Here is a brief list of books and articles by linguists and grammarians. In addition to this bibliography, you might be interested in our page with further resources for learning the Bemba language and for learning about the languages of Zambia. Updates and new items are regularly posted on our Facebook page as well. Please let us know if you have suggestions for additional items.
Givón, Talmy. 1969. Studies in ChiBemba and Bantu Grammar. Studies in African Linguistics, Supplement 3.
Hoch, E. 1983 [1960]. Bemba Pocket Dictionary: Bemba-English and English-Bemba. Lusaka: National Educational Company of Zambia.
Hoch, E. 1963. Bemba grammar, with exercises. Ilondola : Language Centre.
Hyman, Larry M. 1995. Minimality and the Prosodic Morphology of Cibemba Imbrication. Journal of African Languages and Linguistics 16(1):3-39.
Kashoki, Mubanga E. 1990. Sources and Patterns of Word Adoption in Bemba. In Language Reform: History and Future, Volume V, ed. Istvan Fodor and Claude Hagege, 31-57. Hamburg: Helmut Buske.
Kashoki, Mubanga E. 1978. The Language Situation in Zambia. In Language in Zambia, ed. Sirarpi Ohannessian and Mubanga E. Kashoki, 9-46. London: International African Institute.
Kashoki, Mubanga E. 1972. Town Bemba: A Sketch of Its Main Characteristics. African Social Research 13:161-86.
Kashoki, Mubanga E. 1968. A Phonemic Analysis of Bemba. Zambian Papers, No. 3. Institute for Social Research, University of Zambia. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Kasonde, Makasa. 1985. Contribution á la Description du ChiBemba (Bantu M.42): Aperçu sur le Système verbal. Paris: Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle.
Mann, Michael. 1977. An Outline of Bemba Grammar. In Language in Zambia: Grammatical Sketches, Volume I. Lusaka: University of Zambia, Institute for African Studies.
Mann, Michael, ed. 1995. A Vocabularly of Icibemba (compiled by Malcolm Guthrie). African Languages and Cultures, Supplement 2. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Ministry of Education (Republic of Zambia). 1977. Zambian Languages: Orthography Approved by the Ministry of Education. Lusaka: NECZAM.
Oger, Louis. 1982. IciBemba cakwa Citimukulu (Volume 1): Amasambililo 43. Ilondola, Chinsali, Zambia: Language Centre.
Oger, Louis. 1982. IciBemba cakwa Citimukulu (Volume 2): The English Companion, Learn Bemba the Easy Way. Ilondola, Chinsali, Zambia: Language Centre.
Ohannessian, Sirarpi and Mubanga E. Kashoki, eds. 1978. Language in Zambia. London: International African Institute.
Sharman, John C. 1956. The Tabulation of Tenses in a Bantu Language (Bemba: Northern Rhodesia). Africa 26:29-46.
Spitulnik, Debra. 1998. The Language of the City: Town Bemba as Urban Hybridity. Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 8(2):30-59. Link to article here. Link to audio here.
Spitulnik, Debra. 1988. Levels of Semantic Structuring in Bantu Noun Classification. In Current Approaches to African Linguistics, Volume 5, ed. Paul Newman and Robert D. Botne, 207-20. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Foris.
Spitulnik, Debra. 1987. Semantic Superstructuring and Infrastructuring: Nominal Class Struggle in ChiBemba. Studies in African Grammatical Systems, Monograph No. 4. Bloomington: Indiana University Linguistics Club.
Van Sambeek, J. 1955. A Bemba Grammar. London: Longmans, Green and Company.
White Fathers. 1991. White Fathers’ Bemba-English Dictionary. Ndola: Mission Press by the Society of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers). Reprint of 1954 edition by Longmans, Green and Company (London).
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