Chokwe language
# Chokwe language

Chokwe (also known as Batshokwe, Ciokwe, Kioko, Kiokwe, Quioca, Quioco, Shioko, Tschiokloe or Tshokwe) is a Bantu language spoken by the Chokwe people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Zambia. It is recognised as a national language of Angola, where half a million people were estimated to have spoken it in 1991; another half a million speakers lived in the Congo in 1990, and some 20,000 in Zambia in 2010. It is used as a lingua franca in eastern Angola.

## Writing system

Angola's Instituto de Línguas Nacionais (National Languages Institute) has established spelling rules for Chokwe with a view to facilitate and promote its use.

## Phonology

### Vowels

| | Front | Central | Back |
| - | - | - | - |
| Close | i | | u |
| Close-mid | e | | o |
| Open-mid | ɛ | | ɔ |
| Open | | a ~ ɑ | a ~ ɑ |

Vowels may also be heard as nasalized when preceding nasal consonants.

### Consonants

| | | Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Stop | voiceless | p | t | | (c) | k | |
| Stop | voiced | b | d | | (ɟ) | g | |
| Stop | aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | | | kʰ | |
| Stop | prenasal vd. | ᵐb | ⁿd | | (ᶮɟ) | ᵑɡ | |
| Stop | prenasal vl. | ᵐp | | | | | |
| Affricate | voiceless | p͡f | t͡f | t͡ʃ | | | |
| Affricate | voiced | | t͡v | d͡ʒ | | | |
| Affricate | prenasal | | ⁿd͡v | ⁿd͡ʒ | | | |
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | | | h |
| Fricative | voiced | v | z | ʒ | | | |
| Fricative | prenasal | | ⁿz | ⁿʒ | | | |
| Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ɲ | | |
| Approximant | lateral | | l | | ʎ | | |
| Approximant | plain | | | | j | w | |

Affricate sounds /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ⁿd͡ʒ/ may also be pronounced as palatal stops [c, ɟ, ᶮɟ].

### Tones

Chokwe has three tones as /v́/, /v̀/, and /v̂/.

## Examples

| English | Chokwe |
| - | - |
| Good Morning -Response | Menekenu -Mwane |
| See you | Ndo shimbu yikehe |
| Goodbye | Salenuho |
| What is your name? | Jina lie yena iya? |
| My name is ____ | Jina liami ___ |
