 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2016) |
| Kimbundu | |
|---|---|
| North Mbundu | |
| Native to | Angola |
| Region | Luanda Province, Bengo Province, Malanje Province |
| Ethnicity | Ambundu |
Native speakers | 1.7 million (2015)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Angola ("National language") |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | kmb |
| ISO 639-3 | kmb |
| Glottolog | kimb1241 |
H.21[2] | |
Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called Mbundu[3] or North Mbundu (to distinguish it from Umbundu, sometimes called South Mbundu),[4] is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola.
Its speakers are concentrated in the north-west of the country, notably in the Luanda, Bengo, Malanje and the Cuanza Norte provinces. It is spoken by the Ambundu.[5]
| Northern Mbundu | |
|---|---|
| Person | Mumbundu |
| People | Ambundu or Akwambundu |
| Language | Kimbundu |
| Country | Ndongo and Matamba |
- ^ Kimbundu at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ A language name 'mbundu' was used by Guthrie in his 1948 classification, for his group R10 (the language is Umbundu, the Ovimbundu's language. Kimbundu is found as Ndongo-H21). This has become obsolete: In his 1971 classification, the group H20 is called the Kimbundu group, and the R10 group is called Umbundu group. See: M. Guthrie, The Classification of the Bantu Languages (OUP, 1948), and M. Guthrie, Comparative Bantu, Vol 2 (Gregg Press, 1971). Glottolog classifies Kimbundu in a Mbundu group, which is in the Northern Njila group, and Umbundu (the Ovimbundu's language) in the Kunene group, which is itself in the Southern Njila group. see the Glottolog entry
- ^ "Narrow Bantu "H"". International Encyclopedia of Linguistics. Oxford University Press. 2003-01-01. p. 115. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195139778.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-513977-8.
- ^ Ambundu is the short form for Akwa Mbundu, where 'Akwa' means 'from', or 'of', or more originally 'originally from' and 'belonging to'. In Kimbundu language, the particle Akwa is shortened into simply A, so that instead of Akwa Mbndu, it becomes Ambundu; similarly the term Akwa Ngola becomes ANgola, then Angola. Ngola was the title for kings in the historic Northern Angolan kingdom, before the Portuguese invasion.
