Tumbuka or Chitumbuka (also known by other variants such as Senga (Zambia) and other names) is a Bantu language of Central and Southern Africa spoken primarily in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.Michigan State University African Studies Center information page. It is the native and primary language of at least more than 13 groups of peoples, namely, the Senga, Tumbuka, Yombe, Phoka, Henga, Balowoka, Fungwe, Hewe, Northern Ngoni, Kamanga and Tonga people (Malawi), with 12 known and studied dialects. The chi- prefix in front of Tumbuka means "the language of", so the language is usually called Chitumbuka even in English publications.
In Northern Malawi, Chitumbuka is spoken in all 6 districts of the region, namely, Rumphi, Mzimba (including Mzuzu City), Karonga, Chitipa, Nkhata-Bay, and Likoma.University of Malawi (2006) Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi. In Central Malawi, it is spoken primarily in 3 districts of Kasungu, Nkhotakota and Ntchisi.
In the Eastern Province of Zambia, Chitumbuka is spoken mainly in 5 districts, namely, Lumezi, Chasefu, Lundazi and Chama, with some in Chipangali and Chipata. In Muchinga Province of Zambia, Chitumbuka is spoken in the districts of Isoka, Mafinga and surrounding areas.
In Southern Tanzania, it is spoken in Mbeya, Rungwe and Njombe districts that share boundary with Northern Malawi.Kiso (2012), pp.21ff. In Zimbabwe, Chitumbuka is spoken to the lesser extent in Harare due to migrant labour by over 20,000 people who migrated in early 18th century.
Speakers In 2024, there were approximately 7.1 million native Chitumbuka speakers from all the 3 countries, excluding speakers from Zimbabwe whose data was not added. In Malawi and Zambia, there are nearly 1,600,000 people who speak it as their second language. The majority of Chitumbuka speakers live in Malawi and Zambia, with half a million living in South Tanzania, and over 20,000 in Zimbabwe.
Official and regional status In 1947, Chitumbuka was made an official language of Malawi for 21 years along with Chewa and English. It was in 1968 when Hastings Kamuzu Banda removed the language as a result of his one-nation, one-language policy. The Chitumbuka language suffered a lot during the rule of President Banda due to his tribalistic and racist policies. Chitumbuka was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media. With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Chitumbuka programmes were started again on the radio.
Dialects
There are several dialects of Chitumbuka spoken in three countries. Malawi has Chikamanga, Chiphoka and Chihewe dialects that are spoken in Rumphi and Karonga Districts; Chiwenya spoken in Chitipa District and Chitumbuka spoken in Mzimba and NkhataBay Districts, including Mzuzu City. The Rumphi variant is often regarded as the most "linguistically pure" and is sometimes called "real Chitumbuka".Kamwendo (2004), p.282.University of Malawi (2006), p.27.
Orthography
Two systems of writing Tumbuka are in use: the traditional spelling (used for example in the Chitumbuka version of Wikipedia and in the newspaper ), in which words such as 'people' and 'year' are written with 'b' and 'ch', and the new official spelling (used for example in the Citumbuka dictionary published online by the Centre for Language Studies and in the online Bible), in which the same words are written with 'ŵ' and 'c', e.g. ŵanthu and caka. (The sound 'ŵ' is a closely rounded [w] pronounced with the tongue in the close-i position.)Atkins, Guy (1950) "Suggestions for an Amended Spelling and Word Division of Nyanja" Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, Vol. 20, No. 3, p.205. There is some uncertainty over where to write 'r' and where 'l', e.g. (Dictionary) or (Bible) 'food'. (In fact [l] and [r] are allophones of the same phoneme.) There is also hesitation between the spellings 'sk' and 'sy' (both and ('bamboo') are found in the Citumbuka dictionary).See entries , , .
Phonology
Vowels The same vowels , , , , and syllabic are found in Tumbuka as in the neighbouring languages.Vail (1972), p. 1.
Consonants Tumbuka consonants are similar to those of the neighbouring languages of Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, but with certain differences. The continuant sounds , and , which are absent or marginal in other related languages, are common in Tumbuka. Also common are the palatalised sounds , , , , , , and . In Tumbuka there are no affricates such as , , , . The sounds and are never nasalised in Tumbuka, so that Chewa ('fish') = Tumbuka . The sound is found only in foreign words such as ('shirt') and ('sugar'). Tumbuka sometimes corresponds to , for example Chewa 'to be ill' = Tumbuka , Chewa 'to eat' = Tumbuka . The pronunciation of "sk" and "zg" varies according to dialect.
Tumbuka consonants are frequently either palatalised (i.e. followed by /j/) or rounded (i.e. followed by /w/.) Some of them can also be preceded by a homorganic nasal (/n/, /ŋ/ or /m/). The possible consonant combinations are shown in the table below:
+ Table of Tumbuka consonantsChavula (2016), pp. 11–13.Vail (1972), pp. 4–19. Labial Dental Palatal Velar Glottal plain lab. pal. plain lab. pal. plain lab. plain lab. Nasal m mw my n nw ny ng' ng'w Plosive/Affricate unvoiced p pw py t tw ty c cw k kw voiced b bw by d dw dy j jw g gw aspirated ph phw phy th thw thy ch kh khw nasalised mb mbw mby nd ndw (ndy) nj ng ngw nasalisedaspirated mph mphw mphy nth nthw (nthy) nch nkh nkhw Fricative unvoiced f fw fy s sw sk (sy) (sh) h voiced v vw vy z zw zg Semivowel/ Liquid ŵ w l/r lw/rw ly/ry y gh
Tone
Tumbuka has a tonal accent but in a very limited way, in that every word, spoken in isolation, has the same falling tone on the penultimate syllable (which also coincides with stress).Downing (2008, 2012). It is therefore not possible in Tumbuka to contrast two different words or two different tenses tonally, as it is in other Bantu languages. However, this penultimate falling tone occurs not on every word, but only on the last word of a phonological phrase; e.g. in the following sentence, only the second word has a tone, the first being toneless:Downing (2012), p.123. 'we are cooking porridge'
A greater variety of tonal patterns is found in the ideophones (expressive words) of Tumbuka; for example Low ( 'disintegrating into small pieces'), High ( 'swooping low (of birds)'), High-Low ( 'sound of thing bursting'), and Low-High ( 'sudden disappearance'), etc.Moto (1999), pp.112-120.
Intonational tones are also used in Tumbuka; for example, in yes-no questions there is often a High-Low fall on the final syllable of the question:Downing (2008), p.55. 'are you also weeding the maize?'
There does not seem to be any consistent, direct correlation between tone in Tumbuka and focus.Downing (2012), p.129.
Nouns Noun classes As is usual with Bantu languages, Tumbuka nouns are grouped into different noun classes according to their singular and plural prefixes. Each class of noun has its own adjective, pronoun, and verb agreements, known as 'concords'. Where the agreements disagree with the prefix, the agreements take precedence in deciding the class of noun. For example, the noun 'possessions', despite having the prefix ka-, is placed in class 1, since one says 'these possessions' using the class 1 demonstrative . Malawians themselves (e.g. in the University of Malawi's Citumbuka dictionary) refer to the noun classes by traditional names such as "Mu-Ŵa-"; Bantu specialists, however, refer to the classes by numbers (1/2 etc.) corresponding to the noun-classes of other Bantu languages. Occasionally nouns do not correspond to the classes below, e.g. 'chief' (class 9) irregularly has a plural mafumu in class 6.
Class 1/2 (Mu-Ŵa-)
Some nouns in this class lack the prefix Mu-: pl. = person pl. = foreigner, white man pl. = child pl. = donkey pl. = maternal uncle (no pl.) = goods, possessions
Class 3/4 (Mu-Mi-) pl. = head pl. = fig-tree pl. = life pl. = heart
Class 5/6 (Li-Ma-) pl. = breast pl. = government, district pl. = bottle pl. = tribe, nation pl. = eye (no singular) = water pl. = hill pl. = problem, trouble pl. = hand
Class 7/8 (Ci-Vi-) pl. = year pl. = country, land pl. = farm animal pl. = drunkard pl. = whip
Class 9/10 (Yi-Zi-) pl. = plate pl. = money pl. = brick pl. = chicken pl. = fish
Class 11 (Lu-)
Some speakers treat words in this class as if they were in class 5/6.Shiozaki (2004). = side = fame = tongue
Class 12/13 (Ka-Tu-) pl. = small thing pl. = baby pl. = bird (no singular) = sleep
Class 14/6 (U-Ma-)
These nouns are frequently abstract and have no plural. = night = farming pl. = bridge pl. = bow
Class 15 (Ku-) Infinitive = to buy, buying = to steal, stealing
Classes 16, 17, 18 (Pa-, Ku-, Mu-) Locative = underneath = in front, before = inside
Concords Verbs, adjectives, numbers, possessives, and pronouns in Tumbuka have to agree with the noun referred to. This is done by means of prefixes, infixes, or suffixes called 'concords' which differ according to the class of noun. Class 1 has the greatest variety of concords, differing for pronouns, subject prefix, object infix, numbers, adjectives, and possessives:Chase (2004).Shiozaki (2004)Vail (1971). = this child = one child = that child = the whole child = every child = the child saw him = the small child = Khumbo's child = my child = the child has seen
Other noun classes have a smaller variety of concords, as can be seen from the table below:
+ Table of Tumbuka concords noun English this num that all subj object adj of perf 1 childyu-wa--mu-mu-wa- 2 children ŵa-ŵa--ŵa-ŵa-ŵa- 3 headwu-wu--wu-wu-wa- 4 headsyi-yi--yi-yi-ya- 5 eyeli-li--li-li-la- 6 eyesgha-gha--gha-gha-gha- 7 yearci-ci--ci-ci-ca- 8 yearsvi-vi--vi-vi-vya- 9 houseyi-yi--yi-yi-ya- 10 houseszi-zi--zi-zi-za- 11 sidelu-lu--lu-lu-lwa- (or: li-li--li-li-la-) 12 birdka-ka--ka-ka-ka- 13 birdstu-tu--tu-tu-twa- 14 bowwu-wu--wu-wu-wa- 15 buyingku-ku--ku-ku-kwa- 16 underneathpa-pa--pa-pa-pa- 17 in frontku-ku--ku-ku-kwa- 18 insidemu-mu--mu-mu-mwa-
Sample phrases and text The following is a list of phrases that can be used when one visits a region whose primary language is Tumbuka: +TumbukaEnglishMoniHelloMonilehello, to a group of peopleMuli makola? Mwaŵa uli?how are you?Muli makola? Mwaŵa uli?How are you?, to a group of peopleNili makolaI'm okayTili makolaWe're okayNaonga (chomene)Thank you (a lot)Yewo (chomene)Thanks (a lot)Ndiwe njani zina lako?What is your name?Zina lane ndine....My name is....Nyengo ili uli?What is the time?Ningakuvwila?Can I help you?Uyende makolaGoodbye/go well/safe travelsMwende makolaGoodbye/go well/safe travels (said to a group of people)Enya/ EhYesYayi/ChalaNoKwaliI don't knowMukumanya kuyowoya Chizungu?Can you speak English?Nayambapo kusambilila ChiTumbukaI've just started learning TumbukaMukung'anamula vichi?What do you mean?Chonde, ningaluta kubafa?May I please go to the bathroom?Nakutemwa/Nkhukutemwa"I love you"PhepaSorryPhepaniSorry (to agroup of people)BanjaFamilyYowoyaTalk/speak
Verbs Subject prefix All verbs must have a subject prefix, which agrees with the subject noun.Chavula (2016), p. 22. For example, the word 'hunter' is class 7, so if it is subject, the verb has the prefix ci-: = 'the hunter killed a lion'Chavula (2016), p. 42.
It is also possible for the subject to be a locative noun (classes 16, 17, 18), in which case the verb has a locative prefix:Chavula (2016), p. 23. = 'on the mat there sat down a child'
The locative prefix ku- (class 17) is also used impersonally when discussing the weather:Chavula (2016), p. 24. = 'it's cold these days'
When the subject is a personal pronoun, the subject prefixes are as follows (the pronoun itself may be omitted, but not the subject prefix): = 'I bought' (nkha- stands for ni-ka-) = 'you bought' (informal, singular) = 'he, she bought' = 'we bought' = 'you bought' (plural or respectful)