Tembo

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A language of Democratic Republic of the Congo

ISO 639-3
tbt
Alternate Names
Chitembo, Kitembo, Nyabungu
Population

150,000 (1994 SIL).

Location

Sud-Kivu and Nord-Kivu provinces, Kalehe territory.

Language Maps
Language Status

5 (Developing).

Classification
Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, J, Shi-Havu (D.53)
Dialects

Rhinyihinyi, Tembo (Kitembo). No major dialect differences. Related to Havu [hav], Hunde [hke], Shi [shr], and Fuliiru [flr]. Lexical similarity: 75% with Hunde [hke], 70% with Shi [shr], 55% with Nande [nnb], 50% with Nyanga [nyj], 45% with Lega Shabunda [lea].

Language Development
Bible portions: 1977–2009.
Writing
Latin script.
Other Comments

Different from Tembo [tmv] in Ngombe group and Tembo [mwn] (Tambo) in Nyika-Safwa group.