Umbundu

Spoken in

• Niger - Congo languages Benue - Congo languages Bantoide languages Bantu languages umbundu

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The Umbundu (also: Mbundu ( ambiguous ), Benguela Mbundu ) is in central Angola, particularly in the provinces of Huambo, Benguela and Bié, Bantu -based language, which is spoken by about 35 % of the population of Angola.

The Umbundu one of the six local languages ​​, which officially the status of a "national language " was awarded.

The Umbundu is the language of the Ovimbundu, an ethnic group that has evolved over the centuries as part of the migration of the Bantu. They spread out over the entire Central Highlands and the adjacent west coast. Before the arrival of the Portuguese, they formed different " kingdoms ", operated the brisk trade, and thus promoted the spread of Umbundu; this was either taken over by smaller ethnic groups or used as a lingua franca. After the colonial conquest in the 19th century was a Latin -based Verschriftung including the setting of grammar, separately by Protestant and Catholic missionaries, which led to slightly different versions of each other. Despite the name similarity is a marked contrast to the also spoken in Angola Bantu language Kimbundu; in the border area between the two language areas, there are dialects that combine elements of both languages.