| Kwanyama | |
| Nativename: | Oshikwanyama |
| States: | Namibia and Angola |
| Region: | Ovamboland |
| Speakers: | 250,000 in Namibia (2006); 420,000 in Angola |
| Date: | 1993 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Bantoid |
| Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam7: | Bantu |
| Fam8: | Kavango–Southwest |
| Fam9: | Southwest Bantu |
| Fam10: | Ovambo |
| Iso1: | kj |
| Iso2: | kua |
| Iso3: | kua |
| Glotto: | kuan1247 |
| Glottorefname: | Kuanyama |
| Lingua: | 99-AUR-la |
| Guthrie: | R.21 |
Kwanyama or Cuanhama is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Oshindonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form.
The entire Christian Bible has been translated into Kwanyama and was first published in 1974 under the name Ombibeli by the South African Bible Society.[1] Jehovah’s Witnesses released the modern translation of the new testament, the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures in Kwanyama in 2019,[2] both printed and electronic online version.
| Plosive | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/~pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
| prenasal | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | (pronounced as /link/) | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| voiced | pronounced as /link/ | ||||||
| Nasal | voiced | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| voiceless | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |||
| Approximant | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||||
/t/ and /d/ are dentalized when followed by a front vowel /i/. An /s/ sound can only occur in loanwords.
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | |
| Open | pronounced as /link/ | ||
Kwanyama has two tones : high and low.