Tonga is a Bantu language spoken mainly in the Nkhata Bay District of Malawi. The number of speakers is estimated to be 170,000. According to the Mdawuku wa Atonga there are also significant numbers of speakers living elsewhere in Malawi and in neighbouring countries. The Tonga language of Malawi is described as "similar" to Tumbuka, and Turner's dictionary lists only those words which differ from the Tumbuka, with the added comment that "the Tonga folk, being rapid speakers, slur or elide the final syllable of many words, e.g. kulira becomes kuliya, kukura becomes kukuwa, kutoa becomes kuto’." Tonga, i.e. Malawian Tonga, is grouped in the Glottolog classification along with Tumbuka in a single group. Malawian Tonga is classified by Guthrie as being in Zone N15, whereas the Zambian Tonga is classified as Zone M64 and can thus be considered a different language.
Tones
The Tonga language is tonal, with underlying tones High and non-High. Unlike Tumbuka, the high tones are not confined to the penultimate syllable of the word, but can be found in different places in different words. Most verb roots in Tonga are toneless, although there are a few such as bangulá "shout" or sambilá "learn/swim" which have a tone on the final syllable of the stem. When a tone is final, as in the verb bangulá "shout", it tends to spread backwards to the penultimate syllable, giving the result bangǔlá.
Tenses
Some of the Chitonga tenses are formed as follows: Present habitual or continuous:
ndívina – I am dancing
Monosyllabic verbs or verbs starting with a vowel add -t- in this tense:
nditurgha – I eat, I am eating
nditénda – I am walking/travelling
Present Perfect
ndavina - I have danced
ndargha - I have eaten
ndayenda - I have walked
Past simple:
ndinguvína – I danced
ndingurgha – I ate
ndingwenda – I walked
Past habitual:
ndavínanga – I was dancing or I used to dance
ndarghanga – I was eating or I used to eat
ndayendanga – I was walking or I used to walk
Simple Future:
ndívinengi – I will dance
ndirghengi – I will eat
ndiyendengi – I will walk
An example of Tonga
An example of a folktale in Tonga, Tumbuka and other languages of Northern Malawi is given in the Language Mapping Survey for Northern Malawi carried out by the Centre for Language Studies of the University of Malawi. The Chitonga version goes as follows:
Mdawuku wa aTonga (MWATO)
In August 2017 a cultural organisation originally known as the Nkhata Bay Tonga Heritage was established to promote Tonga language and culture. But shortly after its establishment the name was changed to Mdawuku wa aTonga. The group honours well-known Malawians of Tonga origin and supports a band known as the Park Town Band, whose speciality is the localhonala dance, danced by men and women wearing suits and hats. The chairman of the original organising committee, Rev. Maxwell Mezuwa Banda, is quoted as saying in 2017 that one of the aims of the organisation was to preserve the Tonga language, which he said was being swallowed up by Chichewa, more especially among youths. "We want to revive this language among the young ones. Otherwise, if we leave it as it is, in 10 years’ time, the language will be gone."
