Umbundu, or South Mbundu (autonym úmbúndú), one of many Bantu languages, is the most widely-spoken autochthonous language of Angola. Its speakers are known as Ovimbundu and are an ethnic group constituting a third of Angola's population. Their homeland is the Central Highlands of Angola and the coastal region west of these highlands, including the cities of Benguela and Lobito. Because of recent internal migration, there are now also large communities in the capital Luanda and its surrounding province, as well as in Lubango.
| Umbundu | |
|---|---|
| South Mbundu | |
| Úmbúndú | |
| Native to | Angola |
| Ethnicity | Ovimbundu |
Native speakers | 7,000,000 (2018)[1] |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Angola ("National language") |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | umb |
| ISO 639-3 | umb |
| Glottolog | umbu1257 |
R.11[2] | |
| This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. | |
| Southern Mbundu | |
|---|---|
| Person | Ocimbundu |
| People | Ovimbundu |
| Language | Umbundu |
| Country | Ovimbunduland |
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | plain | p | t | t͡ʃ | k | |
| prenasal. | ᵐb | ⁿd | ᶮd͡ʒ | ᵑɡ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | s | h | ||
| voiced | v | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||
| Approximant | w | l | j | |||
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i ĩ | u ũ | |
| Mid | e ẽ | o õ | |
| Open | a ã |
Umbundu has two tones: low and high. The first acute accent (á) in a word represents a high tone. The low tone is represented by a grave accent (à). Unmarked syllables carry the same tone as the preceding syllable.[3]
Omanu vosi vacitiwa valipwa kwenda valisoka kovina vyosikwenda komoko. Ovo vakwete esunga kwenda, kwenda olondunge kwenje ovo vatêla okuliteywila kuvamwe kwenda vakwavo vesokolwilo lyocisola.[4]
Translation: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood." (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
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