Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Shona

SOURCE

Hudson Simbarashe & Tafadzwa Mukome

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Shona

Language Profile

TOTAL SPEAKERS

7,000,000 (1990)

USAGE BY COUNTRY (OFFICIAL LANGUAGE)

Home Speakers: Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana

BACKGROUND

It is spoken by at least 9 million people as a first language (the other main language spoken in Zimbabwe is Ndebele) and belongs to the Benue-Congo family, Bantu group. In Zimbabwe it is also spoken as lingua franca. The main varieties are Karanga, Korekore, Zezuru and Kalanga, but modern Standard Shona is "Union Shona", a koiné based on some of these important varieties.