Tswa
Tswa is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken in South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe, by about 1.2 million people.
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Tswa (Xitswa) is a South-Eastern Bantu language in Southern Mozambique. Its closest relatives are Ronga and Tsonga, the three forming the Tswa–Ronga family of languages.
Tswa is mainly spoken in the rural areas west of Inhambane. Its largest dialect, Hlengwe, extends westwards to Southern Zimbabwe; Maho (2009) considers this to be a distinct language. The other principal dialects are Dzibi (Dzivi) and Dzonga. According to some estimates, there are perhaps more than one million BaTswa, however not all can communicate in Tswa. Many Mozambicans, including census takers, regard it as a dialect of Tsonga.
From Wikipedia · Tswa language · CC BY-SA 4.0
Words in Tswa
| Meaning | Word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| person | nhu* | |
| name | vitu* | |
| eye | ihlo* | |
| ear | dleve* | |
| nose | hovu* | |
| tooth | ino* | |
| tongue | rimi* | |
| blood | khata* | |
| bone | rambu* | |
| skin | hloNe* | |
| knee | colo* | |
| breast | vele* | |
| liver | vinci* | |
| water | mati | |
| fire | cilu* | |
| sun | gambu* | |
| star | 5eleti* | |
| stone | bzwe* | |
| mountain | chava* | |
| tree | 5a* | |
| leaf | tluka* | |
| night | siku* | |
| dog | bzana* | |
| fish | hlavhi* | |
| louse | hwala* | |
| one | nwe* | |
| two | mbiri* | |
| drink | nwa* | |
| see | wona* | |
| hear | zwa* |
* in the simplified ASJP transcription
Most similar languages
Vocabulary
Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.
Nearby languages
Elsewhere
Glottolog · tswa1255 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · tsc