| Luvale | |
| Nativename: | Chiluvale |
| States: | Angola, Zambia |
| Ethnicity: | Lovale |
| Date: | 2001–2010 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| 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) |
| Minority: | Zambia |
| Script: | Latin (Luvale alphabet) Luvale Braille |
| Iso3: | lue |
| Glotto: | luva1239 |
| Glottorefname: | Luvale |
| Guthrie: | K.14 |
Luvale (also spelt Chiluvale, Lovale, Lubale, Luena, Lwena) is a Bantu language spoken by the Lovale people of Angola and Zambia. It is recognized as a regional language for educational and administrative purposes in Zambia, where about 168,000 people speak it as of 2006. Luvale uses a modified form of the latin alphabet in its written form.[1]
Luvale is closely related to Chokwe.
It contains many loanwords from Portuguese from colonial contact during 20th century,[2] such as:
| Luvale | Portuguese | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| xikata | escada | ladder | |
| xikitelu | mosquitero | mosquito net | |
| ngatwe | gato | cat | |
| mbalili | barril | powder keg (lit. barrel) | |
| kaluwaxa | carro | bicyle | |
| semana | semana | week |
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Fricative | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Close-mid | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| Open-mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /ink/ |