Wiktionary:About Tumbuka
1=Language considerations (Tumbuka)Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
![]() |
This is a Wiktionary policy, guideline or common practices page. Specifically it is a policy think tank, working to develop a formal policy. |
Policies – Entries: CFI - EL - NORM - NPOV - QUOTE - REDIR - DELETE. Languages: LT - AXX. Others: BLOCK - BOTS - VOTES. |
Tumbuka is a Bantu language which is spoken in Malawi,Zambia and Tanzania.This page details standard practice to be followed on all Tumbuka pages.
Dialects and spellings
editAll dialectal words should be marked;Malawian Tumbuka is the default for all entries but words restricted to Malawi should still be marked as such "Modern Tumbuka".
Some words such as "ŵana" which in plural English translates "children" should be written as "bana" for easy understanding.So in short "Ŵ" should be replaced with "B".
Pronunciation
editThe suffix -be phoneme used in Tumbuka in words like ngulube, njobe and beneko is to be represented with /ŵ/ instead of /b/, except in accents where it is actually a case.
Orthography
editRegional differences
editMalawian,Zambian and Tanzanian Tumbuka are not always similar.Therefore a word is spelled differently in different standard varieties of Tumbuka, the spelling (that is, the entry) which was created first is made the lemma; to avoid unmaintainable duplication of content, other spellings soft-redirect to it.