Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called MbunduA language name 'mbundu' was used by Guthrie in his 1948 classification, for his group R10 (the language is Umbundu, the Ovimbundu's language. Kimbundu is found as Ndongo-H21). This has become obsolete: In his 1971 classification, the group H20 is called the Kimbundu group, and the R10 group is called Umbundu group. See: M. Guthrie, The Classification of the Bantu Languages (OUP, 1948), and M. Guthrie, Comparative Bantu, Vol 2 (Gregg Press, 1971). Glottolog classifies Kimbundu in a Mbundu group, which is in the Northern Njila group, and Umbundu (the Ovimbundu's language) in the Kunene group, which is itself in the Southern Njila group. see the Glottolog entry or North Mbundu (to distinguish it from Umbundu, sometimes called South Mbundu), is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola.
It is the native language of 3.728 million people (as of 2024), with its speakers mostly concentrated in the north-west of the country, notably in the Bengo, Luanda, Icolo e Bengo, Cuanza Norte, Cuanza Sul, and the Malanje provinces. It is spoken by the Ambundu.
Phonology
Consonants LabialAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalStopplainvoicedprenasalized()FricativevoicelessvoicedprenasalizedNasal()Approximant Allophones:
[ɸ] and [β] are allophones of /p/ and /b/, respectively, before /a/ and /u/. The phoneme /l/ is phonetically a flap [ɾ], a voiced plosive [d] or its palatalized version [dʲ] when before the front high vowel /i/. In the same way, the alveolars /s/, /z/ and /n/ are palatalized to [ʃ], [ʒ] and [ɲ], respectively, before [i]. There may be an epenthesis of [g] after /ŋ/ in word medial positions, thus creating a phonetic cluster [ŋg] in a process of fortition.
There is long distance nasal harmony, in which /l/ is realized as [n] if the previous morphemes contain /m/ or /n/, but not prenasalized stops.
Vowels Front Back Close Mid Open There are two contrasting tones: a high (á) and a low tone (à). There is also a downstep in cases of tonal sandhi.
Vowel harmony There is vowel harmony in two groups (the high vowels /i, u/ and the mid and low vowels /e, o, a/) that applies only for verbal morphology. In some morphemes, vowels may be consistently deleted to avoid a hiatus.
Kimbundu alphabet ConsonantsOmniglot - Kimbundu
B D F G H J K L M N P S T V W X Y Z
Vowels
A E I O U
Loans
European Portuguese There is a small number of words of Kimbundu origin and many of those are indirect loans, borrowed via Angolan Portuguese.
The examples generally understood by most or all speakers of Angolan and European Portuguese include
(, "very, a lot"),
(, "old person")
()
Conjugation +Personal pronounsTranslation Eme IEie / EyeYouMueneHe or she EtuWeEnuYouEneThey
Conjugating the verb to be (kuala; also kukala in Kimbundu) in the present:
Eme ngalaI amEie uala / Eye uala / Eie wala / Eye walaYou areMuene uala / Muene wala He or she isEtu tuala / Etu twala We areEnu nuala / Enu nwalaYou areEne alaThey are
Conjugating the verb to have (kuala ni; also kukala ni in Kimbundu) in the present :
Eme ngala niI haveEie / Eye uala ni You haveMuene uala ni He or she has Etu tuala ni We have Enu nuala ni You have Ene ala ni They have
Notes
References
External links
The art of the language of Angola, author Father Pedro Dias, published in 1697 Emuseum article on Kimbundu PanAfrican L10n page on Kimbundu Kimbundu people Ethnic groups of Angola