| Also Known As: Rotse,Rutse,Rotvi,Silozi,Tozvi,Kololo,Rozi,Lozi
Description:
Lozi, also known as Silozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language (of the Niger-Congo language family) that is spoken by the Lozi people, primarily in southwestern Zambia and in surrounding countries. Lozi and its dialects are spoken and understood by approximately six percent of the population of Zambia. There are many Lozi speakers in the area around the city of Livingstone in Zambia.
The Lozi language developed from a mixture of two languages: Luyana and Kololo. The Luyana people originally migrated south from the Luba-Lunda empire in the Katanga area of the Congo River basin, either late in the 17th century or early in the 18th century. The language they spoke, therefore, was closely related to Luba and Lunda. They settled on the floodplains of the upper Zambezi River in what is now western Zambia and developed a kingdom, Barotseland, and also gave their name to the Barotse Floodplain or Bulozi.
The Kololo were a Sotho people who used to live in what is now Lesotho. The Kololo were forced to flee from Shaka Zulu's Mfecane during the 1830s. Using tactics they had copied from the Zulu armies, the Kololo conquered the Luyana on the Zambezi floodplains and imposed their rule and language...... full article at Wikipedia |
