Mbukushu or Thimbukushu is a Bantu language spoken by 45,000 people along the Kavango East Region in Namibia, where it is a national language, and in Botswana, Angola and Zambia.
In 2022, it was selected among a variety of Mother Tongue languages to be taught in Botswana Primary Schools in the year 2023.
Phonology
Consonants LabialDentalAlveolarPost-alv./PalatalVelarGlottalClickvoiceless voiced prenasal vl. prenasal vd. Nasal Plosive/Affricatevoiceless voiced prenasal Fricativevoiceless () voiced () nasal Approximant Trill
are only found in loanwords. may also be heard as a palatal fricative [ʝ]. Clicks may also range to being alveolar or palatal .
Mbukushu is one of several Bantu languages of the Kavango which have click consonants; Mbukushu has three: tenuis c, voiced gc, and nasalized nc, as well as prenasalized ngc, which vary between speakers as dental, palatal, and postalveolar. It also has a nasal glottal approximant.
Vowels FrontCentralBackHighMidLow
References
External links Mbukushu sound files at UCLA