Ethnicity Makonde Writing system Latin | Native speakers 1.4 million (2006) | |
Native to Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Benue–Congo
Southern Bantoid
Bantu
Rufiji–Ruvuma
Ruvuma
Makonde languages
Makonde Dialects Matembwe–Machinga
Mabiha
Ndonde Hamba (Mawanda) | ||
Makonde, or Kimakonde, is the language spoken by the Makonde, an ethnic group in southeast Tanzania and northern Mozambique. Makonde is a central Bantu language closely related to Yao. The Matembwe and Mabiha (Maviha) dialects are divergent, and may not be Makonde (Nurse 2003).
Chikungunya, the name of a mosquito-borne viral fever, is derived from the Makonde root verb kungunyala (meaning "that which bends up", "to become contorted," or "to walk bent over") after the disease was first identified on the Makonde Plateau. The derivation of the term is generally falsely attributed to Swahili.
References
Makonde language Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA