Lamba language

Bantu language spoken in Zambia and DRC
Lamba
Ichilamba
Native toZambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo
RegionCopperbelt
EthnicityLamba people
Native speakers
200,000 in Zambia (2010 census)[1]
unknown but smaller number in DRC
Language family
Niger–Congo?
Language codes
ISO 639-2lam
ISO 639-3lam
Glottologlamb1271
M.54,541,542[2]

Lamba is a language found in Zambia and is commonly spoken in the Copperbelt. There are about 210,000 native speakers in the northern parts of Zambia and southern fringes of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lamba is also spoken in Lusaka, mainly because many speakers have migrated there for jobs. Lamba is a Bantu language. (In fact, "mu ntu" means "one person" in Lamba and "ba ntu" means "two or more people".) Depending on who does the counting, Zambia has between 42 and 78 local languages besides English – see Languages of Zambia for further details.

Maho (2009) lists the Lima (Bulima) and Temba varieties as distinct languages.

References

  1. ^ Lamba at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  • v
  • t
  • e
Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M) (by Guthrie classification)
Zone J*
[J]D40
[J]D50
[J]D60
[J]E10
[J]E20
[J]E30
[J]E40
[J]F20
Zone K
K10
K20
K30
K40
Zone L
L10
L20
L30
L40
L50
L60
Zone M
M10
M20
M30
M40
M50
M60
  • Italics indicate extinct languages.
  • Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.
  • The Guthrie classification is geographic and its groupings do not imply a relationship between the languages within them.
Narrow Bantu languages by Guthrie classification zone templates
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones C–D)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M)
Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones N–S)
Authority control databases: National Edit this at Wikidata
  • Israel
  • United States