Language Atlas

How Languages Connect
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Language

Chichewa

Bantu Languages

Chichewa, also called Chewa, is a Bantu language spoken in Malawi, where it is recognized alongside English, and by minority communities in eastern Zambia and Mozambique's Tete province. Its name was officially changed in Malawi from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, and Chichewa remains the name most commonly used there today.

Facts
ISO 639-3 Code
nya 2
Speaker Count
7,000,000 2
Status
Living 2
Region
Malawi, eastern Zambia, Mozambique 2
Classification
Language Kind
Safe 1
Official Status
Co-Official Language 1
Connections

In Family

Source Chewa language (Wikipedia)
Source Chewa language (Wikipedia)

Written In

Latin Script, Scripts

Chichewa (Nyanja) is standardly written in the Latin alphabet.

In the Other Atlases

Found In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. Glottolog: Nyanja (Glottolog languoid nyan1308)
Glottolog
  • Endangerment, AES status
    AES status: not endangered
  • Endangerment
    In 1968, was made an official language.
View the Source
2. Chewa language (Wikipedia)
  • Infobox, Language codes
    nya
  • Infobox: date
    2007
  • Distribution
    Chewa is one of the widely spoken languages in Malawi, about 34% of the country's population.
  • Distribution [region]
    It is also spoken in Eastern Province of Zambia, as well as in Mozambique, in the province of Niassa.
  • In Family: Atlantic-Congo, Infobox: fam2
    Atlantic-Congo
  • In Family: Bantu, Infobox, Language family
    Bantu
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.