These languages, known as the Yao Group of Bantu (Guthrie P20), include Yao (spoken by the Yao, primarily in southern Malawi but also in southeastern Tanzania and in Mozambique), and Makonde (spoken by the Makonde, primarily in southeastern Tanzania and in Mozambique).
Grimes (1996) gives figures of 1,260,000 Makonde speakers and 1,597,000 Yao speakers. Nurse (1980) suggests "there are well over one million Yao"; Voegelin and Voegelin (1977) note 1 million Makonde. UBS (1982) reports 600,000 Makonde in Malawi. Alexandre (1981) estimates more than one million for the entire group.
Yao and Makonde are local first languages.
The existence of a standardized orthography for either Yao or Makonde is unknown to us as of this writing.
The number of separate sets of learning materials needed is unclear.
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