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