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Ila (M63) is a Bantu language of the LBotatwe group, closely related to Tonga, Lenje and Sala. It is spoken principally in south-central Zambia.
- Name used by speakers: Chiila, Cilla.
- Number of speakers: approximately 100,000–200,000 speakers. Estimates vary considerably, in part because Ila forms part of a closely related continuum with neighboring Botatwe languages.
- Usage: Mainly spoken in Zambia's Southern and Central provinces, particularly around Namwala and the Kafue Flats. It is primarily a community language and has a rather restricted role in education, government and mass media.
- First written: Edwin W. Smith's A Handbook of the Ila Language, published in 1907, was the first major grammar and dictionary-like description of the language. Smith later collaborated with Andrew Murray Dale on The Ila-speaking Peoples of Northern Rhodesia (1920), which contains extensive Ila linguistic and textual material.
- Contact: Ila has been in prolonged contact with neighboring Tonga, Lenje, Sala and other languages of south-central Zambia. More recently, Tonga, Nyanja, Bemba and English have exerted influence through education, urbanization and wider communication.