Zimbabwean Ndebele language

This article is about the Nguni language spoken in Zimbabwe. For the Ndebele language spoken in South Africa, see Transvaal Ndebele language.

Zimbabwean Ndebele
isiNdebele
Native to	Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa
Region	Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe; North-East District in Botswana
Native speakers	2 million (2012)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni Zunda Zimbabwean Ndebele
Official status
Official language in	Zimbabwe
Language codes
ISO 639-1	nd
ISO 639-2	nde
ISO 639-3	nde
Glottolog	nort2795
Guthrie code	S.44
Linguasphere	99-AUT-fk incl. varieties 99-AUT-fka to 99-AUT-fkd

The Ndebele Language
Person	umNdebele
People	amaNdebele (prev. Matebele)
Language	isiNdebele

The Zimbabwean Ndebele language, also called Northern Ndebele, isiNdebele, Sindebele, or Ndebele is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of Zimbabwe.

isiNdebele is related to the Zulu language spoken in South Africa. This is because the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe descend from followers of the Zulu leader Mzilikazi, who left KwaZulu in the early nineteenth century during the Mfecane.

The Zimbabwean Ndebele and Transvaal Ndebele languages are not variants of the same language; though they both fall in the Nguni group of Bantu languages, Zimbabwean Ndebele is essentially a dialect of Zulu, and the Transvaal Ndebele language falls within a different subgroup. The shared name is due to contact between Mzilikazi's people and the original Ndebele, through whose territory they crossed during the Mfecane.

Pronunciation

Unlike Southern Ndebele, Northern Ndebele has no click consonants, though it reportedly did in the past.

Emphasis is usually on the penultimate syllable.

Vowels

There are seven vowel phonemes, written with the letters a, e, i, o, u.

• a is pronounced [a], approximately like a in father; e.g. abantwana (children)
• e is pronounced [ɛ] or [e], sometimes like e in bed; e.g. emoyeni (in the air)
• i is pronounced [i], like ee in see; e.g. siza (help)
• o is pronounced [ɔ] or [o], sometimes approximately like o in bone; e.g. okhokho (ancestors)
• u is pronounced [u], like oo in soon; e.g. umuntu (person)

Click consonants

In Ndebele there are three click consonants c, q and x.

c is made by placing the tip of the tongue against the front upper teeth and gums, the centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip of the tongue is drawn backwards. The resulting sound is similar to the sound used in English to express annoyance. Some examples are cina (end), cela (ask)

The q sound is made by raising the back of the tongue to touch the soft palate and touching the gums with the sides and tip of the tongue. The centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip drawn quickly away from the gum. The resulting sound is like the "pop" heard when quickly removing the cork from a bottle. Some examples are qalisa (start), qeda (finish)

The x sound is made by placing the tongue so that the back of the tongue touches the soft palate and the sides and tip of the tongue touch the gums. One side of the tongue is quickly withdrawn from the gums. Some examples are xoxa (discuss), ixoxo (frog).

See also

• Matabele
• Transvaal Ndebele language
• Provinces of Zimbabwe
• Matabeleland North
• Matabeleland South
• Bulawayo

External links

• Speak Ndebele
• Zimbabwe News in Ndebele Language