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Northern Ndebele (), also called Ndebele, isiNdebele saseNyakatho, Zimbabwean Ndebele or North Ndebele, associated with the term Matabele, is a
Bantu language 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 by the Northern Ndebele people which belongs to the Nguni group of languages. As a start and to give some context, Ndebele is a term used to refer to a collection of many different African cultures in
Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
. It perhaps by default became a 'language' (for lack of better word) spoken predominantly by the descendants of
Mzilikazi Mzilikazi Moselekatse, Khumalo ( 1790 – 9 September 1868) was a Southern African king who founded the Mthwakazi Kingdom now known as Matebeleland, in Zimbabwe. His name means "the great river of blood". He was born the son of Mashobane kaMan ...
. As a language, it is by no means similar to the Ndebele language spoken in kwaNdebele in
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...
although, like many Nguni dialects, some words will be shared. Many of the natives that were colonized by the Matabele were assimilated into Mzilikazi's kingdom to create a version of isiZulu. The Matebele people of Zimbabwe descend from followers of the Zulu leader
Mzilikazi Mzilikazi Moselekatse, Khumalo ( 1790 – 9 September 1868) was a Southern African king who founded the Mthwakazi Kingdom now known as Matebeleland, in Zimbabwe. His name means "the great river of blood". He was born the son of Mashobane kaMan ...
(one of Zulu King Shaka's generals), who left the
Zulu Kingdom The Zulu Kingdom (, ), sometimes referred to as the Zulu Empire or the Kingdom of Zululand, was a monarchy in Southern Africa. During the 1810s, Shaka established a modern standing army that consolidated rival clans and built a large followin ...
in the early 19th century, during the
Mfecane The Mfecane ( isiZulu, Zulu pronunciation: ̩fɛˈkǀaːne, also known by the Sesotho names Difaqane or Lifaqane (all meaning "crushing, scattering, forced dispersal, forced migration") is a historical period of heightened military conflict ...
, arriving in present-day Zimbabwe in 1839. Although there are some differences in grammar, lexicon and intonation between Zulu and Northern Ndebele, the two languages share more than 85% of their lexicon. To prominent Nguni linguists like Anthony
Trevor Cope Anthony Trevor Cope was professor of Zulu at the University of Natal. He edited Harry Camp Lugg's translation of Magema Magwaza Fuze's ''Abantu Abamnyama'' (1922) into English which was published by the University of Natal Press in 1979 as ''Th ...
and Cyril Nyembezi, Northern Ndebele is a dialect of Zulu. To others like Langa Khumalo, it is a language. Distinguishing between a language and a dialect for language varieties that are very similar is difficult, with the decision often being based not on linguistic but on political criteria.D.K. Rycroft “Ndebele and Zulu: Some Phonetic and Tonal Comparisons,” Zambezia, no. 2 (1980): 109–28. Northern Ndebele and Southern Ndebele (or Transvaal Ndebele), which is spoken in South Africa, are separate but related languages with some degree of
mutual intelligibility In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as ...
, although the former is more closely related to Zulu. Southern Ndebele, while maintaining its Nguni roots, has been influenced by the
Sotho languages Sotho may refer to: * Sotho people (or ''Basotho''), an African ethnic group principally resident in South Africa, Lesotho and southern Botswana *Sotho language (''Sesotho'' or ''Southern Sotho''), a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa, an off ...
.


Phonology


Consonants

Many consonant sounds may result in depressed (or breathy) allophones. Alveolar consonants, ''t'', ''d'', and ''n'', may have dentalized allophones of . Consonants ''k'' and ''h'' can result in allophones of and . Ndebele /t͡ʃ/ generally correspond to Zulu /ʃ/.


Click consonants

In Northern Ndebele, there are fifteen
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. The five clicks spelled with a ''c'' are 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.Shenk, J.R. ''A New Ndebele Grammar'' Some examples are cina (end), cela (ask).NorthernNdebele at blogspot.com The five clicks spelled with a ''q'' are 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 five clicks spelled with a ''x'' are 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).


Vowels

There are five vowel phonemes, written with the letters ''a'', ''e'', ''i'', ''o'', ''u''. * ''a'' is pronounced , approximately like ''a'' in father; e.g. abantwana (children) * ''e'' is pronounced or , sometimes like ''e'' in bed; e.g. emoyeni (in the air) * ''i'' is pronounced , like ''ee'' in see; e.g. siza (help) * ''o'' is pronounced or , sometimes approximately like ''o'' in bone; e.g. okhokho (ancestors) * ''u'' is pronounced , like ''oo'' in soon; e.g. umuntu (person)


Examples

Months in Northern and Southern Ndebele


Grammar

Ndebele grammar is similar to that of Zulu, with some distinct differences. Northern Ndebele is a Nguni language and is to some extent also mutually intelligible with Swati and Xhosa, the predominant language in the Eastern Cape.


Nouns

The Northern Ndebele noun consists of two essential parts, the prefix and the stem. Using the prefixes, nouns can be grouped into noun classes, which are numbered consecutively, to ease comparison with other
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 ...
. The following table gives an overview of Northern Ndebele noun classes, arranged according to singular-plural pairs. 1 umu- replaces um- before monosyllabic stems, e. g. umuntu (person).


Verbs

Verbs are marked with the following prefixes in
agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus, a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of law ** Meeting ...
with the noun class of the subject and the object: While subject-verb agreement is obligatory, object marking is not, and only appears when the object is given in the discourse. The object marker attaches closer to the verb root when it occurs (with the following notations: A - augment vowel; 1 - class 1 nominal prefix, etc; 1s - class 1 subject agreement, etc; FUT - future; 1o - class 1 object marker, etc): There is evidence from Zulu that object markers are an evolution of pronominal clitics to be agreement markers, which might also be the case for Northern Ndebele, given the linguistic similarity between the languages.


See also

* Matabele *
Zulu language Zulu (), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Nata ...
*
Southern Ndebele language Southern Ndebele (), also known as Transvaal Ndebele or South Ndebele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, spoken by the Ndebele people of South Africa. There is also a different language called Nort ...
*
Provinces of Zimbabwe Provinces are constituent political entities of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe currently has ten provinces, two of which are cities with provincial status. Zimbabwe is a unitary state, and its provinces exercise only the powers that the central government ...
*
Matabeleland North Matabeleland North is a province in western Zimbabwe. With a population of 749,017 as of the 2012 census, it is the country's second-least populous province, after Matabeleland South, and is the country's least densely populated province. Matab ...
*
Matabeleland South Matabeleland South is a province in southwestern Zimbabwe. With a population of 683,893 as of the 2012 Zimbabwean census, it is the country's least populous province. After Matabeleland North, it is Zimbabwe's second-least densely populated p ...
*
Bulawayo Bulawayo (, ; Ndebele: ''Bulawayo'') is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, and the largest city in the country's Matabeleland region. The city's population is disputed; the 2022 census listed it at 665,940, while the Bulawayo City Council ...


References


Further reading

* * * *


External links


Northern Ndebele for Beginners

Speak Ndebele


{{Authority control Zulu language Nguni languages Languages of Botswana Languages of Zimbabwe