Shambala language

This article is about the African language. For other uses, see Shambala (disambiguation).

Sambaa or Shambaa or Shambala is a Bantu language of Tanzania.

Sambaa
kisambaa
Native to	Tanzania
Ethnicity	Shambaa
Native speakers	660,000 (2001)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Northeast Coast Bantu Seuta Sambaa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ksb
Glottolog	sham1280
Guthrie code	G.23[2]

Overview

Sambaa, also Kisambaa, (ki)Shambaa, (ki)Shambala is spoken by the Shambaa in the Usambara mountains in the Lushoto District and Muheza District, Tanga Region, of northern Tanzania. Some dialectal variation exists between the language as spoken in the area around Lushoto and the areas around Mlalo and Mtae, possibly also between the Shambaa of the Western Usambara Mountains and the Eastern Usambara Mountains.

Phonology

Vowels

Five vowels are noted as [i, ɛ, a, ɔ, u].

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	tʃ	k
	voiced	b	d	ɟ	ɡ
	vl. prenasal	ᵐ̥p	ⁿ̥t		ᵑ̊k
	vd. prenasal	ᵐb	ⁿd	ᶮɟ	ᵑɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ		h
	voiced	v	z		ɣ
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Approximant		w	l	j

The diacritics within prenasal voiceless plosives are devoiced as [ᵐ̥ ⁿ̥ ᵑ̊].^[3]