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Aushi language

Last updated: 2025-08-02 02:00:58

Aushi language
Aushi
Ikyaushi
Native toZambia, Democratic Republic of the Congo
RegionLuapula Province, (Haut-)Katanga Province
Native speakers
100,000 in Zambia (2010 census)[1]
widespread as L2 in DR Congo[2]
Latin
Official status
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3auh
Glottologaush1241
M.402[3]

Aushi, known by native speakers as Ikyaushi, is a Bantu language primarily spoken in the Lwapula Province of Zambia and the (Haut-)Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although many scholars argue that it is a dialect of the closely related Bemba, native speakers insist that it is a distinct language. Nonetheless, speakers of both linguistic varieties enjoy extensive mutual intelligibility, particularly in the Lwapula Province.[4]

Phonology

Aushi distinguishes consonants according to five manners and four places of articulation.[4] Although nasal consonants are individually phonemic, prenasalized consonants also arise in conjunction with the voiced and voiceless counterparts of the plosives, affricates, and fricatives.[4]

Consonants[4]
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive/
Affricate		 plain p t t͡ʃ k
prenasal voiceless ᵐp ⁿt ⁿt͡ʃ ᵑk
voiced ᵐb ⁿd ⁿd͡ʒ ᵑɡ
Fricative plain voiceless f s
voiced β
prenasal ᶬf ⁿs
Lateral l
Approximant j w

Aushi has five canonical vowels that are distinguished segmentally according to vowel height and backness and suprasegmentally according to length (short/long) and tone (low/high).[4] The front and central vowels are unrounded, while the back vowels are rounded. In environments where vowels arise before a nasal consonant, the vowels may adopt nasality, but this is not a distinctive feature, i.e. it is phonetic, not phonemic.[4]

Vowels[4]
Front Central Back
shortlong shortlong shortlong
High i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Low a aː

Grammar

Nominal Classes[4][5][6]
ClassProto-BantuAugmentPrefixExampleGloss
1a*mo-u-mu-umuntu"person"
1b*∅-∅-∅-mayo"mother"
2*βɔ-, *βa-a-ba-abantu"people"
3*mo-u-mu-umuti"tree"
4*me-i-mi-imiti"trees"
5a*le-i-shi-ishina"name"
5b*le-i-∅-isabi"fish"
6*ma-a-ma-amana"names"
7*ke-i-ki-ikitabu"book"
8*βi-, *li- i-fi-ifitabu"books"
9*ne-i-N-imfinsi"darkness/night"
10*li-nei-N-insiku"days"
11*lʊ-u-lu-ulutambi"proverb"
12*ka-a-ka-akalulu"rabbit"
13*to-u-tu-utunwa"mouths"
14*βo-u-bu-ubwaato"canoe"
15a*ko-u-ku-ukuya"to go"
15b*ko-u-ku-ukuboko"arm"
16*pa-∅-pa-pa ng'anda"in (the/a) house"
17*ko-∅-ku-ku mushi"to (the/a) market"
18*mo-∅-mu-mu sukulu"in/inside (the/a) school"

References

  1. ↑ Aushi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ↑ "Aushi". Ethnologue.
  3. ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Spier, Troy E. (2020). A Descriptive Grammar of Ikyaushi. Tulane University, New Orleans, LA: Ph.D. dissertation.
  5. ↑ Spier, Troy (2016). "A Survey of the IcAushi Language and Nominal Class System". Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States.
  6. ↑ Spier, Troy E. (2022). "Nominal Phrase Structure in Ikyaushi (M.402)". Studies in African Languages and Cultures (56). doi:10.32690/56.2.

Further reading

  • Bickmore, Lee (2018). "Contrast Reemergence in the Aushi Subjunctive". Africana Linguistica. 24: 123–138.
  • Doke, Clement Martyn (1933). "A Short Aushi Vocabulary". Bantu Studies. 7 (1): 284–295. doi:10.1080/02561751.1933.9676323.
  • Ilunga, Nkimba Kafituka (1994). Les Formes Verbales de l'Ikyaushi, M42b (MA thesis). Institute Supérieur Pédagogique de Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • Kankomba, G.M.; Twilingiyimana, C.H. (1986). "M421 Aushi". Annales, Sciences Humaines. Tervuren, Belgium: Royal Museum for Central Africa.
  • Spier, Troy E. (2016). "A Survey of the IcAushi Language and Nominal Class System". Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States (LACUS).
  • Spier, Troy E. (2020). A Descriptive Grammar of Ikyaushi (PhD thesis). Tulane University.
  • Spier, Troy E. (2022). "Nominal Phrase Structure in Ikyaushi (M.402)". Studies in African Languages and Cultures. 56: 31–47.
  • The Women of Mabumba (Autumn 2021). "Four Trickster Tales from Lwapula Province, Zambia". World Literature Today. Translated by Spier, Troy E. pp. 68–71.

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