Sena language

Sena
Native to	Mozambique, Malawi
Ethnicity	Sena
Native speakers	1.6 million (2001–2006)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Nyasa Sena (N40) ? Sena
Dialects	Rue (Barwe) Podzo
Official status
Official language in	Zimbabwe (as 'Chibarwe')
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Variously: seh – Mozambiquean Sena swk – Malawian Sena bwg – Barwe
Glottolog	nucl1396  (Nuclear Sena)[2] mala1475  (Malawi Sena)[3] barw1243  (Barwe)[4]
Guthrie code	N.44,441 (N.45,46)[5]
Linguasphere	99-AUS-xi incl. varieties 99-AUS-xia...-xic; also 99-AUS-xj (chi-Rue) & 99-AUS-xm (chi-Podzo)

Sena is spoken in the four provinces of central Mozambique (Zambezi valley): Tete, Sofala, Zambezia and Manica. There were an estimated 900,000 native Sena speakers in Mozambique in 1997, with at least 1.5 million including those who speak it as second language.

Sena is spoken in several dialects, of which Rue and Podzo are divergent. The Sena of Malawi may be a distinct language. Barwe (Chibarwe) has official recognition in Zimbabwe.

Some remarks on Sena tenses can be found in Kiso (2012).^[6]

References

1. Mozambiquean Sena at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Malawian Sena at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
   Barwe at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Nuclear Sena". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
3. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Malawi Sena". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
4. Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Barwe". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
5. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
6. Kiso, Andrea (2012). "Tense and Aspect in Chichewa, Citumbuka, and Cisena". Ph.D. Thesis. Stockholm University.