| Sambaa | |
| Nativename: | kisambaa |
| States: | Tanzania |
| Ethnicity: | Shambaa |
| Date: | 2001 |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Bantoid |
| Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam7: | Bantu |
| Fam8: | Northeast Bantu |
| Fam9: | Northeast Coast Bantu |
| Fam10: | Seuta |
| Iso3: | ksb |
| Glotto: | sham1280 |
| Glottorefname: | Shambala |
| Guthrie: | G.23 |
Sambaa or Shambaa or Shambala is a Bantu language of Tanzania.
Sambaa, also Kisambaa, (ki)Shambaa, (ki)Shambala is spoken by the Shambaa in the Usambara mountains in the Lushoto District and Muheza District, Tanga Region, of northern Tanzania. Some dialectal variation exists between the language as spoken in the area around Lushoto and the areas around Mlalo and Mtae, possibly also between the Shambaa of the Western Usambara Mountains and the Eastern Usambara Mountains.
Five vowels are noted as [i, ɛ, a, ɔ, u].
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive/ Affricate | 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/ | |||
| vl. prenasal | pronounced as /ᵐ̥p/ | pronounced as /ⁿ̥t/ | pronounced as /ᵑ̊k/ | ||||
| vd. prenasal | pronounced as /ᵐb/ | pronounced as /ⁿd/ | pronounced as /ᶮɟ/ | pronounced as /ᵑɡ/ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||
| voiced | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||
| Approximant | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||