mleke", "quilombo" (from "kilombo"), "Quimbanda", "tanga", "xinga", "bunda", etc.

External links

* [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/oldworld/africa/kimbundu.html Emuseum article on Kimbundu]
* [http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=kmb "Ethnologue" report on Kimbundu]
* [http://www.panafril10n.org/wikidoc/pmwiki.php/PanAfrLoc/Kimbundu PanAfrican L10n page on Kimbundu]
* [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/oldworld/africa/kimbundu.html Kimbundu people]
* [http://cesa.imb.org/peoplegroups/mbundu.htm People Profiles - North Mbundu of Angola]
* [http://www.bjornthegreat.com/angola/ancient/ethnic.php Ethnic groups of Angola]