The Nguni languages are a group of closely related
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The t ...
spoken in southern Africa by the
Nguni peoples. Nguni languages include
Xhosa,
Zulu,
Ndebele
Ndebele may refer to:
*Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa
*Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe and Botswana
Languages
* Southern Ndebele language, the language of the South Ndebele
* Northern Ndebele language, the language ...
(sometimes referred to as "Northern Ndebele"), and
Swazi. The appellation "Nguni" derives from the
Nguni cattle type. ''Ngoni'' (see below) is an older, or a shifted, variant.
It is sometimes argued that the use of ''Nguni'' as a generic label suggests a historical monolithic unity of the people in question, where in fact the situation may have been more complex. The linguistic use of the label (referring to a subgrouping of Bantu) is relatively stable.
From an English editorial perspective, the articles "a" and "an" are both used with "Nguni", but "a Nguni" is more frequent and arguably more correct if "Nguni" is pronounced as it is suggested.
Classification
Within a subset of
Southern Bantu
The Southern Bantu languages are a large group of Bantu languages, largely validated in Janson (1991/92).Tore Janson (1991-92) "Southern Bantu and Makua", ''Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika'' (''SUGIA'') Vol. 12/13: 63-106, Rüdiger Köppe Verlag ...
, the label "Nguni" is used both
genetically (in the linguistic sense) and
typologically (quite apart from any historical significance).
The Nguni languages are closely related, and in many instances different languages are mutually intelligible; in this way, Nguni languages might better be construed as a
dialect continuum
A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...
than as a cluster of separate languages. On more than one occasion, proposals have been put forward to create a unified Nguni language.
In scholarly literature on southern African languages, the linguistic classificatory category "Nguni" is traditionally considered to subsume two subgroups: "Zunda Nguni" and "Tekela Nguni." This division is based principally on the salient phonological distinction between corresponding
coronal consonant
Coronals are consonants articulated with the flexible front part of the tongue. Among places of articulation, only the coronal consonants can be divided into as many articulation types: apical (using the tip of the tongue), laminal (using the ...
s: Zunda and Tekela (thus the native form of the name ''Swati'' and the better-known Zulu form ''Swazi''), but there is a host of additional linguistic variables that enables a relatively straightforward division into these two substreams of Nguni.
Zunda languages
*
Zulu
*
Xhosa
*
Southern Ndebele
*
Ndebele
Ndebele may refer to:
*Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa
*Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe and Botswana
Languages
* Southern Ndebele language, the language of the South Ndebele
* Northern Ndebele language, the language ...
(Northern Ndebele or 'Zimbabwean Ndebele')
Tekela languages
*
Swazi
*
Northern Transvaal Ndebele (Sumayela Ndebele)
*
Phuthi
*
Bhaca
The Bhaca people or amaBhaca are an eMbo ethnic group in South Africa.
Background
AmaBhaca were formerly known as the Zelemus or AbakwaZelemu between the 1700s until 1830 when they were formally referred to as AmaBhaca. They are the descenda ...
*
Hlubi
*
Lala
*
Nhlangwini
Maho (2009) also lists S401
Old Mfengu†
Characteristics
The following aspects of Nguni languages are typical:
* A 5-vowel system, by merging the near-close and close series of
Proto-Bantu. (Phuthi has re-acquired a new series of superclose vowels from
Sotho)
* Spreading of high tones to the antepenultimate syllable.
* A distinction between high and low tones on noun prefixes, indicating different grammatical roles, accompanied in some cases by an overt pre-prefix called the ''
augment''.
* Development of breathy-voiced consonants, acting as
depressor consonant
A depressor consonant is a consonant that depresses (lowers) the tone of its or a neighboring syllable. This is a consequence of the phonation (type of voicing) of the consonant. The Nguni languages of South Africa are well known for the lowering ...
s.
* Development of
aspirated consonant
In phonetics, aspiration is the strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or, in the case of preaspiration, the closure of some obstruents. In English, aspirated consonants are allophones in complementary distribution with ...
s.
* Development of
click consonant
Click consonants, or clicks, are speech sounds that occur as consonants in many languages of Southern Africa and in three languages of East Africa. Examples familiar to English-speakers are the ''tut-tut'' (British spelling) or '' tsk! tsk!'' ...
s.
Comparative data
Compare the following sentences:
Note: Xhosa = Phuthi = IPA ; Phuthi = ; Zulu = IPA , but in the environment cited here is "nasally permuted" to . Phuthi = breathy voiced = Xhosa, Zulu (in the environment here following the nasal ). Zulu, Swazi, Hlubi = .
Note: Phuthi = IPA .
See also
*
Ngoni is the ethnonym and language name of a group living in Malawi, who are a geographically distant descendant of South African Nguni. Ngoni separated from all other Nguni languages subsequent to the massive political and social upheaval within southern Africa, the
mfecane, lasting until the 1830s.
*
IsiNgqumo is an
argot
A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...
spoken by the homosexuals of South Africa who speak
Bantu languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀) are a large family of languages spoken by the Bantu people of Central, Southern, Eastern africa and Southeast Africa. They form the largest branch of the Southern Bantoid languages.
The t ...
; as opposed to
Gayle, the argot spoken by South African homosexuals who speak
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
. IsiNgqumo is based on an Nguni lexicon.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Shaw, E. M. and Davison, P. (1973) ''The Southern Nguni'' (series: Man in Southern Africa) South African Museum, Cape Town
* Ndlovu, Sambulo. 'Comparative Reconstruction of Proto-Nguni Phonology'
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nguni Languages
Languages of South Africa
Languages of Eswatini
Languages of Lesotho
Languages of Mozambique
Languages of Zimbabwe