Mambwe-Lungu language

Mambwe
Lungu
Native toTanzania, Zambia
EthnicityMambwe, Lungu, Fipa
Native speakers
500,000 (2002 & 2010 censuses)[1]
Dialects
  • Mambwe (Ichimambwe)
  • Cilungu/Lungu (Ichirungu, Adong)
  • Fipa-Mambwe (Kifipa cha kimambwe)
Language codes
ISO 639-3mgr
Glottologmamb1296
M.14–15[2]

The Mambwe and Lungu peoples living at the southern end of Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania and Zambia speak a common language with minor dialectical differences. Perhaps half of the Fipa people to their north speak it as a native language. When spoken by the Fipa, it is called "Fipa-Mambwe"; this is also the term for the branch of Bantu languages which includes Fipa and Mambwe-Lungu.

Mambwe-Lungu is spoken by the people of Rukwa region, southern Sumbawanga town in Tanzania. The language is also spoken in Mankato, Mpulungu and Senga district of Zambia. It has close affinities with languages spoken by other Tanganyikan people like Pimbwe, Rungwa and Namwanga. [3]

  1. ^ Mambwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Watson, William (1971). Tribal cohesion in a money economy; a study of the Mambwe people of Zambia. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 14.