Sena language

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(Redirected from
Cisena
)
Sena
Native toMozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe
EthnicitySena
Native speakers
2,869,000 (2017–2020)[1]
Dialects
  • Rue (Barwe)
  • Podzo
Official status
Official language in
 Zimbabwe (as 'Chibarwe')
Recognised minority
language in
Language codes
ISO 639-3Variously:
seh – Mozambiquean Sena
swk – Malawian Sena
bwg – Barwe
Glottolognucl1396  Nuclear Sena
mala1475  Malawi Sena
barw1243  Barwe
N.44,441 (N.45,46)[2]
Linguasphere99-AUS-xi; also 99-AUS-xj (Chi-Rue), 99-AUS-xk (Gombe), 99-AUS-xl (Sangwe), & 99-AUS-xm (Chi-Podzo)
A speaker of Barwe, a dialect of the Sena language. Portuguese is also spoken in this video.

Sena is a

Bantu language spoken in the four provinces of central Mozambique (Zambezi valley): Tete, Sofala, Zambezia and Manica. There were an estimated 900,000 native Sena speakers in Mozambique in 1997, with at least 1.5 million if including those who speak it as a second language. It is one of the Nyasa languages
.

Sena is spoken in several dialects, of which Rue (also called Barwe or Cibalke) and Podzo are divergent. The Sena of Malawi may be a distinct language. Barwe (Chibarwe) has official recognition in Zimbabwe.

Some remarks on Sena tenses can be found in Funnell (2004),[3] Barnes & Funnell (2005)[4] and in Kiso (2012).[5]

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palato-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
plain lab.
Nasal m
n
ɲ ŋ
Stop
voiceless p
t
k
aspirated
voiced b
d
ɡ
implosive ɓ ɗ (ɗʲ)
Affricate voiceless p͡f t͡s p͡s t͡ʃ
voiced b͡v d͡z b͡z d͡ʒ
aspirated t͡ʃʰ
Fricative
voiceless f s ʃ h
voiced v z ʒ
Approximant
l
j w
Trill
r
  • Labialized sounds /sʷ, zʷ/ can also be heard as retroflex [ʂ, ʐ] among different speakers.[6]
  • /ɗ/ is heard as palatalized [ɗʲ] when followed by a /j/.
  • The following sounds occur as prenasalized when after a homorganic nasal; [ᵐp, ᶬf, ᶬp͡f, ⁿt, ⁿs, ᶮt͡ʃ, ᵑk], [ᵐb, ᵐɓ, ᶬv, ᶬb͡v, ⁿd, ⁿɗ, ⁿz, ᶮd͡ʒ, ᵑɡ].[7]

References

  1. ^ Mozambiquean Sena at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Malawian Sena at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
    Barwe at Ethnologue (26th ed., 2023) Closed access icon
  2. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. ^ Funnell, Barry J. (2004)."A Contrastive Analysis of Two Varieties of Sena". MA dissertation, University of South Africa; (Introduction)
  4. ^ Barnes, Lawrie; Funnell, Barry (2005) "Exploring the cross-border standardisation of Chisena". Language Matters: Studies in the Languages of Africa. Vol. 36.
  5. ^ Kiso, Andrea (2012), "Tense and Aspect in Chichewa, Citumbuka, and Cisena". Ph.D. Thesis. Stockholm University.
  6. ^ Ngunga, Armindo; Faquir, Osvaldo G. (2012). Padronização da Ortografia de Línguas Moçambicanas: Relatório do III Seminário. Maputo.
  7. ^ Kishindo, Pascal J.; Lipenga, Allan L. (2007). Parlons Cisena: langue et culture du Mozambique. Paris: L'Harmattan.
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