Region Nord-Kivu province ISO 639-3 nnb | Native speakers (900,000 cited 1991) Glottolog nand1264 | |
Native to Democratic Republic of the Congo Language family Niger–Congo
Atlantic–Congo
Benue–Congo
Bantoid
Bantu
Northeast Bantu
Great Lakes Bantu
Konzo
Nande | ||
Nande, also known as (Oru)Ndandi and Yira, is a Bantu language spoken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Nande of Congo and the Konjo people of Uganda are a single ethnic group, which they call Yira (Bayira). They trace their origins to the Ruwenzori Mountains between the two countries. The languages are close enough to be considered divergent dialects. Nande has a number of dialects of its own: Nande proper, Kumbule, Mate, Tangi, Sanza, Shu, Songola (Songoora, Nyangala), Swaga / Kira (in Nande, all of these are prefixed with eki-).
For the varieties of this language known as Shu we are given the information that another language, "EkiShukaali" was formerly spoken by the women, the AvaShukaali. This may be a specific reference to some kind of "secret jargon" into which the girls, and not boys, were initiated.
Some of the Nande of Congo have a patron–vassal relationship with the Efé Pygmies.