// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did the Matengo language say to the tourist? "You're speaking my tongue".

Matengo
Chimatengo
Native to	Tanzania
Ethnicity	Matengo people
Native speakers	(150,000 cited 1987)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Bantu Rufiji–Ruvuma Mbinga Ruhuhu (South) Matengo
Language codes
ISO 639-3	mgv
Glottolog	mate1258
Guthrie code	N.13
Linguasphere	99-AUS-rc

Matengo is a Bantu language of Tanzania. Speakers are mostly monolingual, and neighboring languages are not intelligible.

Matengo language is relatively related to Ngoni language in that the two have similar history of origin.

Phonology

The phonological inventry in Matengo contains 24 consonants and 7 vowels.

Vowels

Matengo has a seven-vowel system, and each vowel has a phonemic length contrast.

Vowel inventry of Matengo

	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/		/u/
Close mid	/e/		/o/
Open mid	/ɛ/		/ɔ/
Open		/a/

Consonants

Consonant inventry of Matengo

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	/p/ [p]	/t/ [t]		/k/ [k]
	voiced	/b/ [b~ɓ]			/g/ [g~ɣ]
Fricative			/s/ [s]			/h/ [h]
Affriactive			/dʒ/ [dʒ~dz]
Nasal		/m/ [m]	/n/ [n]	/ɲ/ [ɲ]	/ŋ/ [ŋ]
Liquid			/l/ [l~d]
Approximant		/w/ [w~u]		/j/ [j~i]

Further reading

• Yoneda Nobuko (2026) "マテンゴ語 (Matengo Language)". Tokyo: Kurosio Publishers. ISBN 978-4-8011-1035-9