Ndonga, also called Oshindonga, is a

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

dialect spoken in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and parts of

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

. It is a standardized

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

of the

Ovambo language The Ovambo () language is a dialect cluster spoken by the Ovambo people in southern Angola and northern Namibia, of which the written standards are Kwanyama and Ndonga. The native name for the language is ''Oshiwambo'' (also written ''Oshi ...

, and is

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...

with

Kwanyama Kwanyama or Cuanhama is a national language of Angola and Namibia. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Oshindonga, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form. The entire Christian Bibl ...

, the other Ovambo dialect with a standard written form. With 810,000 speakers, the language has the largest number of speakers in Namibia.

Martti Rautanen Martti (Martin) Rautanen (10 November 1845 Tikopis (), Ingria – 19 October 1926 Olukonda, South West Africa) was the pioneer of the Finnish Mission in Ovamboland, South West Africa. Childhood and education Rautanen was born in a poor Finnis ...

translated the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

into the Ndonga dialect. Beginning his work in 1885, he published the New Testament in 1903, but it took until 1920 to finish the Old Testament. His Bible translation became the basis of a standardized form of Ndonga.

Phonology

Vowels

Oshindonga uses a five-vowel system:

Consonants

Oshindonga contains the following consonant phonemes: Prenasalized sounds are listed below: * ̥p b �v ̥θ ð ̥ʃ ̥t d z ̥ts �k �ɡ Oshindonga also contains many other consonant compounds, listed below: * ̥pʰ ̥tʰ ̥kʰ ̥pʰw ̥tʰw ̥kʰw ̥dz ̥tsʰ dʒ w

sʼ The alveolar ejective fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is . Features Features of the alveolar ejective fricative: In man ...

(voiceless, ejective, alveolar affricate), sʲ(voiceless, palatalized, labio-alveolar affricate)

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

Tones

References

External links