Lozi language

Lozi, also known as Silozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language of the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho–Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30), that is spoken by the Lozi people, primarily in southwestern Zambia and in Namibia. The language is most closely related to Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa), Tswana (Setswana), Kgalagari (SheKgalagari) and Sotho (Sesotho/Southern Sotho). Lozi is sometimes written as Rotse. Silozi is the endonym (the name of the language used by its native speakers).

The origins of Silozi can be traced back to a mixture of languages, primarily Luyana and Kololo. The Luyana people migrated south from the Kingdom of Luba and Kingdom of Lunda in the Katanga area of the Congo River basin, either late in the 17th century or early in the 18th century. They settled on the floodplains of the upper Zambezi River in what is now western Zambia, where they established a kingdom called Barotseland or Bulozi.

In the 1830s, the Kololo people, originally from the area near Senekal, Free State province of South Africa, fled northwards to escape the Mfecane under King Shaka Zulu (died 1828). They employed tactics learned from the Zulu armies to conquer the Luyana on the Zambezi floodplains, imposing their rule and language. However, by 1864, the indigenous population revolted and overthrew the Kololo. By then, the original Luyana language had largely been replaced by a new hybrid language, Silozi.

Today, Silozi is spoken in Namibia and Zambia.

Phonology

Lozi has 5 vowels:

20 consonants are in Lozi:

Tone is marked as high or low.

Orthography

Lozi uses the Latin script, which was introduced by missionaries. In 1977, Zambia standardised the language's orthography.

Vocabulary

Counting numbers in Silozi

1 kalikamu

2 totubeli

3 totulalu

4 totune

5 ketalizoho

6 silezi

7 supile

8 ketalizoho ni totulalu

9 ketalizoho ni totune

10 lishumi

20 mashumi a mabeli

30 mashumi a malalu

40 mashumi a mane

50 mashumi a ketalizoho

60 mashumi a silezi

70 mashumi a supile

80 mashumi a supile ni kalikamu

90 mashumi a supile ni totubeli

100 muanda

Silozi text

The following is a sample text in Silozi.

Silozi: Kakuli Mulimu U latile hahulu batu ba lifasi, mane U ba file Mwan'a Hae wa libanda kuli mutu ufi ni ufi ya lumela ku Yena a si ke a shwa, kono a be ni bupilo bo bu sa feli. Joani 3:16

English: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16

External links

• at Omniglot.com
• at www.language-museum.com
• at www.barotseland.com, archived 2006-08-21
• from , archived 2007-09-30; The Rosetta Edition
• at www.panafril10n.org
• at www.language-archives.org
• at www.medguide.org.zm, archived 2009-04-21

Lozi language stories

• Sibetta, O. Kwibisa, (1967, Zambia Publications Bureau) in , accessed May 3, 2014/archived 2015-06-21
• [permanent dead link], in Lubuto Library Special Collections, accessed May 3, 2014 at www.lubuto.org