| Shona | |
| Nativename: | Shona: chiShona |
| States: | Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana |
| Region: | Southern Africa |
| Speakers: | 6.5 million, Shona proper |
| Date: | 2000 to 2007 |
| Ref: | ne2007 |
| Speakers2: | million Zezuru, Karanga, Chimanyika, Korekore (2000) million incl. Manyika, (2000–2006)[1] |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Bantoid |
| Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam7: | Bantu |
| Fam8: | Shona languages (S.10) |
| Dia1: | Korekore |
| Dia2: | Zezuru |
| Dia3: | Manyika |
| Dia4: | Karanga |
| Iso1: | sn |
| Iso2: | sna |
| Lc1: | sna |
| Ld1: | Zezuru, Karanga, Korekore |
| Lc2: | twl |
| Ld2: | Tavara (Korekore) |
| Lc3: | mxc |
| Ld3: | Manyika |
| Lc4: | twx |
| Ld4: | Tewe (Manyika) |
| Glotto: | core1255 |
| Glottoname: | Core Shona |
| Glotto2: | tawa1270 |
| Glottoname2: | Tawara |
| Guthrie: | S.7–10 |
| Nation: | Zimbabwe |
| Minority: | Mozambique |
| Lingua: | 99-AUT-a = |
| Script: | Latin script (Shona alphabet) Arabic script (formerly) Shona Braille |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Ethnicity: | Shona people |
| Url: | https://books.google.com/books?id=t3ocAAAAMAAJ&q=mushona++ |
| Perspectives Des Études Africaines Contemporaines: Rapport Final D'un Symposium International | |
| First: | Eike |
| Last: | Haberland |
| Date: | May 3, 1974 |
| Publisher: | Deutsche UNESCO-Kommission |
| Isbn: | 9783794052257 |
| Via: | Google Books |
Shona (;[2] Shona: chiShona) is a Bantu language of the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The term is variously used to collectively describe all the Central Shonic varieties (comprising Zezuru, Manyika, Ndau, Korekore and Karanga) or specifically Standard Shona, a variety codified in the mid-20th century. Using the broader term, the language is spoken by over 14,000,000 people.[3]
The larger group of historically related languages—called Shona or Shonic languages by linguists—also includes Ndau (Eastern Shona) and Kalanga (Western Shona). In Guthrie's classification of Bantu languages, zone S.10 designates the Shonic group.
Shona is closely related to Ndau, Kalanga and is related to Tonga, Chewa, Tumbuka, Tsonga and Venda.
Ndau and Kalanga are former dialects of Shona but became independent languages in 2013 because their grammar is very slightly less similar to those of Manyika, Korekore, Zezuru
Shona is also similar to Swahili and Tswana
Shona is a written standard language with an orthography and grammar that was codified during the early 20th century and fixed in the 1950s. In the 1920s, the Rhodesian administration was faced with the challenge of preparing schoolbooks and other materials in the various languages and dialects and requested the recommendation of South African linguist Clement Doke. The language is now described through monolingual and bilingual dictionaries (chiefly Shona – English).
The first novel in Shona, Solomon Mutswairo's Feso, was published in 1957. Subsequently, hundreds of novels, short story collections and poetry volumes in Shona have appeared. Shona is taught in the schools, but after the first few grades it is not the general medium of instruction for subjects other than Shona grammar and literature.
The last systematic study of varieties and sub-varieties of the Central Shona dialect continuum was that done by Clement Doke in 1930, so many sub-varieties are no longer functional and should be treated with caution.
According to information from Ethnologue:
Subdialects: Duma, Jena, Mhari (Mari), Ngova, Venda (not the Venda language), Govera.
Subdialects: Shawasha, Gova, Mbire, Tsunga, Kachikwakwa, Harava, Nohwe, Njanja, Nobvu, Kwazvimba (Zvimba).
Subdialects: Gova, Tande, Tavara, Nyongwe, Pfunde, Shangwe.
Languages with partial intelligibility with Central Shona, of which the speakers are considered to be ethnically Shona, are the S15 Ndau language, spoken in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and the S13 Manyika language, spoken in eastern Zimbabwe, near Mutare specifically Chipinge. Ndau literacy material has been introduced into primary schools. Maho (2009) recognizes Korekore, Zezuru, Manyika, Karanga, and Ndau as distinct languages within the Shona cluster.
Shona allows only open syllables. Consonants belong to the next syllable. For example, Shona: mangwanani ("morning") is syllabified as pronounced as /[ma.ᵑɡwa.na.ni]/; Shona: Zimbabwe is pronounced as /[zi.ᵐba.ɓwe]/. Shona is written with a phonemic orthography, with only slightly different pronunciation or grammatical differences according to variety. Shona has two tones, a high and a low tone, but these tones are not indicated in the standard writing system.
Shona has a simple 5-vowels system: pronounced as /sn/. This inventory is quite common cross-linguistically, with similar systems occurring in Greek, Spanish, Tagalog, Swahili and Japanese. Each vowel is pronounced separately even if they fall in succession. For example, Shona: Unoenda kupi? ("Where are you going?") is pronounced pronounced as /[u.no.e.nda.ku.pi]/.
The consonant sounds of Shona are:
| Bilabial | Labio- dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | whistled | ||||||||
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| breathy | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| implosive | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| prenasalized | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /t͡sᶲ/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| breathy | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||
| prenasalized | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /sᶲ/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| breathy | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| prenasalized | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||||||
| Nasal | plain | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| breathy | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /mʋ̤/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| pronounced as /link/ | |||||||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
Shona and other languages of Southern and Eastern Africa include whistling sounds, (this should not be confused with whistled speech).
Shona's whistled sibilants are the fricatives "sv" and "zv" and the affricates "tsv" and "dzv".
| Sound | example | translation | notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| sv | Shona: masvosvobwa | "shooting stars" | "sv" can be represented by S͎, from the Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet |
| Shona: masvosve | "ants" | ||
| tsv | Shona: tsvaira | "sweep" | (Standard Shona) |
| svw | Shona: masvavembasvwi | "schemer" | (Shangwe, Korekore dialect) |
| zv | Shona: zvizvuvhutswa' | "gold nuggets" | (Tsunga, Zezuru dialect) |
| dzv | Shona: akadzva | "he/she was unsuccessful" | |
| zvw | Shona: huzvweverere | "emotions" | (Gova, Korekore dialect) |
| nzv | Shona: nzvenga | "to dodge" | (Standard Shona) |
| zvc | Shona: muzvcazi | "the Milky Way" | Dental clicks. Only found in Ngova, Karanga dialect. |
| svc | Shona: chisvcamba | "tortoise" |
The letters "L", "Q", and "X" are not used in Shona and are used only in loanwords.
From 1931 to 1955, Unified Shona was written with an alphabet developed by linguist Clement Martyn Doke. This included these letters:
ɓ (b with hook),
ɗ (d with hook),
ŋ (n with leg),
ȿ (s with swash tail),
ʋ (v with hook),
ɀ (z with swash tail).
In 1955, these were replaced by letters or digraphs from the basic Latin alphabet. For example, today is used for and is used for .
Noun classes (Shona: mupanda)
Shona nouns are grouped by noun class (Shona: mupanda) based on:
| Noun class | Shona: Muenzaniso weIzwi ("word example") | Word construction Prefix+body=word | English translation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prefix | Body | |||||
| 1 | Shona: mu | Shona: mukomana | Shona: mu- | Shona: -komana | "boy" | |
| 1a | – | Shona: baba | Shona: -baba | "father" | ||
| 2 | Shona: va | Shona: vakomana | Shona: va- | Shona: -komana | "boys" | |
| 2a | Shona: va | Shona: vasahwira | Shona: va- | Shona: -sahwira | "best friend" | |
| 2a | Shona: vana | Shona: vanatezvara | Shona: vana- | Shona: -tezvara | "father-in-law" | |
| 2b | Shona: a | Shona: atete | Shona: a- | Shona: -tete | "aunt" | |
| 3 | Shona: mu | Shona: muti | Shona: mu- | Shona: -ti | "tree" | |
| 4 | Shona: mi | Shona: miti | Shona: mi- | Shona: -ti | "trees" | |
| 5 | Shona: ri | Shona: rize | Shona: ri- | Shona: -ze | "scorpion" | |
| 6 | Shona: ma | Shona: marize | Shona: ma- | Shona: -ze | "scorpions" | |
| 7 | Shona: chi | Shona: chingwa | Shona: chi- | Shona: -ngwa | "bread" | |
| 8 | Shona: zvi | Shona: zvingwa | Shona: zvi- | Shona: -ngwa | "bread" | |
| 9 | Shona: i | Shona: imba | Shona: i- | Shona: -mba | "house" | |
| 10 | Shona: dzi | Shona: dzimba | Shona: dzi- | Shona: -mba | "houses" | |
| 11 | Shona: ru | Shona: rwizi | Shona: ru- | Shona: -izi | "river" | |
| 12 | Shona: ka | Shona: kambwa | Shona: ka- | Shona: -mbwa | "that little dog" | |
| 13 | Shona: tu | Shona: tumbwa | Shona: tu- | Shona: -mbwa | "those little dogs" | |
| 14 | Shona: u | Shona: upfu | Shona: u- | Shona: -pfu | "mealie meal" | |
| 15 | Shona: ku | Shona: kuenda | Shona: ku- | Shona: -enda | "going" | |
| 16 | Shona: pa | Shona: pamba | Shona: pa- | Shona: -mba | "home" | |
| 17 | Shona: ku | Shona: kumusha | Shona: ku- | Shona: -musha | "rural home" | |
| 17a | – | Shona: zasi | Shona: -zasi | "below" | ||
| 18 | Shona: mu | Shona: mumunda | Shona: mu- | Shona: -munda | "in the farm" | |
| 19 | Shona: svi | Shona: svimbudzi | Shona: svi- | Shona: -mbudzi | "goat" | |
| 21 | Shona: zi | Shona: zigomana | Shona: zi- | Shona: -gomana | "big boy" | |
Shona: Vanhu vese vanoberekwa vakasununguka uyewo vakaenzana pahunhu nekodzero dzavo. Vanhu vese vanechipo chokufunga nekuziva chakaipa nechakanaka saka vanofanira kubatana nomweya wohusahwira.
Translation
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)