Lambya language

Lambya
Ichilambya
Native toTanzania, Malawi
EthnicityLambya
Native speakers
100,000 (2009–2017)[1]
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3lai
Glottologlamb1272
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
  1. ^ Lambya at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ University of Malawi Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi (2006) (see External links).
  4. ^ Nurse, Derek (1988) "The Diachronic Background to the Language Communities of South Western Tanzania" in Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika vol 9, 15-115.
  5. ^ Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi. University of Malawi Centre for Language Studies, 2006, pp. 70–71.