Shi language

Shi
Kishi/Mashi
Native to	Democratic Republic of Congo
Region	Sud-Kivu Province
Native speakers	(660,000 cited 1991)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Shi–Havu Shi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: shr – Shi nyg – Nyindu
Glottolog	shii1238  Shi nyin1248  Nyindu
Guthrie code	JD.53,501[2]

Shi, or Nyabungu, is a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Nyindu variety is heavily influenced by Lega, and speakers consider it a dialect of Lega rather than Shi, as Shi speakers see it. Maho (2009) leaves it unclassified as JD.501.[2]

The people who speak Mashi are known as Bashi. They are the largest tribe in South Kivu, whose capital city is Bukavu.

The Bashi occupy a vast region known as Bushi. Like Ngweshe, Kabare, Katana, Luhuinja, Burhinyi, Kaziba, Nyengezi, and Idjui where live the Bahavu who are also part of this group; Idjui is a large island in Kivu lake between DRC and Rwanda.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Post-alv./ Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʃ		h
	voiced	v	z
Rhotic	voiceless		r̥
	voiced		r
Lateral			l
Approximant		w		j

• Sounds /t, d, n/ are commonly heard as dental [t̪, d̪, n̪].
• /d͡ʒ/ may also be heard as a fricative [ʒ].[3]

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Close-mid	e eː		o oː
Open		a aː

References

1. Shi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
   Nyindu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. Bashi Murhi-Orhakube, Constantin (2012). Grammaire du mashi: phonologie, morphologie, mots grammaticaux et lexicaux. Paris: L'Harmattan.