Language

Mozambique is a country that speaks several languages. Portuguese is the official and most widely spoken language in the country, with 50.3% of the population speaking it. The indigenous Bantu-group languages of the country vary greatly in their groupings and, in some cases, are underappreciated and underdocumented. Swahili, Makhuwa, Sena, Ndau, and Tswa-Ronga are among the most widely spoken languages. Lomwe, Makonde, Chopi, Chuwabu, Ronga, Kimwani, Zulu, and Tswa are some of Mozambique's other indigenous languages. Mozambican Sign Language is the language of the deaf community. This can be considered as one of the Unique Cultural Characteristics In Mozambique.

Apart from its lingua franca use in the north of the country, Swahili is spoken in a small area of the coast near the Tanzanian border; south of this, towards Moçambique Island, Kimwani, regarded as a dialect of Swahili, is used. Makonde is used immediately inland of the Swahili area, separated further inland by a small strip of Makhuwa-speaking territory from an area where Yao or ChiYao is used. Makonde and Yao are from different groups, with Yao being very close to the Mwera language of Tanzania's Rondo Plateau area. Prepositions appear in these languages as locative prefixes prefixed to nouns and declined according to their own noun-class. Some Nyanja is used along the Lake Malawi coast and on the other side of the lake.