Chewa language

**Chewa** (also known as **Nyanja**, /ˈnjændʒə/) is a Bantu language spoken in Malawi and a recognised minority in Zambia and Mozambique. The noun class prefix *chi-* is used for languages, so the language is usually called ***Chichewa*** and ***Chinyanja*** (spelled *Cinianja* in Portuguese). In Malawi, the name was officially changed from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda (himself of the Chewa people), and this is still the name most commonly used in Malawi today. In Zambia, the language is generally known as Nyanja or *Cinyanja/Chinyanja* '(language) of the lake' (referring to Lake Malawi).

Chewa belongs to the same language group (Guthrie Zone N) as Tumbuka, Sena and Nsenga.

Throughout the history of Malawi, only Chewa and Tumbuka have at one time been the primary dominant national languages used by government officials and in school curriculums. However, the Tumbuka language suffered a lot during the rule of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, since in 1968 as a result of his one-nation, one-language policy it lost its status as an official language in Malawi. As a result Tumbuka was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media. With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Tumbuka programmes were started again on the radio, but the number of books and other publications in Tumbuka remains low.

## Phonology

### Vowels

Chewa has five vowel sounds: a, ɛ, i, ɔ, u; these are written *a*, *e*, *i*, *o*, *u*. Long or double vowels are sometimes found, e.g. *áákúlu* 'big' (class 2), *kufúula* 'to shout'. When a word comes at the end of a phrase, its penultimate vowel tends to be lengthened, except for non-Chewa names and words, such as *Muthárika* or *ófesi*, in which the penultimate vowel always remains short. The added 'u' or 'i' in borrowed words such as *láputopu* 'laptop' or *íntaneti* 'internet' tends to be silent or barely pronounced.

Chewa Vowels

### Consonants

Chewa consonants can be plain (i.e. followed by a vowel), labialised (i.e. followed by *w*), or palatalised (i.e. followed by or combined with *y*):

* *ba*, *kha*, *ga*, *fa*, *ma*, *sa* etc.
* *bwa*, *khwa*, *gwa*, *fwa*, *mwa*, *swa* etc.
* *bza*, *tcha*, *ja*, *fya*, *nya*, *sha* etc.

In this scheme, the place of *bya* is taken by the palatalised affricate *bza*, and the place of *gya* is taken by *ja*, and *sya* is replaced by *sha*.

Another way of classifying the consonants is according to whether they are voiced, unvoiced, aspirated, nasal, or approximant:

* *ba*, *da*, *ga*
* *pa*, *ta*, *ka*
* *pha*, *tha*, *kha*
* *ma*, *na*, *ng'a*
* *wa*, *la*, *ya*

Voiced and aspirated consonants, as well as [f] and [s], can also be preceded by a homorganic nasal:

* *mba*, *ngwa*, *nja*, *mva*, *nza* etc.
* *mpha*, *nkhwa*, *ntcha*, *mfa*, *nsa* etc.

The possible consonant combinations can thus be arranged on a table as follows:

The spelling used here is that introduced in 1973, which is the one generally in use in the Malawi at the present time, replacing the *Chinyanja Orthography Rules* of 1931.

**Notes on the consonants**

* In most words, Chewa *b* and *d* (when not prenasalised) are pronounced implosively, by sucking slightly. However, there is also a plosive *b* and *d*, mostly found in foreign words, such as *bála* 'bar', *yôdúla* 'expensive' (from Afrikaans *duur*) (in contrast to the implosive *b* and *d* in native words such as *bála* 'wound' and *yôdúla* 'which cuts'). A plosive *d* is also found in *kudínda* 'to stamp (a document)' and *mdidi* 'confident step'.
* The affricate sounds *bv* and *pf* were formerly commonly heard but are now generally replaced by *v* and *f*, e.g. *(b)vúto* 'problem', *(p)fúpa* 'bone'. In the *Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja* dictionary produced by the University of Malawi, the spellings *bv* and *pf* are not used in any of the headwords, but *bv* is used two or three times in the definitions.
* The combination *bz* is described by Atkins as an "alveolar-labialised fricative". The combination sounds approximately as [bʒ] or [bʒʲ]. Similarly *ps* is pronounced approximately as [pʃ] or [pʃʲ].
* The sounds written *ch*, *k*, *p* and *t* are pronounced less forcibly than the English equivalents and generally without aspiration. Stevick notes that in relaxed speech, the first three are sometimes replaced with the voiced fricatives [ʒ], [ɣ] and [β], and *t* can be heard as a voiced flap. In the combination *-ti* (e.g. *angáti?* 'how many'), *t* may be lightly aspirated.
* *h* is also used in Chewa but mostly only in loanwords such as *hotéra* 'hotel', *hátchi* 'horse', *mswahála* 'monthly allowance given to chiefs'.
* *j* is described by Scotton and Orr as being pronounced "somewhat more forward in the mouth" than in English and as sounding "somewhere between an English *d* and *j*".
* *l* and *r* are the same phoneme, representing a retroflex tap [ɽ], approximately between [l] and [r]. According to the official spelling rules, the sound is written as 'r' after 'i' or 'e', otherwise 'l'. It is also written with 'l' after a prefix containing 'i', as in *lilíme* 'tongue'.
* *m* is syllabic [m̩] in words where it is derived from *mu*, e.g. *m'balé* 'relative' (3 syllables), *mphunzitsi* 'teacher' (4 syllables), *anáḿpatsa* 'he gave him' (5 syllables). However, in class 9 words, such as *mphátso* 'gift', *mbale* 'plate', or *mfíti* 'witch', and also in the class 1 word *mphaká* 'cat', the *m* is pronounced very short and does not form a separate syllable. In Southern Region dialects of Malawi, the syllabic *m* in words like *mkángo* 'lion' is pronounced in a homorganic manner, i.e. [ŋ̍.ká.ᵑɡo] (with three syllables), but in the Central Region, it is pronounced as it is written, i.e. [m̩.ká.ᵑɡo].
* *n*, in combinations such as *nj*, *ntch*, *nkh* etc., is assimilated to the following consonant, that is, it is pronounced [ɲ] or [ŋ] as appropriate. In words of class 9, such as *njóka* 'snake' or *nduná* 'minister' it is pronounced very short, as part of the following syllable. However, [n] can also be syllabic, when it is contracted from *ndi* 'it is' or *ndí* 'and', e.g. *ń'kúpíta* 'and to go'; also in the remote past continuous tense, e.g. *ankápítá* 'he used to go'. In some borrowed words such as *bánki* or *íntaneti* the combinations *nk* and *nt* with non-syllabic *n* can be found but not in native words.
* *ng* is pronounced [ŋɡ] as in 'finger' and *ng’* is pronounced [ŋ] as in 'singer'. Both of these consonants can occur at the beginning of a word: *ngoma* 'kudu', *ng'ombe* 'cow or ox'.
* *w* in the combinations *awu*, *ewu*, *iwu*, *owa*, *uwa* (e.g. *mawú* 'voice', *msewu* 'road', *liwú* 'sound', *lowa* 'enter', *duwa* 'flower') although often written is generally not pronounced. Combinations such as *gwo* or *mwo* are not found; thus *ngwábwino* (short for *ndi wábwino*) 'he is good' but *ngóípa* (short for *ndi wóípa*) 'he is bad'; *mwalá* 'stone' but *móto* 'fire'.
* *ŵ*, a "closely lip-rounded [w] with the tongue in the close-i position", was formerly used in Central Region dialects but is now rarely heard, usually being replaced by 'w'. ("It is doubtful whether the majority of speakers have [β] in their phoneme inventory" (Kishindo).) The symbol 'ŵ' is generally omitted in current publications such as newspapers. In the dialects that use the sound, it is found only before a, i, and e, while before o and u it becomes [w]. To some linguists (e.g. Watkins) it sounds similar to the Spanish [β].
* *zy* (as in *zyoliká* 'be upside down like a bat') can be pronounced [ʒ].

### Tones

Like most other Bantu languages, Chewa is a tonal language; that is to say, the pitch of the syllables (high or low) plays an important role in it. Tone is used in various ways in the language. First of all, each word has its own tonal pattern, for example:

* *munthu* [mu.ⁿtʰu] 'person' (Low, Low)
* *gal**ú*** [ɡă.ɽú] 'dog' (Rising, High)
* *mb**ú**zi* [ᵐbû.zi] 'goat' (Falling, Low)
* *ch**í**manga* [t͡ʃí.ma.ᵑɡa] 'maize' (High, Low, Low)

Usually there is only one high tone in a word (generally on one of the last three syllables), or none. However, in compound words there can be more than one high tone, for example:

* *ch**á**kúdy**á*** [t͡ʃá.kú.ɗʲá] 'food' (High, High, High; derived from *chá* + *kudyá*, 'a thing of eating')

A second important use of tone is in the verb. Each tense of the verb has its own characteristic tonal pattern (negative tenses usually have a different pattern from positive ones). For example, the present habitual has high tones on the initial syllable and the penultimate, the other syllables being low:

* *nd**í**-ma-thand**í**za* 'I (usually) help'
* *nd**í**-ma-p**í**ta* 'I (usually) go'

The recent past continuous and present continuous, on the other hand, have a tone on the third syllable:

* *ndi-ma-th**á**ndiza* 'I was helping'
* *ndi-ma-p**í**ta* 'I was going'
* *ndi-ku-th**á**ndiza* 'I am helping'
* *ndi-ku-p**í**ta* 'I am going'

Tones can also indicate whether a verb is being used in a main clause or in a dependent clause such as a relative clause:

* *sabatá yatha* 'the week has ended'
* *sabatá y**á**tha* 'the week which has ended (i.e. last week)'

A third use of tones in Chewa is to show phrasing and sentence intonation. For example, immediately before a pause in the middle of a sentence the speaker's voice tends to rise up; this rise is referred to as a boundary tone. Other intonational tones are sometimes heard, for example a rising or falling tone at the end of a yes–no question.

## References

1. ↑ Atkins (1950), p.201.
2. ↑ Downing & Mtenje (2017), pp. 228–9.
3. ↑ Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 95: "A high vowel is very short and not very vowel-like, so inserting one leads to minimal deviation from the pronunciation of the word in the source language."
4. ↑ See Kishindo (2001), p.267.
5. ↑ Atkins (1950), p.200.
6. ↑ Scotton & Orr (1980), p.15; Atkins (1950), p.208.
7. ↑ Downing & Mtenje (2018), p. 43.
8. ↑ Atkins (1950), p.208.
9. ↑ Stevick (1965), p.xii.
10. ↑ Scotton & Orr (1980), p.18.
11. ↑ Atkins (1950), p.207; Stevick et al. (1965), p.xii; Downing & Mtenje (2018), p. 43, quoting Price (1946).
12. ↑ Kishindo (2001), p.268.
13. ↑ See also Chirwa (2008).
14. ↑ Atkins (1950), p.209.
15. ↑ Atkins (1950), p.204.
16. ↑ Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 99.
17. ↑ Atkins (1950), p.205.
18. ↑ Kishindo (2001), p.270.
19. ↑ The Nation online news in Chichewa; Zodiak Radio online news in Chichewa.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Watkins (1937), p.13.
21. ↑ Mchombo (2004), p.10.
22. ↑ Mtanthauziramawu wa Chinyanja (2002).
23. ↑ Mtenje (1986), pp.195; 203–4; 244ff; Mtenje (1987), p.173.
24. ↑ Stevick et al. (1965), p.147.
25. ↑ Mchombo (2004), pp.17–18.
26. ↑ Kanerva (1990), p.147.
27. ↑ Hullquist (1988), p.145.
28. ↑ Downing & Mtenje (2017), p. 263.