Languages of Hong Kong
It is not clear when the first Ugandas came to China and Hong Kong. However, the number of Africans in Hong Kong has been increasing since the beginning of the 21st century, with many engaged in trade and commence. There are also students from Uganda studying in Hong Kong’s tertiary institutions.1 Hong Kong also has many refugees from Uganda.2
It is estimated that there are several thousand Africans in Hong Kong today, among them many from Uganda. According to the Africa Center HK, there were around 3,144 Africans living in Hong Kong in 2016.3
There are 10,950,000 speakers of Lugandan in Uganda; of these, 5,560,000 are first language users. There total number of Lugandan speakers is 11,004,750.4
Lugandan is the de facto national language of Uganda. It is spoken primarily in the Buganda providence.4 44 languages are spoken in Uganda, including English and Swahili, the official languages of Uganda.
It is a SVO language.4 Like other Bantu languages, Lugandan is a tone language with a High tone and a Low tone.5
Lugandan has five vowels: /i e a o u/; all are tense.5 Lugandan has nineteen consonants: /b c d f g j k l m n ny ŋ p s t v w y z/.5
1Shum, T. C. T. (2018). Conceptualising integrative exchanges: Marginalisation, music and identity of African diaspora in Hong Kong. Migration and Development 8(1), 1-18.
2Refugee Union.https://refugeeunion.org/10039/meeting-refugees-union/
3Africa Center Hong Kong. (n.d.). Africa Center HK [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.africacenterhk.com/
4Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
5Cole, D. T. (1965). Some features of Ganda linguistic structure: Part one. African Studies 24(1), 3-54.
It is unknown when China and Ethiopia began having direct contact. Professor Richard Pankhurst, a renowned historian, claims that the two countries have maintained a relationship since the Tang period (618-907CE).1 During the New China Period, an official diplomatic relationship between Ethiopia and the PRC was established in 1970.1
Ethiopia has founded an official consulate in Kowloon, Hong Kong, which is one of the 128 foreign representations in Hong Kong.2
It is hard to know the exact numbers of Ethiopian people who currently live in Hong Kong. It is estimated that there are several thousand Africans in Hong Kong today, among them some from Ethiopia. According to the Africa Center HK, there were around 3,144 Africans living in Hong Kong in 2016; the number of Amharic speakers is unknown.3
Oromo is spoken by the Oromo people of Ethiopia.4 The Oromo is the largest of the various ethnolinguistic groups of Ethiopia. The Oromo originated in the southwest part of Ethiopia but have migrated into central and western Ethiopia as well as Kenya.4
There are around 37,446,700 speakers of Oromo.5
Oromo has ejective consonants. It has five vowels: /i e a o u/ that can be realized as either long or short. It is tonal with two or three tones (high or low/high middle low).6
Oromo has suffixation, prefixation, and infixation.6
1Mulualem, M. Striding towards better relations: Ethio-China relations https://media.africaportal.org/documents/attachment-53-Ethio-China-For_EIIPD_Web.pdf
2Consulate of Ethiopia in Hong Konghttps://www.embassypages.com/ethiopia-consulate-hongkong-hongkong
3Africa Center Hong Kong. (n.d.). Africa Center HK [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.africacenterhk.com/
4Oromo. Encyclopedia Brittanica.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Oromo
5Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
6Mous, M. (2012). Cushitic. In Z. Frajzyngier & E. Shay (Eds.), The Afroasiatic languages (pp. 342-422). Cambridge University Press.
7Afaan Oromo. https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Hornet/Afaan_Oromo_19777.html
It is unknown when China and Ethiopia began having direct contact. Professor Richard Pankhurst, a renowned historian, claims that the two countries have maintained a relationship since the Tang period (618-907CE).1 During the New China Period, an official diplomatic relationship between Ethiopia and the PRC was established in 1970.1
Ethiopia has founded an official consulate in Kowloon, Hong Kong, which is one of the 128 foreign representations in Hong Kong.2
It is hard to know the exact numbers of Ethiopian people who currently live in Hong Kong. It is estimated that there are several thousand Africans in Hong Kong today, among them some from Ethiopia. According to the Africa Center HK, there were around 3,144 Africans living in Hong Kong in 2016; the number of Amharic speakers is unknown.3
There are 56,900,000 speakers of Amharic in Ethiopia, with 31,800,000 using Amharic as their first language and 25,100,000 as their second language. There is a total of 57,445,260 speakers of Amharic in various countries all around the world.4
While Amharic is primarily spoken in Ethiopia, where it is the national language, it is also spoken in Dijbouti and Eritrea.4 Ethiopians may also speak other regional languages, including Oromo.
Stress6
Stress is usually weak and variable in position
1Mulualem, M. Striding towards better relations: Ethio-China relations https://media.africaportal.org/documents/attachment-53-Ethio-China-For_EIIPD_Web.pdf
2Consulate of Ethiopia in Hong Kong https://www.embassypages.com/ethiopia-consulate-hongkong-hongkong
3Africa Center Hong Kong. (n.d.). Africa Center HK [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.africacenterhk.com/
4Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
5Amharic: The Ethiopian language https://www.ethiopiaonlinevisa.com/amharic-the-ethiopian-language/
6Hayward, K., & Hayward, R. J. (1992). Amharic. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 22(1/2), 48-52.
7Dillmann, A., & Bezold, C. (2005). Ethiopia grammar. Wipf & Stock Publishers.
There are 56,900,000 speakers of Amharic in Ethiopia, with 31,800,000 using Amharic as their first language and 25,100,000 as their second language. There is a total of 57,445,260 speakers of Amharic in various countries all around the world.4
Since then Hong Kong has seen a continuous wave of immigrants from Zimbabwe to Hong Kong for trading, work or study.1
It is estimated that there are several thousand Africans in Hong Kong today, among them many from Zimbabwe. According to the Africa Center HK, there were around 3,144 Africans living in Hong Kong in 2016, yet the number of Shona speakers is unknown.2
There are 56,900,000 speakers of Amharic in Ethiopia, with 31,800,000 using Amharic as their first language and 25,100,000 as their second language. There is a total of 57,445,260 speakers of Amharic in various countries all around the world.4
Shona is one of the 16 official languages of Zimbabwe; the other official languages are: Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Sign Language, Sotho, Tonga, Tswana, Venda, Swati, and Xhosa.
There are 10,660,000 speakers of Shona in Zimbabwe, of which 7,160,000 are first language users and 3,500,000 are second language users. There are a total of 10,856,590 users of Shona worldwide, including Botswana and Zambia.4
There are many dialects of Shona, including Karanga, Zezuru, Korekore, Hwesa, and Budja, as well as a range of subdialects.4
1Zhang, C. (2014, November). China-Zimbabwe relations: A model of China-Africa relations? Occasional Paper 205: Global powers and Africa programme.
2Africa Center Hong Kong. (n.d.). Africa Center HK [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.africacenterhk.com/
3Shona people. Encyclopedia Brittanica.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shona
4Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
5PHOIBIE 2.0: Phonemic inventories for Shona https://phoible.org/inventories/view/1008#tsegments
6Fortune, G. (1955). An analytical grammar of Shona. London, Cape Town & New York: Longmans, Green and Co.
Afrikaans is spoken in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland and Namibia, with the largest number of users in South Africa. In South Africa, 17,160,000 people speak Afrikaans, with 6,860,000 speaking it as their first language.2
Afrikaans is spoken as a first language by 13.5% of the population in South Africa, according to census 2011. It is also the most widely used official language in South Africa.3 39.78% of the speakers of Afrikaans in South Africa are White, 50.52% are Coloured (of multiethnic ancestry) and 8.84% are Black. 3 A majority of White South Africans (60.8%) and Coloureds (75.8%) are first language speakers of Afrikaans.3
There are various dialects of Afrikaans, including Cape Afrikaans, Orange River Afrikaans, East Cape Afrikaans.2
1Bodomo, A. (2012). Africans in China: A sociocultural study and its implications for Africa-China relations. Amherst, New York: Cambria Press.
2Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
3Wissing, D. P. (2020). Afrikaans. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 50(1), 127-140.
4Donaldson, B. C. (2011). A grammar of Afrikaans (Vol. 8). Walter de Gruyter.
5Botha, R. P., & Botha, R. P. (1988). Form and meaning in word formation: A study of Afrikaans reduplication. Cambridge University Press.
6Leibbrandt, R., & Bokhorst, F. (1999). An investigation of a lexical segmentation strategy for Afrikaans. South African Journal of Linguistics, 17(4), 325-341.
It is estimated that there are several thousand Africans in Hong Kong today, among them many from Nigeria. According to the Africa Center HK, there were around 3,144 Africans living in Hong Kong in 2016.1
Many Nigerians in Hong Kong have come to Hong Kong as students, researchers and academics; the Association of Nigerian Scholars in Hong Kong was founded in 2013 by Nigerian scholars at different universities in Hong Kong.2 The ANSHK has members from the major universities in Hong Kong, including CUHK, HKUST, HKBU, PolyU, Lingnan, CityU and HKU.2
Igbo is native to Nigeria, with about 29,000,000 nationals of Nigeria speaking Igbo (2018 census). Igbo people have also spread to other countries in the world.
According to Ethnologue, there are approximate 2,000 Igbo speakers in Australia (2016 census), 4,240 in Canada (2016 census), 61,000 in Ghana (2017 J. Leclerc), and 7,950 in the United Kingdom (2011 census).3
Igbo is tone language and there are three distinctive tones in standard Igbo: high, low, and downstep.
1Africa Center Hong Kong. (n.d.). Africa Center HK [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.africacenterhk.com/
2Association of Nigerian Scholars in HK.https://www.anshk.org/members/
3Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.
4Chinagorom, L. C., & Onuora, N. T. (2018). The origin and evolution of Igbo language and culture over the generations. Journal of Humanities, 1(1): 55-71.
5Ikekeonwu, C. I. (1991). Igbo. Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 21 (2)ː 99-101.
6Emenanjo, E. N. (1987). Elements of modern Igbo grammar: A descriptive approach. Ibadan: University Press Limited.
Igbo is native to Nigeria, with about 29,000,000 nationals of Nigeria speaking Igbo (2018 census). Igbo people have also spread to other countries in the world.
However, the number of Africans in Hong Kong has been increasing since the beginning of the 21st century, with many engaged in trade and commerce. There are also students from Kenya studying in Hong Kong’s tertiary institutions.2
It is estimated that there are several thousand Africans in Hong Kong today, among them many from Kenya. According to the Africa Center HK, there were around 3,144 Africans living in Hong Kong in 2016.3
It is the native and the main language of the Swahili people who reside primarily in East Africa: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.4 The Swahili are a people living along the east coast of Africa, in the areas now known as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Mozambique, among others.
The name ‘Swahili’ comes from Arabic, meaning ‘people of the coast.’1
It is mainly spoken in East Africa: Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. It is also spoken in Burundi, Mozambique, Oman, Somalia the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Africa.4 There are over 140 million speakers of Swahili around the world, with 2 million in Kenya and more than 47 million first language users in Tanzania.5
Swahili is an official language of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and the African Union; it is a national language of DR Congo.4
Swahili is a Bantu language in the Niger-Congo language family.
There are different dialects of Swahili, including Mrima, Unguja, Mgao.5
1Shum, T. C. T. (2018). Conceptualising integrative exchanges: Marginalisation, music and identity of African diaspora in Hong Kong. Migration and Development 8(1), 1-18.
2Africa Center Hong Kong. (n.d.). Africa Center HK [Website]. Retrieved from http://www.africacenterhk.com/
3National Geographic Society (March 23, 2020). The people of the Swahili Coast. https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/people-coast/3rd-grade/
4Swahili. Omniglot: The online encyclopedia of writing systems and languages. https://omniglot.com/writing/swahili.htm
5Eberhard, David M., Gary F. Simons, and Charles D. Fennig (eds.). 2022. Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Twenty-fifth edition. Dallas, Texas: SIL International.