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<!DOCTYPE HTML> <html> <head> <title>Shona language, alphabet and pronunciation</title> <meta name="description" content="Shona is a Bantu language with about 10.8 million speakers mainly in Zimbabwe." />  <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> <a id="top"></a> <div id="header">  <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>Shona (chiShona)</h1> <p>Shona is a member of the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo language family. It is spoken by about 10.8 million people mainly in Zimbabwe, where more than 80% of the population are Shona speakers. In particular it is spoken in Harare, and in the provinces of Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Midlands and Manicaland. </p> <p>There are also about 93,000 speakers of Shona in Malawi, 46,300 in the Central and North West districts of Botswana, 21,400 in the UK, 18,000 in South Africa, 12,700 in the Southern, Central and Lusaka provinces of Zambia, and there are smaller numbers of speakers in some other countries. </p> <p>A standard written form of Shona was codified in the 1930s and revised in the 1950s. The standard written language is based on the Karanga dialect (Chikaranga), which is spoken mainly in the Midlands province in southern Zimbabwe. The first novel in Shona, <em>Feso</em> by Solomon Mutswairo, was published in 1957. Shona is taught in some primary schools in Zimbabwe. </p> <p>Shona is a tonal language with two tones: high and low. These are not indicated in writing. </p> <h2>Shona alphabet and pronunciation</h2> <p><img src="../images/writing/shona.gif" width="608" height="700" alt="Shona alphabet and pronunciation" /> </p> <h3>Notes</h3> <p>Some sounds were written differently in the version of the Shona alphabet used between 1931 and 1955: b = ɓ, d = ɗ, ng = ŋ, sv = ȿ, v = ʋ, zv = ɀ. </p> <p><a href="../charts/shona.xls">Download an alphabet chart for Shona</a> (Excel) </p> <h2>Sample text in Shona</h2> <p>Vanhu vese vanoberekwa vakasununguka uyewo vakaenzana pahunhu nekodzero dzavo. Vanhu vese vanechipo chokufunga nekuziva chakaipa nechakanaka saka vanofanira kubatana nomweya wohusahwira. </p> <h3>Translation</h3> <p>All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.<br /> <em>(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)</em> </p> <h2>Videos in Shona</h2> <div class="intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZtXr7bckLyc" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <div class="intrinsic-container intrinsic-container-16x9"> <iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eHN_bCg-JuQ" allowfullscreen></iframe> </div> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/WikiTongues/videos">See more videos like this on Wikitongues</a></p> <p class="info"><a href="/writing/shona.php">Information about Shona</a> | <a href="/language/phrases/shona.php">Phrases</a> | <a href="/language/numbers/shona.htm">Numbers</a> | <a href="/babel/shona.htm">Tower of Babel</a></p> <h2>Links</h2> <p>Information about the Shona language<br /> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shona_language">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shona_language</a><br /> <a href="https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sna">https://www.ethnologue.com/language/sna</a> </p> <p>Online Shona lessons<br /> <a href="http://www.ilanguages.org/shona.php">http://www.ilanguages.org/shona.php</a><br /> <a href="http://learn101.org/shona.php">http://learn101.org/shona.php</a><br /> <a href="https://shona.mofeko.com/#learn">https://shona.mofeko.com/#learn</a><br /> <a href="https://www.livelingua.com/courses/Shona">https://www.livelingua.com/courses/Shona</a><br /> <a href="https://utalk.com/plans/omniglot?redirectToStorePage=true&utm_source=omniglot&utm_medium=webads&utm_campaign=omniglot&languageId=112">https://utalk.com/en/store/shona</a></p> <p>Shona - English online talking dictionary<br /> <a href="https://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/shona/">https://talkingdictionary.swarthmore.edu/shona/</a> </p> <h2>Bantu languages</h2> <p><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/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 href="/writing/chuwabu.htm">Chuwabu</a>, <a href="/writing/comorian.htm">Comorian</a>, <a href="/writing/digo.htm">Digo</a>, <a href="/writing/duala.php">Duala</a>, <a href="/writing/eton.htm">Eton</a>, <a href="/writing/ewondo.php">Ewondo</a>, <a href="/writing/fang.htm">Fang</a>, <a href="/writing/ganda.php">Ganda/Luganda</a>, <a href="/writing/gogo.htm">Gogo</a>, <a href="/writing/gusii.htm">Gusii</a>, <a href="/writing/gwere.htm">Gwere</a>, <a href="/writing/haya.htm">Haya</a>, <a href="/writing/hehe.htm">Hehe</a>, <a 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