Shi language

Shi, or Nyabungu, is a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Shi
Kishi/Mashi
Native to	Democratic Republic of Congo
Region	Sud-Kivu Province
Native speakers	(660,000 cited 1991)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Shi–Havu Shi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	shr
Glottolog	shii1238
Guthrie code	JD.53[2]

The people who speak Mashi are known as Bashi. They are the largest tribe in South Kivu, whose capital city is Bukavu.

The Bashi occupy a vast region known as Bushi. Like Ngweshe, Kabare, Katana, Luhuinja, Burhinyi, Kaziba, Nyengezi, and Idjui where live the Bahavu who are also part of this group; Idjui is a large island in Kivu lake between DRC and Rwanda.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ		h
	voiced	v	z
Rhotic	voiceless		r̥
	voiced		r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

• Sounds /t, d, n/ are commonly heard as dental [t̪, d̪, n̪].
• /d͡ʒ/ may also be heard as a fricative [ʒ].^[3]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Close-mid	e eː		o oː
Open		a aː