- Also spoken in
- Zambia, Congo - Kinshasa, Malawi, Botswana
- Script
- Latin
Where it's spoken
The national analytical report on Zambia's census of population and housing says that Bemba was the most widely used language of communication in the country, followed by Nyanja and then Tonga. It says that Bemba was spoken by a higher proportion of the population in five provinces: Central, Copperbelt, Luapula, Muchinga and Northern. In its table Bemba is the most widely used language of communication in both rural and urban areas, with a higher share in urban areas than in rural areas.
The same report says that seven languages or language clusters besides English, Bemba among them, are used in Zambia for official purposes such as broadcasting, literacy campaigns and the official dissemination of information.
The Constitution of Zambia says that the official language of Zambia is English, and that a language other than English may be used as a medium of instruction in educational institutions or for legislative, administrative or judicial purposes, as prescribed.
Glottolog lists Botswana, Congo - Kinshasa, Malawi and Zambia as countries for Bemba.
Sources
- Central Statistical Office, Zambia (2012). 2010 Census of Population and Housing: National Analytical Report. Lusaka (Wayback Machine copy of the zamstats.gov.zm file) — Chapter 10 (10.0 Summary, 10.1, 10.3, Table 10.1)
- Constitution of Zambia 1991 (rev. 2016), Article 258, Constitute Project — Article 258
- Glottolog 5.3, Bemba (Zambia), glottocode bemb1257 — Countries
Script & pronunciation
Bemba is written with Latin letters, as in the Bemba New World Translation of the Bible. That translation writes the letter c in calo (John 3:16), writes doubled vowel letters in apeele and uumutetekela (John 3:16) and in ndemutootela (John 11:41), and shows no tone marks in these verses. It writes an apostrophe after ng in namung’umfwa (John 11:41), using the typographic apostrophe. It writes the same kind of apostrophe in ing’ombe (Proverbs 14:4).
This app's Bemba cards write the same patterns: c in Icibemba, doubled vowel letters in Ndemutootela, and ng' with a straight apostrophe in the card for "Cow / cattle", Ing'ombe, whose note says that "ng'" is one nasal sound and that without the apostrophe it is a different sound.
The app's Bemba cards have no romanization line: the text is shown only in the Bemba spelling, and it carries no tone marks.
Sources
- Amalembo ya Calo Cipya (New World Translation), Bemba edition online, Jehovah's Witnesses — John 3:16 (v43003016), John 11:41 (v43011041), Proverbs 14:4 (v20014004)
Grammar essentials
In the Bemba New World Translation a question can begin with Bushe. Acts 10:47 and Genesis 4:9 each have a question that begins this way. The app's card for "Do you speak English?" begins the same way: Bushe mulanda Icisungu?
In Genesis 4:9 of the Bemba translation, the reply to the question about Abel is Nshishibe, where the English edition has "I do not know". Acts 19:40 begins Tapali ico twingalanda, where the English edition has "there are no grounds we could present".
Sources
- Amalembo ya Calo Cipya (New World Translation), Bemba edition online, Jehovah's Witnesses — Acts 10:47 (v44010047), Acts 19:40 (v44019040), Genesis 4:9 (v1004009)
- New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, English online edition (same chapters), Jehovah's Witnesses — Genesis 4:9 (v1004009), Acts 19:40 (v44019040)