Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 loz
Lozi Language siLozi
Lozi is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.0 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Lozi is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Lozi
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Southern Bantu
- Nuclear Southern Bantu
- Dimsuffix Southern Bantu
- Sotho-Tswana (S.30)
- Western Sotho-Tswana
- Central Sotho-Tswana
- Sesotho-Lozi
- Lozi
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Lozi language
Lozi (siLozi) is spoken by about 1.0 million people, which makes it the 473rd most spoken language in the world — just behind Shambala (1.0 million) and ahead of Southern Luri (1.0 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Sesotho-Lozi group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Lozi spoken?
Lozi is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Zambia (1.1 million).
Lozi is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Lozi is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Southern Sotho, Tswana, Pedi, Zulu, Tsonga, Xhosa and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 loz.
Frequently asked questions about Lozi
How many people speak Lozi?
Where is Lozi spoken?
What language family does Lozi belong to?
What is Lozi called in Lozi?
Is Lozi 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.