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Shona
Shona




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Shona Language

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Countries

Countries

Zimbabwe

Total No. Of Countries

1
Rank: 14 (Overall)
0 46
👆🏻

National Language

Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe

Second Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

Speaking Continents

Africa

Minority Language

Not spoken in any of the countries

Regulated By

-

Interesting Facts

  • Shona language is tonal language.
  • The African people in Zimbabwe is made of 10 ethnic groups, each speaking a different languages, shona is spoken by 60 percent of population.

Similar To

Kalanga and Nambya Language

Derived From

-

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

37
Rank: 19 (Overall)
18 247
👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

5
Rank: 2 (Overall)
0 32
👆🏻

How Many Consonants

46
Rank: 34 (Overall)
9 60
👆🏻

Scripts

Latin

Writing Direction

-

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

4
Rank: 3 (Overall)
2 12
👆🏻

Time Taken to Learn

30 weeks
Rank: 10 (Overall)
3 88
👆🏻

Greetings

Hello

Mhoro

Thank You

Waita zvako

How Are You?

Wakadini zvako?

Good Night

Urare zvakanaka

Good Evening

Manheru

Good Afternoon

Masikati

Good Morning

Mangwanani

Please

Ndinokumbirawo

Sorry

Ndineurombo

Bye

bye

I Love You

Ndinokuda

Excuse Me

Pamusoro

Dialects

Dialect 1

Hwesa

Where They Speak

Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

11,000,000.00
Rank: 36 (Overall)
1.5 960000000
👆🏻

Dialect 2

Karanga

Where They Speak

southern Zimbabwe

How Many People Speak

1,100,000.00
Rank: 63 (Overall)
700 274000000
👆🏻

Dialect 3

Zezuru

Where They Speak

central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland

How Many People Speak

16.00
Rank: 85 (Overall)
2 230000000
👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

4
Rank: 4 (Overall)
0 188
👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

25.00 million
Rank: 40 (Overall)
0 1200
👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.13 %
Rank: 54 (Overall)
0 89
👆🏻

Native Speakers

8.30 million
Rank: 51 (Overall)
0 873
👆🏻

Second Language Speakers

16.00 million
Rank: 33 (Overall)
0.01 400
👆🏻

Native Name

chiShona

Alternative Names

Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru

French Name

shona

German Name

Schona-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ʃoːna]

Ethnicity

Shona people

History

Origin

20th century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

Old Shona and Middle Shona

Standard Forms

Standard Shona

Language Position

107
Rank: 77 (Overall)
1 120
👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Shona

Scope

Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

sn

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

sna

ISO 639 2/B

sna

ISO 639 3

sna

ISO 639 6

sna

Glottocode

core1255

Linguasphere

99-AUT-a

Types of Language

Language Type

Living

Language Linguistic Typology

-

Language Morphological Typology

-

Origin of Shona language

In order to communicate with each other, the origin of language was the essential part. Various languages are spoken all over the world. Shona language is one of the Most Difficult Languages. The origin of Shona language states that it was put to use in 20th century. The history of Shona language reveals that the language is old and used since many years. Check out in brief about Shona Language History.The evolution of Shona language began with early forms such as Old Shona and Middle Shona. Standard Shona is the standard form of Shona language and it is used in government centers. Know all About Shona Language.

Shona population

Shona population gives us the total count of number of people speaking Shona language. Shona language is spoken by 25.00 million people in the world. Most of the Shona population lies in the Shona Speaking Countries. Shona language is spoken as first language by 8.30 million people and as second language by about 16.00 million people. Get to know Shona speaking population in detail.

Shona writing system

There are numerous writing systems but most widely used scripts are Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic. Shona writing system decides the alphabets, vowels and consonants i.e. the written form of Shona language. Some languages share common writing systems. Latin script is used by Shona language. Learn more about . 

Information about Shona language

Check out all the information about Shona language here. You may find it interesting to learn Shona Alphabets or the vowels and consonants of this language. Also knowing about Shona Speaking Countries, Shona speaking continents and Shona Dialects will help in improving your knowledge about this language. Also while travelling to Shona countries knowing common Shona Greetings will help you in communicating with Shona people.