| Lambya | |
|---|---|
| Ichilambya | |
| Native to | Tanzania, Malawi |
| Ethnicity | Lambya |
Native speakers | 100,000 (2009–2017)[1] |
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | lai |
| Glottolog | lamb1272 |
M.201,202[2] | |
Lambya (Rambia) is a Bantu language of Tanzania and Malawi. In Northern Malawi it is spoken particularly in the Chitipa District.[3]
Sukwa, once thought to be a dialect of Nyakyusa, is now considered to be a dialect of Lambya.[4] The University of Malawi Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi (2006), agreeing with this, found that the three languages Cilambya, Cindali, and Cisukwa form a single dialect group, although there are differences between them, especially between Cilambya and the other two. The examples below come in the order Lambya, Ndali, Sukwa:[5]
- Person = umunthu, umundu, umundu
- Grasshopper = imphanzi, imbashi, imbasi
- Scorpion = kalizga, kalisha, kalisya
- Maize = ivilombe, ifilombe, ifilombe
- Dog = imbwa, ukabwa, ukabwa
- Bird = chiyuni, kayuni, kayuni
- Snail = inkhozo, ingofu, ingofo
- ^ Lambya at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ University of Malawi Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi (2006) (see External links).
- ^ Nurse, Derek (1988) "The Diachronic Background to the Language Communities of South Western Tanzania" in Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika vol 9, 15-115.
- ^ Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi. University of Malawi Centre for Language Studies, 2006, pp. 70–71.
