Ngoya language explained

Ngoya
Also Known As:Kibala
Nativename:Ipala
States:Angola
Region:northeast Cuanza Sul Province
Speakers:100,000
Date:2013
Ref:[1]
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam2:Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:Benue–Congo
Fam4:Southern Bantoid
Fam5:Bantu
Fam6:(transitional between zones Zone H and Zone R)
Minority:Angola
Iso3:none
Glotto:none
Guthrie:none

Ngoya, also known as Pala (Kibala, Ipala), is a newly recognized language of Angola that since ca. 2010 has been used for national radio broadcasts. It had previously been considered a dialect of Kimbundu without any linguistic evidence, and appears to be transitional between Kimbundu and Umbundu.

Nyoya is spoken in Cuanza Sul between Songo to the north and Umbundu to the south.

The name "Ngoya" is an Umbundu word meaning "savage". The endonym is Pala, which with the noun-class-7 prefix is Íipàlà. It is frequently rendered as Kibala, which is the Kimbundu form.[1]

Notes and References

  1. Angenot et al. (2013) "Comparison between the Ipala-Ngoya, Kimbundu and Umbundu tone-class systems", Revista Língua Viva vol. 3, no. 1.