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Zande is the largest of the
Zande languages The Zande languages are half a dozen closely related languages of the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan. The most populous language is Zande proper, with over a million speakers. Languages Per Boyd ...
. It is spoken by the Azande, primarily in the northeast of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
and western
South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of th ...
, but also in the eastern part of the
Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...
. It is called Pazande in the Zande language and Kizande in
Lingala Lingala (Ngala) (Lingala: ''Lingála'') is a Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser degree i ...
. Estimates about the number of speakers vary; in 2001 Koen Impens cited studies that put the number between 700,000 and one million.


Phonology


Consonants

* Alveolar sounds /d, z, ⁿz, s, t, ⁿd/ have allophones as palato-alveolar sounds ͡ʒ, ʒ, ⁿʒ, ʃ, t͡ʃ, ⁿd͡ʒwhen preceding /i/. * The retroflex tap /ɽ/ can be heard as an alveolar trill in free variation.


Vowels


Writing system

Sample text in Zande ''Avunguagudee, oni nangarasa rukutu awironi na gu sosono yo i mangi agu asunge dunduko na ngbarago i afuhe fuyo i mangihe, singia si tii Bambu Kindo yo, watadu ba bakere adunguratise yo?'' Translation Parents, do you encourage your children and teenagers to work cheerfully at any assignment that they are given to do, whether at the Kingdom Hall, at an assembly, or at a convention site? Zande spelling rules were established at the 1928 ''Rejaf Language Conference'' following the principles of the
International African Institute The International African Institute (IAI) was founded (as the International Institute of African Languages and Cultures - IIALC) in 1926 in London for the study of African languages. Frederick Lugard was the first chairman (1926 to his death in 194 ...
. Nasalized vowels are indicated using the tilde : . Consonants with double articulation are represented by digraphs: . In 1959, Archibald Norman Tucker published a Zande alphabet proposed during the Bangenzi Conference of 1941. Nasalized vowels are indicated using the tilde : ã ẽ ĩ ĩ̧ õ ũ ũ̧ r̃. Consonants with double articulation are represented by digraphs or trigraphs : kp gb ny mb nv nd nz ng ngb mgb
SIL International SIL International (formerly known as the Summer Institute of Linguistics) is an evangelical Christian non-profit organization whose main purpose is to study, develop and document languages, especially those that are lesser-known, in order to e ...
published a Zande alphabet in 2014.


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links


PanAfrican L10n page on Zande
Languages of the Central African Republic Languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Languages of South Sudan Zande languages
language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
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