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Lozi
siLozi / Rozi
Native to
Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa
Region
Western Zambia, Zambezi
Native speakers
(725,000 cited 1982–2010 census)[1]
Language family
Niger–Congo?
Atlantic–Congo
Volta-Congo
Benue–Congo
Bantoid
Southern Bantoid
Bantu
Southern Bantu
Sotho–Tswana
Lozi
Writing system
Latin (Lozi alphabet) Zambian Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko
Official status
Recognised minority language in
Namibia Zambia
Language codes
ISO 639-2
loz
ISO 639-3
loz
Glottolog
lozi1239
Guthrie code
K.20 (K.21)[2]
Linguasphere
99-AUT-ef
Lozi
Person
Mulozi
People
Balozi
Language
Silozi
Country
Bulozi
A Lozi speaker, recorded in Namibia.
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 surrounding countries. This language is most closely related to Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa), Tswana (Setswana), Kgalagari (SheKgalagari) and Sotho (Sesotho/Southern Sotho). Lozi, sometimes written as Rotse, and its dialects are spoken and understood by approximately six per cent of the population of Zambia. Silozi is the endonym (the name of the language used by its native speakers) as defined by the United Nations. Lozi is the exonym.
The Lozi language developed from a mixture of two languages: Luyana and Kololo. The Luyana people originally 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. The language they spoke, therefore, was closely related to Luba and Lunda. They settled on the floodplains of the upper Zambezi in what is now western Zambia and developed a kingdom, Barotseland, and also gave their name to the Barotse Floodplain or Bulozi.
The Kololo were a Sotho people who used to live in what is now the Free State province of South Africa. The Kololo were forced to flee from Shaka Zulu's Mfecane during the 1830s. Using tactics they had copied from the Zulu armies, the Kololo conquered the Luyana on the Zambezi floodplains and imposed their rule and language. However, by 1864 the indigenous population revolted and overthrew the Kololo. By that time, the Luyana language had been largely forgotten; the new hybrid language is called Lozi or Silozi and is closer to Sesotho than to any other neighbouring languages in Zambia.
Lozi is also spoken in Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia (Zambezi Region).
^Lozi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
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Global Information
Namibia
Zambia