Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 dov
Dombe Language
Dombe is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.5 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Dombe is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Dombe
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Botatwe
- Greater Eastern Botatwe
- Central Eastern Botatwe
- Dombe
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Dombe language
Dombe is spoken by about 1.5 million people, which makes it the 365th most spoken language in the world — just behind Northern Dong (1.5 million) and ahead of Maasina Fulfulde (1.5 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Central Eastern Botatwe group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Dombe spoken?
Dombe is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Zimbabwe (1.5 million).
Dombe is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Dombe is written in the Latin script. Glottolog classifies it as vulnerable, meaning fewer children learn it than in the past.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Tonga (Zambia), Swahili, Zulu, Chichewa, Tsonga, Kinyarwanda and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 dov.
Frequently asked questions about Dombe
How many people speak Dombe?
Where is Dombe spoken?
What language family does Dombe belong to?
Is Dombe an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.