Aushi language

Aushi, known by native speakers as Ikyaushi, is a Bantu language primarily spoken in the Lwapula Province of Zambia and the (Haut-)Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although many scholars argue that it is a dialect of the closely related Bemba, native speakers insist that it is a distinct language. Nonetheless, speakers of both linguistic varieties enjoy extensive mutual intelligibility, particularly in the Lwapula Province.^[4]

Aushi
Ikyaushi
Native to	Zambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Region	Luapula Province, (Haut-)Katanga Province
Native speakers	100,000 in Zambia (2010 census)[1] widespread as L2 in DR Congo[2]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Sabi South Aushi
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Zambia  DR Congo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	auh
Glottolog	aush1241
Guthrie code	M.402[3]

Phonology

Aushi distinguishes consonants according to five manners and four places of articulation.^[4] Although nasal consonants are individually phonemic, prenasalized consonants also arise in conjunction with the voiced and voiceless counterparts of the plosives, affricates, and fricatives.^[4]

Consonants^[4]

			Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal			m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	plain		p	t	t͡ʃ	k
	prenasal	voiceless	ᵐp	ⁿt	ⁿt͡ʃ	ᵑk
		voiced	ᵐb	ⁿd	ⁿd͡ʒ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	plain	voiceless	f	s
		voiced	β
	prenasal		ᶬf	ⁿs
Lateral				l
Approximant					j	w

Aushi has five canonical vowels that are distinguished segmentally according to vowel height and backness and suprasegmentally according to length (short/long) and tone (low/high).^[4] The front and central vowels are unrounded, while the back vowels are rounded. In environments where vowels arise before a nasal consonant, the vowels may adopt nasality, but this is not a distinctive feature, i.e. it is phonetic, not phonemic.^[4]

Vowels^[4]

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
High	i	iː			u	uː
Mid	e	eː			o	oː
Low			a	aː

Grammar

Nominal Classes^[4][5][6]

Class	Proto-Bantu	Augment	Prefix	Example	Gloss
1a	*mo-	u-	mu-	umuntu	"person"
1b	*∅-	∅-	∅-	mayo	"mother"
2	*βɔ-, *βa-	a-	ba-	abantu	"people"
3	*mo-	u-	mu-	umuti	"tree"
4	*me-	i-	mi-	imiti	"trees"
5a	*le-	i-	shi-	ishina	"name"
5b	*le-	i-	∅-	isabi	"fish"
6	*ma-	a-	ma-	amana	"names"
7	*ke-	i-	ki-	ikitabu	"book"
8	*βi-, *li-	i-	fi-	ifitabu	"books"
9	*ne-	i-	N-	imfinsi	"darkness/night"
10	*li-ne	i-	N-	insiku	"days"
11	*lʊ-	u-	lu-	ulutambi	"proverb"
12	*ka-	a-	ka-	akalulu	"rabbit"
13	*to-	u-	tu-	utunwa	"mouths"
14	*βo-	u-	bu-	ubwaato	"canoe"
15a	*ko-	u-	ku-	ukuya	"to go"
15b	*ko-	u-	ku-	ukuboko	"arm"
16	*pa-	∅-	pa-	pa ng'anda	"in (the/a) house"
17	*ko-	∅-	ku-	ku mushi	"to (the/a) market"
18	*mo-	∅-	mu-	mu sukulu	"in/inside (the/a) school"