ZAMBIAN LANGUAGES
BEMBA (ICIBEMBA)
LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS
VOWELS (a e i o u)
/i/, /e/, /a/, /o/ and /u/
A five-vowel system in Bemba
FRONT
high
BACK
i
u
mid
e
low
o
a
Pronunciation
/i/
like in inspect
/e/
like in elephant
/a/
as in Amanda/ America / China
/o/
as in pot
/u/
as in input
Consonants
1. b c f j k l m n p s t
2. d g Ƞ appear after m or n
/b/ is pronounced as β (soft b) this type of b is not in English (fricative B). when it
appears after /m/ then it is pronounced as normal /b/ like in boom
/ƞ/ as in sing (ng) in bemba this consonant is written as ng with an apostrophe (‘) like
this /ng’/
BEING PREPARED BY MR. MWABA ELIADAH BA.ED
email: brothermwaba@gmail.com
/c/ is pronounced as /ʧ/ [ch] in Chichi. In Bemba /ch/ only appears for proper nouns;
(names of people, place and other notable items).
Semi vowels
wy
These semi-vowels are produced when two different vowels are placed together. For
example, Kabwe is the result of Ka-bu-e combination of u-e deletes /u/ and replace
it with /w/
Other consonants are pronounced the same way are as in English
Consonant-vowel combination
1. In Bemba all words end with open syllables. This means that words in Bemba
always end with a vowel eg.
Kabwe /-e/
Chichi /-i/
2. Always consonants come before vowels eg. /k/ in Kabwe
Check the combination of consonants and vowels below
aeiou
1. ba be bi bo bu
2. Ca ce ci co cu
3. Fa fe fi fo fu
4. Ka ke ki ko ku
5. La le li lo lu
6. Ma me mi mo mu
7. Na ne ni no nu
8. Pa pe pi po pu
9. Sa se so su (there is no /si/ in Bemba)
10. Ta te ti to tu
11. Wa we wi wo
NB: (there is no /wu/. re /w/ is a combination of two vowels in this case it is the
combination of /u-u/ which should just give long /u/
12. Ya ye yo yu
BEING PREPARED BY MR. MWABA ELIADAH BA.ED
email: brothermwaba@gmail.com
These combinations above are the primary sounds in Bemba language and we can
make words from them. Consider the examples below
i+sa becomes /isa/ in English it means come
to + ba = toba to break
Ma + yo = mayo mum
Ta + ta = tata dad
Secondary sounds in Bemba language
1. Bwa bwe bwi
2. Bya bye byo byu
3. Fwa fwe fwi
4. Kwa kwe kwi
5. Lwa lwe lwi
6. Mwa mwe mwi
7. Mya mye myo
8. Nwa nwe nwi
9. Nya nye nyo nyi
10. Pwa pwe pwi
11. Pya pye pyo pyu
12. Swa swe swi
13. Twa twe twi
14. Lya lye lyo lyu
15. Lwa lwe lwi
16. Tya tye tyo
Third level sounds in Bemba
The third level sounds in Bemba are made by nasalizing the first or secondary sounds
1. Mbwa mbwe mbwi
2. Nca nce nci nco ncu
3. nfa nfe nfi nfo nfu
4. Mfwa mfwe mfwi
5. Ndwa ndwe ndwi
6. Nsa nse nso nsu
BEING PREPARED BY MR. MWABA ELIADAH BA.ED
email: brothermwaba@gmail.com
7. Nswa nswe nswi
8. Nta nte nti nto ntu
9. Ntwa ntwe ntwi
10. Mpa mpe mpi mpo mpu
11. Mpwa mpwe mpwi
Special /ng’/ this sound is pronounce as Ƞ in swimming
Ng’a ng’e ng’i (nyi) ng’o ng’u
COMMON WORDS IN BEMBA
GREATINGS
A. SINGULAR A. PLURAL/RESPECT ENGLISH
B. SINGULAR
Mwa shibukeni
Uli shani?
Muli shani?
Eya mukwai
bwino
Waya kwisa
Mwaya kwisa
Uli kwisa?
Muli kwisa
morning
How are
you
Where are
you going
Where are
you?
BEING PREPARED BY MR. MWABA ELIADAH BA.ED
B.
PLURAL
Naya
ku Twaya ku
market
market
Ndi ku market Tuli
ku
market
email: brothermwaba@gmail.com