Shona in Zimbabwe

The Shona people are a linguistic group comprising the following language varieties or dialects; ChiKaranga, ChiManyika, ChiZezuru, ChiKorekore, and ChiTeve/ChiNyai. Shona-speaking groups are also found in neighbouring Mozambique, and recently in Kenya where the language is now officially recognised by the Kenyan Government. Although there is a considerable number of Shona dialects, there is evidence that suggests that they all came from the same genealogical tree. The Shona are found in seven (7) of the country’s ten (10) provinces in Masvingo, Harare, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland West, Manicaland and Midlands. There are 11,251,734 (80.9%) mother-tongue speakers of the Shona language in Zimbabwe.