Ndali language

Ndali, or Chindali, is a Bantu language spoken in southern Tanzania by 480,000 people and in northern Malawi by 70,000 (2003).

Ndali
Chindali
Native to	Tanzania, Malawi
Ethnicity	Ndali
Native speakers	(220,000 cited 1987–2003)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Rukwa Rungwe Ndali
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ndh
Glottolog	ndal1241
Guthrie code	M.301[2]

Sukwa, or Chisukwa, spoken in the Misuku Hills of northern Malawi, is closely related to Ndali, and both languages are fairly close to Lambya.^[3]

The examples below come in the order Lambya, Ndali, Sukwa, showing the similarity of vocabulary:^[4]

• 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

Further reading

• Botne, R. (2008). Grammatical Sketch of Chindali: Malawian Variety. Darby: Diane.
• Botne, R. and Schaffer, L. (2008). A Chindali and English Dictionary with an Index to ProtoBantu Roots: The Chindali Language of Malawi. Vol 1. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
• Kershner, Tiffany (2001). "Imperfectivity in Chisukwa" in Explorations in African Linguistics: From Lamso to Sesotho, eds. Robert Botne and Rose Vondrasek, Bloomington: Indiana University Working Papers in Linguistics, pp. 37–52.
• Mtenje, Atikonda (2016). A comparative analysis of the Phonology and Morpho-syntax of Cisukwa, Cindali and Cilambya. (University of Cape Town PhD thesis)
• Swilla, Imani N. (1998). Tenses in Chindali. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere (AAP) 54. 95–125.