Grammatical Sketch of Chindali

Chindali is spoken along the northern border of Malawi and in southwestern Tanzania. There are about 70,000 speakers in Malawi and 150,000 speakers in Tanzania. This grammatical sketch represents the language as spoken in the region of northern Malawi. It differs in important ways from the variety spoken in Tanzania, esp. in verbal morphology. It also differs from a closely related dialect called Chisukwa, primarily in tone and some sounds. Contents: Intro.; Phonology; Noun Morphology; Noun Modification; Verbs: Structure and Morphology; Verb Types; Verbs: Constructions and Phrases; Ideophones; Syntax; Invariable Forms. Append.: Verb Templates; Paradigm of the Verb “uku.lima” ‘cultivate; hoe’. References.