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<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html> <head> <title>Nambya language and alphabet</title> <meta name="copyright" content="Nambya is a Southern Bantu language spoken mainly in the northwest of Zimbabwe, and also in Botswana." />  <script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-WB7PSHBG');</script>  <meta charset="UTF-8"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://www.omniglot.com/images/logos/omniglot_thumbnail.jpg" /> <meta property="og:type" content="https://www.facebook.com/pg/Omniglot-100430558332117/posts/" /> <link href="/styles/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script src="https://the.gatekeeperconsent.com/cmp.min.js" data-cfasync="false"></script> <script async src="//www.ezojs.com/ezoic/sa.min.js"></script> <script> window.ezstandalone = window.ezstandalone || {}; ezstandalone.cmd = ezstandalone.cmd || []; </script></head> <body> <div id="header"> <a id="top"></a>  <noscript><iframe src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-WB7PSHBG" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>  <p><a href="/index.htm"><img src="/images/logos/header_omniglot.png" width="600" height="70" alt="Omniglot - the online encyclopedia of writing systems & languages" /></a></p> <ul> <li><a href="/index.htm">Home</a></li> <li><a href="/writing/index.htm">Alphabets</a></li> <li><a href="/conscripts/index.htm">Constructed scripts</a></li> <li><a href="/writing/languages.htm">Languages</a></li> <li><a href="/language/phrases/phraseindex.htm">Phrases</a></li> <li><a href="/language/numbers/index.htm">Numbers</a></li> <li><a href="/language/ml.htm">Multilingual Pages</a></li> <li><a href="/search.htm">Search</a></li> <li><a href="/news/index.htm">News</a></li> <li><a href="/about.htm">About</a></li> <li><a href="/contact.htm">Contact</a></li> </ul></div> <div id="bodybox"> <span style="text-align:center;"><div id="ezoic-pub-ad-placeholder-162"></div> <script> ezstandalone.cmd.push(function() { ezstandalone.showAds(162); }); </script></span><div id="body"> <h1>Nambya (chiNambya)</h1> <p>Nambya is a Southern Bantu language spoken by about 100,000 people, mainly in the northwest of Zimbabwe, and also in northeastern Botswana. In Zimbabwe, Nambya is spoken particularly in the town of Hwange in the northwest of Matabeleland North Province. It is officially recognised as an indigenous language in Zimbabwe. </p> <p><iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d969460.4137182062!2d25.848837311259963!3d-18.349349093505598!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x194efe0155386e5f%3A0xb10e53a378132ef8!2sHwange%2C%20Zimbabwe!5e0!3m2!1sen!2suk!4v1718108694958!5m2!1sen!2suk" width="400" height="300" style="border:0;" allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" referrerpolicy="no-referrer-when-downgrade"></iframe> </p> <p>Nambya is also known as Nambzya, Nanzwa or Nanzva, and Nambya speakers call it <em>chiNambya</em>. It is closely related to Kalanga, which is spoken in the southwest of Zimbabwe, and Shona in central and eastern Zimbabwe. Nambya borrows many words from Tonga and Ndebele, and also from English. It is written with the Latin script, and is taught in some schools. There are translations of parts of the Bible, a dictionary, and a few other literary works in Nambya. </p> <p>The Nambya Cultural Association (NCA) was founded in Hwange the early 1960s to protect and promote the Nambya language and culture. </p> <h2>Nambya alphabet and pronunciation</h2> <p><img src="../images/writing/nambya.gif" width="607" height="450" alt="Nambya alphabet and pronunciation" /> </p> <p><a href="../charts/nambya.xls">Download an alphabet chart for Nambya</a> (Excel) </p> <h3>Notes</h3> <p>Most consonants followed by h are aspired, those followed by w are labialized, and those followed by y are palatalized. </p> <h2>Sample text</h2> <p>Inhwizha ndiyo imhuka ilolebha kupinda jose imhuka jinowanika munyika.Inhwizha ihono inolebha kuswika mamita angaba mashanu. Unchibha namakumyoubo ayo malefu kasakasa. </p> <p>Inhwizha inamabala bala ananga sengwe eli machena namashaba.Kana ichili inhukutuku, inhwizha ina lubala lushaba lunanga senhopi. Lubala lunonda luswibhilila mukukubuka kwayo kuswikila lwaba lushaba lwashapala sobumete.Nolubala lyayo uchena lunoso chenuluka selota. </p> <p>Source: <em><a href="https://nambya.org/texts-in-nambya/inhwizha-giraffe/">https://nambya.org/texts-in-nambya/inhwizha-giraffe/</a></em> </p> <h2>Sample videos</h2> <div class="intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1iJHs2cWDAQ" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <div class="intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ple-mDo-p54" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <h2>Links</h2> <p>Information about Nambya <br /> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambya_language">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambya_language</a><br /> <a href="https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/namb1291">https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/namb1291</a><br /> <a href="https://ijsra.net/content/identification-description-and-classification-consonants-and-vowel-phonemes-nambya-language">https://ijsra.net/content/identification-description-and-classification-consonants-and-vowel-phonemes-nambya-language</a> </p> <p>Nambya-English online dictionary<br /> <a href="https://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/nambya/">https://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/nambya/</a> </p> <h2>Bantu languages</h2> <p><a href="/writing/bafaw-balong.htm">Bafaw-Balong</a>, <a href="/writing/bangi.htm">Bangi</a>, <a href="/writing/basaa.php">Basaa</a>, <a href="/writing/bemba.php">Bemba</a>, <a href="/writing/bena.htm">Bena</a>, <a href="/writing/benga.htm">Benga</a>, <a href="/writing/bhaca.htm">Bhaca</a>, <a href="/writing/bube.htm">Bube</a>, <a href="/writing/bukusu.htm">Bukusu</a>, <a href="/writing/bulu.htm">Bulu</a>, <a href="/writing/centralteke.htm">Central Teke</a>, <a href="/writing/chichewa.php">Chichewa</a>, <a href="/writing/chokwe.htm">Chokwe</a>, <a 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