Shona language
The Shona language is one of the legend languages in Africa, it belongs to the bantu language group which is spoken by the Shona people of Zimbabwe.
The Shona language is an interesting language which also comprises of 3 main dialects which are karanga, zezuru and korekore, one of the interesting thing about the Shona language is that it is spoken by about 10.8 million people and it also comprises of 2 other sub dialects which are mayinka and ndau they are also spoken by 1,025,000 and 2,380,000 people respectively.
Shona language is a standardized language based on the central dialects of the Shona region, it is also the main language spoken by the Zimbabwe as it is spoken by 80% of the Zimbabwes.
The Shona language was firstly written down in the year 1830 by the missionaries that visited Zimbabwe, they decided to put the oral language into written form, the thought of acts was motivated because they needed to translate the Bible into different local languages. In the year 1930 a phonetician government suggested that all the local dialects should be united into a single language which Shona language was one of the languages that was emanated, Shona language is also been taught in schools
Some interesting facts about the Shona according to utalk.com and other researchers
“very important action which accompanies greetings in Shona is hand-clapping: flat hands for men, cupped hands for women.
Right hands are used for hand-shaking, although a hand-shake among the Shona people is more of a grasp than a shake.
In rural areas many people put their left hand under their right elbow when shaking hands which is a sign of respect.
When something is handed to a person, the latter must accept it with both hands together”.
