Shi language

Shi
Kishi/Mashi
Native to	Democratic Republic of Congo
Region	Sud-Kivu Province
Native speakers	(5,000,000 cited 1991)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Northeast Bantu Great Lakes Bantu Shi–Havu Shi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	shr
Glottolog	shii1238
Guthrie code	JD.53

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

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

The Bashi are a Bantu population (10 to 25 million) of Central Africa established mainly in the Bushi - or Bashi territory - in the far east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in the territories of Walungu, Kabare, Mwenga, Kalehe,idjwi part of fizi and shabunda and Uvira. Their reference city is Bukavu. They are also widely present in North Kivu and Goma. It is the most used ethnic group in the Democratic Republic of Congo because they are everywhere, in every city and especially in Kinshasa. They are also with the Nande the most enterprising group

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].

Vowels

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