Region Okavango River Glottolog luya1241 | ISO 639-3 lyn | |
Native to Zambia; immigrants in Namibia, Angola Native speakers 480 Luyana proper in Zambia (2010 census)
perhaps 7,500 in Botswana (no date; not clear if Luyana proper) Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Benue–Congo
Southern Bantoid
Bantu (Zone K)
Luyana | ||
Luyana (Luyaana), also known as Luyi (Louyi, Lui, Rouyi), is a Bantu language spoken in Zambia and perhaps in small numbers in neighboring countries. It appears to be an divergent lineage of Bantu.
Ethnologue lists Kwandi, Mbowe, Mbume, and possibly Kwangwa ("Kwanga") as dialects. Maho (2009) classifies these as distinct languages; it is not clear if any of them are part of the divergent Luyana branch of Bantu, or if they are Kavango languages.
References
Luyana language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA