Editing Chewa language (section)

{{Short description|Bantu language of Southern and East Africa}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Chewa
| nativename       = {{lang|ny|Chichewa, Chinyanja}}
| altname          = Nyanja
| states           = [[Malawi]]
| region           = [[Southeast Africa]]
| ethnicity        = [[Chewa people|Chewa]]
| speakers         = 7 million
| date             = 2007
| ref              = ne2007
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8             = [[Nyasa languages|Nyasa]]
| nation           =
* {{flag|Malawi}}
* {{flag|Zimbabwe}}
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] (Chewa alphabet)<br />[[Mwangwego alphabet|Mwangwego]]<br />[[Chewa Braille]]
| iso1             = ny
| iso2             = nya
| iso3             = nya
| glotto           = nyan1308
| glottorefname    = Nyanja
| guthrie          = N.30 (N.31, N.121)
| lingua           = 99-AUS-xaa&nbsp;– xag
| notice           = IPA
| map              = Chewa_map.svg
| imagecaption     = Areas where Chewa is the spoken.
| mapcaption       = Areas where Chewa is the dominant language (purple). Solid green signifies a nation where Chewa is an official language, striped green signifies a nation where Chewa is a recognized minority language.
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|Mchewa|[[Chewa people|Achewa]]|Chichewa| }}

'''Chewa''' ( {{IPAc-en|pron|ˈ|tʃ|eɪ|w|ə}}; also known as '''Nyanja''' {{IPAc-en|pron|ˈ|n|j|æ|n|dʒ|ə}}) is a [[Bantu languages|Bantu language]] spoken in [[Malawi]] and a recognised minority in [[Zambia]] and [[Mozambique]]. The [[noun class]] prefix ''chi-'' is used for languages,<ref>''cf.'' ''Kiswahili'' for the [[Swahili language]].</ref> so the language is often called {{lang|ny|'''Chichewa'''}} or Chinyanja. In Malawi, the name was officially changed from Chinyanja to Chichewa in 1968 at the insistence of President [[Hastings Banda|Hastings Kamuzu Banda]] (himself of the [[Chewa people]]), and this is still the name most commonly used in Malawi today.<ref>Kishindo (2001), p.265.</ref> In Zambia, the language is generally known as Nyanja or {{lang|ny|Cinyanja/Chinyanja}} '(language) of the lake' (referring to [[Lake Malawi]]).<ref>For spelling Chinyanja cf. Lehmann (1977). Both spellings are used in Zambia Daily Mail articles.</ref>

Chewa belongs to the same language group ([[Guthrie classification of Bantu languages#Zone N|Guthrie Zone N]]) as [[Tumbuka language|Tumbuka]], [[Sena language|Sena]]<ref>Kiso (2012), pp.21ff.</ref> and [[Nsenga language|Nsenga]]. Throughout the history of Malawi, only Chewa and [[Tumbuka language|Tumbuka]] have at one time been the primary dominant national languages used by government officials and in school curricula. However, the Tumbuka language suffered a lot  during the rule of President Hastings Kamuzu Banda, since in 1968 as a result of his one-nation, one-language policy it lost its status as an official language in Malawi. As a result, Tumbuka was removed from the school curriculum, the national radio, and the print media.<ref>Kamwendo (2004), p.278.</ref> With the advent of multi-party democracy in 1994, Tumbuka programmes were started again on the radio, but the number of books and other publications in Tumbuka remains low.<ref>See Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi (2006), pp.38–40 for a list of publications.</ref>{{TOC limit}}