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, Tswana, Kgalagari and Sotho. Lozi is sometimes written as Rotse. Silozi is the endonym.
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. 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 By then, the original Luyana language had largely been replaced by a new hybrid language, Silozi.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:
FrontCentralBack
High
Mid
Low

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

SiloziEnglish
SopeJanuary
YowaFebruary
LiatamanyiMarch
LunguApril
KandaoMay
MbuwanaJune
SikuluJuly
MuyanaAugust
MuimuneneSeptember
YendaOctober
NjimwanaNovember
ÑululeDecember

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

Lozi language stories