| Also Known As: Cinyanja,Chewa,Chinyanja,Nyanja
Description:
Chichewa (Chicheŵa in Malawian English, also known as C(h)inyanja) is a language of the Bantu language family widely spoken in south-central Africa. The prefix chi- means "the language of" so that "Chichewa" means "language of the Chewa tribe", and hence the language is also known simply as Chewa.
Chichewa is the National language of the Republic of Malawi, the official language being English, and as Chinyanja is one of the seven official tribal languages of Zambia, where it is spoken mostly in the Eastern Province and in Lusaka. It is also spoken in Mozambique, especially in the provinces of Tete and Niassa, as well as in Zimbabwe where, according to some estimates, it ranks as the third most widely used local language, after Shona and Ndebele.
Chichewa has its origin in the Maravi Empire, which dominated most of present day Malawi and part of Mozambique and Zambia from the 15th century to the 18th century. The language remained dominant despite the breakup of the empire and the Angoni invasions and was adopted by Christian missionaries at the beginning of the colonial period.
The Chewa are a tribe found near Lake Malawi, and hence chicheŵa means "the language of the Chewas". In..... full article at Wikipedia |
