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Shona belongs to the Shona Group of Bantu (Guthrie S10). (Webbook)
Ethnologue lists the classification as: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, S, Shona (S.10)
Shona is spoken by various groups (including Karanga, Makorekore, Manyika, Ndau, and Zezuru), primarily in Zimbabwe but also in western Mozambique (Manyika) and in south central Zambia. (Webbook)
According to Ethnologue:
Although there are many dialect differences in Shona, a standardized dialect is recognized. (Webbook)
According to information from Ethnologue:
Shona is a language of education in Zimbabwe. Numerous newspapers publish in Shona, and a sizable literature exists. Shona is also heard over the radio. (Webbook)
Shona is the dominant African language of Zimbabwe and is understood by a considerable number. ... It is primarily a spoken language apparently based chiefly on Karanga and Zezuru with lexical items also from Manyika and Korekore. Urban populations tend to speak school or standard Shona. ... Literacy rate ...: 86% in English and Shona. Taught in primary schools. (Ethnologue) Most black Zimbabweans living in Shona-dominated areas will speak Shona, even if it is not their first language.
The first novel in Shona, Solomon Mutswairo's Feso, was published in 1957. It is taught in the schools but is not the general medium of instruction in other subjects. (Wikipedia) This means that some native speakers of Shona, may prefer English when it comes to reading and writing!
Shona has a standardized orthography. (Webbook)
Shona is a written standard language with an orthography and grammar that was codified during the early 20th century and fixed in the 1950s. (Wikipedia)
The letters and digraphs of the alphabet as indicated at http://www.dokpro.uio.no/allex/gsd/fm/7-Mabhii.htm are:
a b bh ch d dh e f g h i j k m mh n' n o p r s t u v vh w y z
A table at http://www.bisharat.net/A12N/MozaSource.htm gives some information for Shona in Mozambique (this lists some additional digraphs - not sure how this relates to the Shona standard elsewhere).
A sample text is shown on the "Language Museum" site: http://www.language-museum.com/s/shona.htm
Any font suitable for English should suffice.
Wikipedia in Shona at http://sn.wikipedia.org/ (not much content as of 5-2007)
Shona dictionary online - has explanations in Shona. Part of the Allex project http://www.edd.uio.no/allex/ (which has apparently ended?):
Not aware of any localisation efforts.
Shona
Manyika
Ndau
The Open Knowledge Network (OKN) has a Shona version of its project software [seeking more info]. http://www.openknowledge.net/
Google has a version localized in Shona - http://www.google.com/intl/sn/
Pages about Shona:
Prof. Herbert Chimhundu, University of Zimbabwe
With somewhere around 10 million speakers and an established orthography, Shona would seem like a priority candidate for some localisation effort.
Dwyer, David (1997), Webbook of African Languages, http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/hiermenu.html (page on "Shona," http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/Shona_root.html )
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Manyika," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=mxc
______, "Ndau," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ndc
______, "Shona," http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=sna
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, "Shona language," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shona_language
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