Gciriku | |
---|---|
Manyo | |
Rumanyo | |
Region | Okavango River |
Ethnicity | Vagciriku, Vamanyo, Vashambyu |
Native speakers
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(undated figure of 36,000) |
Dialects |
|
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 |
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Glottolog | diri1252 |
K.331,334 (K.332) |
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Gciriku or Dciriku (Diriku) or Dirico (in Angola), also known as Manyo or Rumanyo, is a Bantu language spoken by 305,000 people along the Okavango River in Namibia, where it is a national language, in Botswana, and in Angola. It was first known in the west via the Vagciriku, who had migrated from the main Vamanyo area and spoke Rugciriku, a dialect of Rumanyo. The name Gciriku (Dciriku, Diriku) remains common in the literature, but within Namibia the name Rumanyo has been revived. The Mbogedu dialect is extinct; Maho (2009) lists it as a distinct language, and notes that the names 'Manyo' and 'Rumanyo' are inappropriate for it.
It is one of several Bantu languages of the Okavango which have click consonants, as in [ ǀɛ́ǀˀà] "bed", [mùǀûkò] "flower", and [kàǀûrù] "tortoise". These clicks, of which there are half a dozen (c, gc, ch, and prenasalized nc and nch), are generally all pronounced with a dental articulation, but there is broad variation between speakers. They are especially common in place names and in words for features of the landscape, reflecting their source in an as-yet unidentified Khoisan language. Many of the click words in Gciriku, including those in native Bantu vocabulary, are shared with Kwangali, Mbukushu, and Fwe.