title: Chokwe language
text: # Chokwe language
  
  Chokwe (also known as Batshokwe, Ciokwe, Kioko, Kiokwe, Quioca, Quioco, Shioko, Tschiokloe or Tshokwe) is a Bantu language spoken by the Chokwe people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola and Zambia. It is recognised as a national language of Angola, where half a million people were estimated to have spoken it in 1991; another half a million speakers lived in the Congo in 1990, and some 20,000 in Zambia in 2010. It is used as a lingua franca in eastern Angola.
  
  ## Writing system
  
  Angola's Instituto de Línguas Nacionais (National Languages Institute) has established spelling rules for Chokwe with a view to facilitate and promote its use.
  
  ## Phonology
  
  ### Vowels
  
  | | Front | Central | Back |
  | - | - | - | - |
  | Close | i | | u |
  | Close-mid | e | | o |
  | Open-mid | ɛ | | ɔ |
  | Open | | a ~ ɑ | a ~ ɑ |
  
  Vowels may also be heard as nasalized when preceding nasal consonants.
  
  ### Consonants
  
  | | | Labial | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | Stop | voiceless | p | t | | (c) | k | |
  | Stop | voiced | b | d | | (ɟ) | g | |
  | Stop | aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | | | kʰ | |
  | Stop | prenasal vd. | ᵐb | ⁿd | | (ᶮɟ) | ᵑɡ | |
  | Stop | prenasal vl. | ᵐp | | | | | |
  | Affricate | voiceless | p͡f | t͡f | t͡ʃ | | | |
  | Affricate | voiced | | t͡v | d͡ʒ | | | |
  | Affricate | prenasal | | ⁿd͡v | ⁿd͡ʒ | | | |
  | Fricative | voiceless | f | s | ʃ | | | h |
  | Fricative | voiced | v | z | ʒ | | | |
  | Fricative | prenasal | | ⁿz | ⁿʒ | | | |
  | Nasal | Nasal | m | n | | ɲ | | |
  | Approximant | lateral | | l | | ʎ | | |
  | Approximant | plain | | | | j | w | |
  
  Affricate sounds /t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ⁿd͡ʒ/ may also be pronounced as palatal stops [c, ɟ, ᶮɟ].
  
  ### Tones
  
  Chokwe has three tones as /v́/, /v̀/, and /v̂/.
  
  ## Examples
  
  | English | Chokwe |
  | - | - |
  | Good Morning -Response | Menekenu -Mwane |
  | See you | Ndo shimbu yikehe |
  | Goodbye | Salenuho |
  | What is your name? | Jina lie yena iya? |
  | My name is ____ | Jina liami ___ |
  