| Tongwe | |
| Nativename: | Bende |
| States: | Tanzania |
| Speakers: | 40,000 |
| Date: | 1999–2001 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam4: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam5: | Bantu (Zone F.10) |
| Dia1: | Tongwe |
| Dia2: | Bende |
| Lc1: | tny |
| Ld1: | Tongwe |
| Lc2: | bdp |
| Ld2: | Bende |
| Guthrie: | F.10 (F.11–12) |
| Glotto: | tong1320 |
| Glottoname: | Tongwe |
| Glotto2: | bend1258 |
| Glottoname2: | Bende |
| Elp: | 10413 |
| Elpname: | Bende |
Tongwe (Sitongwe) and Bende (Sibende) constitute a clade of Bantu languages coded Zone F.10 in Guthrie's classification. According to Nurse & Philippson (2003),[1] they form a valid node. Indeed, at 90% lexical similarity they may be dialects of a single language.
| Plosive | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fricative | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Nasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ |
| High | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Low | pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ pronounced as /link/ |
Additionally, Bende has four tones;[2] high, low, rising, and falling.