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Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, R, Ndonga (R.20) (Ethnologue)
Kwanyama is also called: Cuanhama, Humba, Kuanyama, Kwancama, Kwanjama, Ochikwanyama, Otjiwambo, Ovambo, Owambo, Oxikuanyama
According to Ethnologue, Kwanyama is intelligible with Ndonga and Kwambi, so information on all these tongues is also included here.
According to an article in Wikipedia: "Kwanyama or Oshikwanyama ... is a standardized dialect of the Oshiwambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Ndonga..."[Oshindonga]
South central Angola and Northern Okavangoland in Namibia.
According to information compiled from Ethnologue:
Kwanyama, Ndonga, and Kwambi are interintelligible. Two other tongues are related and have the same classification (see #1 above): Ngandyera and Mbalanhu
Wikipedia articles mention Kwanyama and Ndonga as dialects of Oshiwambo.
"Seven different dialects of Oshiwambo are spoken in Namibia: Oshikwanyama, Oshindonga, Oshikolonkadhi, Oshimbalantu, Oshikwaluudhi, Oshingandjera, and Oshikwambi." (SchoolNet.na)
According to Ethnologue, Kwanyama is a national language in both Angola and Namibia.
Literacy among Kwanyama speakers in Namibia (Ethnologue):
Literacy among Ndonga speakers in Angola and Namibia (Ethnologue):
Uses Latin alphabet. Ntondo has comments on the orthographies in Angola and Namibia.
Kwanyama and Ndonga have standard written forms. Apparently these are the only Oshiwambo tongues with written forms (Wikipedia; SchoolNet.na)
From learners' materials mentioned in 7c, it appears that Kwanyama, at least, uses a basic Latin alphabet (i.e., no extended characters). [verify? and Ndonga?]
Sample texts are shown on the "Language Museum" site as follows (these may or may not reflect current standards and use):
Apparently a standard basic Latin (ASCII) font will suffice.
Learners' materials:
Wikipedia editions:
None known of.
Kuanyama; Kwanyama
Ndonga
Kwambi
This article was renamed from "Kwanyama" to "Oshiwambo" to provide a better term for covering that language, Ndonga, etc. the questions below are still relevant.
Should locale & localisation focus on Kwanyama and Ndonga separately or, for some purposes, together? It is not clear if there are significant dialect differences within the language or relating to different influences from English and Portuguese. Questions:
Ntondo, Zavoni. 1998. "The Sociolinguistic Situation of Oshikwanyama in Angola." In K. Legère, ed. Cross-border languages : reports and studies, Regional Workshop on Cross-Border Languages, National Institute for Educational Development (NIED), Okahandja, 23-27 September 1996. Windhoek : Gamsberg Macmillan.
SchoolNet.na, "Te ti! A beginner's guide to Oshindonga," (Chapter 12, mOshiwambo!), http://www.schoolnet.na/languages/teti/moshiwambo.html
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Kwambi," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kwm
______, "Kwanyama," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=kua
______, "Language Family Trees: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, R, Ndonga (R.20)," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_family.asp?subid=90328
______, "Ndonga," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ndo
SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
Wikipedia, "Kwanyama," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanyama
______, "Ndonga," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ndonga
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