Nyasa Tonga

Tonga is a Bantu language spoken in Malawi. It is an offshoot of the Tumbuka language that emerged in the 18th century when the Nkhamanga Kingdom started to decline and was split. Before the arrival of missionaries in what is now known as Malawi, Tonga was the Tumbuka dialect. It was after the missionaries established their churches when they treated the two as separate languages.

Tonga is grouped in the Glottolog classification along with Tumbuka in a single group.

The Tonga language as a legacy offshoot, has been described as "similar" to Tumbuka, and Turner's dictionary (1952) lists only those words which differ from Tumbuka.

From Wikipedia · Tonga language (Malawi) · CC BY-SA 4.0