{{Short description|Bantu language spoken in Mozambique}}{{redirects|Kokola|the city in Finland|Kokkola}} {{Infobox language | name = Makhuwa | nativename = {{lang|mul|Emakuana}} | states = Mozambique, Tanzania | region = | ethnicity = Makua | speakers = {{sigfig|8.608300|2}} million | date = 2017 | ref = e26 | familycolor = Niger-Congo | fam2 = Atlantic–Congo | fam3 = Volta-Congo | fam4 = Benue–Congo | fam5 = Bantoid | fam6 = Southern Bantoid | fam7 = Bantu | fam8 = Makua languages |official=Mozambique | lc1 = vmw | ld1 = Central Makhuwa | lc2 = mgh | ld2 = Makhuwa-Meetto | lc3 = vmk | ld3 = Makhuwa-Shirima | lc4 = kzn | ld4 = Kokola | lc5 = llb | ld5 = Lolo | lc6 = mny | ld6 = Manyawa | lc7 = vmr | ld7 = Marenje | lc8 = tke | ld8 = Takwane | lc9 = xmc | ld9 = Makhuwa-Marrevone | lc10 = xsq | ld10 = Makhuwa-Saka | script = Latin | glotto = maku1279 | glottoname = Makua–Lomwe; adds Lomwe & Moniga | glottorefname = Makua–Lomwe | glotto2 = chuw1239 | glottorefname2 = Chuwaboic | glottoname2 = Chuwaboic; adds Chuwabo | glotto3 = koko1267 | glottoname3 = Kokola | glotto4 = many1259 | glottoname4 = Manyawa | guthrie = P.31 }} [[Image:Mozambique025.jpg|thumb|250px|A Makhuwa family in Nampula.]]
'''Makhuwa''' (''Emakhuwa''; also spelled '''Makua''' and '''Macua''') or '''Mozambican''' is the primary Bantu language of northern Mozambique. It is spoken by roughly 5.8 million Makua people,<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Verdonschot |first1=Rinus G. |last2=van der Wal |first2=Jenneke |last3=Lewis |first3=Ashley |last4=Knudsen |first4=Birgit |last5=von Grebmer zu Wolfsthurn |first5=Sarah |last6=Schiller |first6=Niels O. |last7=Hagoort |first7=Peter |date=2024-07-23 |title=Information structure in Makhuwa: Electrophysiological evidence for a universal processing account |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=121 |issue=30 |article-number=e2315438121 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2315438121 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=11287159 |pmid=39028693}}</ref> who live north of the Zambezi River, particularly in Nampula Province, which is virtually entirely ethnically Makua.<ref name="NELIMO">''Relatório do I Seminário sobre a Padronização da Ortografia de Línguas Moçambicanas''. NELIMO, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, 1989.</ref> It is the most widely spoken indigenous language of Mozambique.
Apart from the languages in the same group, '''eMakhuwa''' is distinguished from other Bantu languages by the loss of consonant + vowel prefixes in favour of ''e''; compare ''epula'', "rain", with Tswana ''pula''.
Long and short vowels distinguish five vowel qualities /i e a o u/:
*''omala'' - to finish *''omaala'' - to paste, stick *''omela'' - to sprout, bud *''omeela'' - to share out
The consonants are more complex: postalveolar ''tt'' and ''tth'' exist, both ''p'' and ''ph'' are used. Both ''x'' (English "sh") and ''h'' exist while ''x'' varies with ''s''. Regionally, there are also ''θ'' (the "th" of English "thorn"), ''ð'' (the "th" of English "seethe"), ''z'' and ''ng''. For instance in eLomwe, to which Makhuwa is closely related, the ''tt'' of eMakhuwa is represented by a "ch" as in English "church".<ref name="NELIMO" />
== Phonology ==
=== Consonants === {| class="wikitable" ! colspan="2" | !Labial !Dental !Alveolar !Retroflex !Palatal !Velar !Glottal |- align="center" ! rowspan="2" |Plosive !<small>voiceless</small> |{{IPA link|p}} |{{IPA link|t}} | |{{IPA link|ʈ}} |{{IPA link|c}} |{{IPA link|k}} | |- align="center" !<small>aspirated</small> |{{IPA link|pʰ}} |{{IPA link|tʰ}} | |{{IPA link|ʈʰ}} | |{{IPA link|kʰ}} | |- align="center" ! rowspan="2" |Fricative !<small>voiceless</small> |{{IPA link|f}} | |{{IPA link|s}} | |{{IPA link|ʃ}} | |{{IPA link|h}} |- align="center" !<small>voiced</small> |{{IPA link|v}} |({{IPA link|θ}})~{{IPA link|ð}} |{{IPA link|z}} | | | | |- align="center" ! colspan="2" |Nasal |{{IPA link|m}} | |{{IPA link|n}} | |{{IPA link|ɲ}} |{{IPA link|ŋ}} | |- align="center" ! colspan="2" |Lateral | | |{{IPA link|l}} | |{{IPA link|ʎ}} | | |- align="center" ! colspan="2" |Trill | | |{{IPA link|r}} | | | | |- align="center" ! colspan="2" |Approximant |{{IPA link|w}} | | | |{{IPA link|j}} | | |}
=== Vowels === {| class="wikitable" ! !Front !Central !Back |- align="center" !Close |{{IPA link|i}} {{IPA link|iː}} | |{{IPA link|u}} {{IPA link|uː}} |- align="center" !Mid |{{IPA link|e}} {{IPA link|eː}} | |{{IPA link|o}} {{IPA link|oː}} |- align="center" !Open | |{{IPA link|a}} {{IPA link|aː}} | |} <ref name="NELIMO" />
=== Tone === In Makhuwa, tone is distinctive. In the eNahara dialect, there are two tones, low (L) and high (H), and the tone-bearing unit in Makhuwa phonology is the mora. Low tone is unmarked in writing, while high tone is indicated by an acute accent above vowels or nasals (á, ń) or next to tone-bearing consonants (´l).<ref>{{Cite book |last=van der Wal |first=Guenever Johanna |url=https://www.lotpublications.nl/Documents/215_fulltext.pdf |title=Word order and information structure in Makhuwa-Enahara}}</ref>
==Dialects== The names of the dialects vary in different sources. The shibboleth or distinctive variant in the dialects is the treatment of the ''s'':
* eSamgagi dialect: ''odhiva'' * eSangagi dialect: ''θtiva'' * eSaaka dialect: ''ociva'' * eNahara dialect: ''oziva'' - all meaning "agreeable, pleasant" <ref name="NELIMO" />
Maho (2009) lists the following dialects:<ref name="Guthrie"/>
* Central Makhuwa (3.1 million) * Meetto (Metto) (1.3 million, including Ruvuma) * Chirima (Shirima) (1.5 million, including subdialects Kokola, Lolo, Manyawa, Marenje, Takwane) * Marrevone (Coastal Makhuwa; 460,000 including eNahara) * eNahara (Naharra) * eSaka (Saka, 210,000) * Ruvuma Makhuwa (Tanzanian Makhuwa, including subdialects Imithupi, Ikorovere)
Mutual intelligibility between these is limited. Central Makhuwa ("Makhuwa-Makhuwana") is the basis of the standard language. ''Ethnologue'' lists Central Makhuwa, Meetto–Ruvuma, Marrevone–Enahara, and Esaka as separate languages, and Chirima as six languages.
The population figures are from ''Ethnologue'' for 2006. They tally 3.1 million speakers of Central Makhuwa and 3.5 million of the other varieties, though the ''Ethnologue'' article for Central Makhuwa covers Marrevone and Enahara, so these might be double counted.
==Vocabulary== The following is a sample vocabulary in the Central Makhuwa dialect:<ref>{{cite book |last=Nelly|first=Octávio Gonçalves|title=Vocabulário de Emakhuwa Central |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/42995 |edition=1st |location=Nampula, Mozambique |publisher=SIL Mozambique |language=pt |year=2010}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" |- !Makhuwa !English !Notes |- |''apakati'' |avocado |borrowed from Portuguese ''abacate'' |- |''ovenya'' |to wake up |- |''alyu'' |garlic |borrowed from Portuguese ''alho'' |- |''mwana'' |child |Cognate with Swahili ''mwana'' |- |''ophenta'' |to love |Cognate with Swahili ''kupenda'' |- |''ekamaama'' |light | |- |}
==Reading material in eMakhuwa==
''Muluku Onnalavuliha Àn'awe - Ipantte sikosolasiwe sa Biblia'' ("God speaks to his children" - extracts from the Scriptures for children) Aid to the Church in Need. Edição em Macúa / eMakhuwa) Editorial Verbo Divino, Estella, Navarra, 1997.
== Sample text == ''6 Moovirikana ni mamwene ale ootakhala, aakhala atthu akina yaawenrye woona ntata na Muluku, nnaamwi awo okathi mukina yaarina makhalelo mamosaru yaarina aya atthu ale akina aromoliwe.''
'''Translation'''
6 In contrast with those wicked kings, others saw God's hand, even though they were in the same situation as those mentioned above.
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Incubator|vmw}} *Oliver Kröger (2005), ''[https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/9108 Report on a Survey of Coastal Makua Dialects]'' (SIL International)
{{Languages of Mozambique}} {{Languages of Tanzania}} {{Narrow Bantu languages (Zones N–S)}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Makhuwa language}} Category:Makua Category:Makua languages Category:Languages of Mozambique Category:Languages of Tanzania