| Chokwe | |
| Nativename: | Ucôkwe (Wuchokwe) |
| States: | Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia |
| Speakers: | million |
| Date: | 1990–2018 |
| Ethnicity: | Chokwe people |
| Ref: | e25 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Bantoid |
| Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam7: | Bantu (Zone K) |
| Fam8: | Chokwe–Luchazi (K.10) |
| Nation: |  Angola (national language) |
| Agency: | Instituto de Línguas Nacionais |
| Iso3: | cjk |
| Glotto: | chok1245 |
| Glottorefname: | Chokwe |
| Guthrie: | K.11 |
Chokwe (also known as Batshokwe, Ciokwe, Kioko, Kiokwe, Quioca, Quioco, Shioko, Tschiokloe or Tshokwe[1]) is a Bantu language spoken by the Chokwe people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Zambia. It is recognised as a national language of Angola, where half a million people were estimated to have spoken it in 1991; another half a million speakers lived in the Congo in 1990, and some 20,000 in Zambia in 2010. It is used as a lingua franca in eastern Angola.
Angola's Instituto de Línguas Nacionais (National Languages Institute) has established spelling rules for Chokwe with a view to facilitate and promote its use.[2]
| Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ ~ pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| aspirated | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| prenasal vd. | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| prenasal vl. | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /t͡f/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| voiced | pronounced as /t͡v/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| prenasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| prenasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Approximant | lateral | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| plain | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
Chokwe has three tones as /v́/, /v̀/, and /v̂/.[3] [4]
| Good Morning-Response | Menekenu-Mwane | |
| See you | Ndo shimbu yikehe | |
| Goodbye | Salenuho | |
| What is your name? | Jina lie yena iya? | |
| My name is ____ | Jina liami ___ |