This article is about the Ndebele language spoken in South Africa. For the Ndebele language spoken in Zimbabwe, see Northern Ndebele language. For the Ndebele language spoken in Limpopo Province, South Africa, see Sumayela Ndebele language.
There is also a different language called Northern Ndebele or Northern Transvaal Ndebele also known as isiNdebele seNyakatho or simply siNdebele, spoken in Limpopo in areas such as Polokwane (Bhulungwane), Ga-Rathoka (KaSontronga), Ga-Mashashane, Kalkspruit, Mokopane (Mghumbane), Zebediela (Sebetiela), which is closer to Southern Ndebele.[6]
The Southern Transvaal Ndebele people's history has been traced back to King Ndebele, King Ndebele fathered King Mkhalangana, King Mkhalangana fathered King Mntungwa (not to be confused with the Khumalo Mntungwa, because he was fathered by Mbulazi), King Mntungwa fathered King Jonono, King Jonono fathered King Nanasi, King Nanasi fathered King Mafana, king Mafana fathered King Mhlanga and Chief Libhoko, King Mhlanga fathered King Musi and Chief Skhube.
Ndebele – Some of his sons were left behind with the Hlubi tribe Mkhalangana – Some of his sons branched north and formed the Kalanga tribe Mntungwa – Founder of the amaNtungwa clan Njonono – He died in Jononoskop near Ladysmith – Surname Jonono is in the Hlubi tribe Nanasi – He died in Jononoskop near Ladysmith – Surname Nanasi is in the Hlubi tribe Mafana – He died in Randfontein (Emhlangeni) Mhlanga – He died in Randfontein (Emhlangeni) Musi – He died in kwaMnyamana (Pretoria)
King Musi's kraal was based at eMhlangeni a place named after his father Mhlanga, the name of the place is currently known as Randfontein (Mohlakeng) and later moved to KwaMnyamana which is now called Emarula or Bon Accord in Pretoria. King Musi was a polygamist and fathered the following sons, Skhosana (Masombuka), Manala (Mbuduma), Ndzundza (Hlungwana), Thombeni (Kekana or Gegana), Sibasa, Mhwaduba (Lekhuleni) and Mphafuli and others.
Southern Transvaal Ndebele is one of the eleven official languages in the Republic of South Africa. The language is a Nguni or Zunda classification (UN) spoken mostly in the Mpumalanga Province, Gauteng, Limpopo and the Northwest.
The expression isikhethu can be loosely translated to mean 'the Southern Ndebele way of doing or saying'. Isikhethu means Southern Ndebele in the same way that sikitsi will mean Swazi and se harona will mean Sotho.
The language has been severely marginalised over the years. Until the formation of the apartheid Southern Ndebele homeland (KwaNdebele), speaking the language publicly was discouraged. Most Southern Transvaal Ndebele speakers preferred Zulu especially because the latter was learned at school. Today the Southern Ndebele speakers, mostly those who are educated still prefer to use Southern Ndebele as home language for their children and will use Southern Ndebele as a language to communicate with other Southern Ndebele speakers.
The Southern 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 following table gives an overview of Southern Ndebele noun classes, arranged according to singular-plural pairs.
Class
Singular
Plural
1/2
um(u)-1
aba-, abe-
1a/2a
u-
abo-
3/4
um(u)-1
imi-
5/6
i-, ili-, ilu-
ama-
7/8
is(i)-
iz(i)-, iiN-
9/10
iN-
iiN-
14
ubu-, ub-, utj-
15
uku-
17
uku-
1umu- replaces um- before monosyllabic stems, e. g. umuntu (person).
Verbs
Verbs use the following affixes for the subject and the object:
Zimbabwean Ndebele is part of the Nguni cluster and is therefore very similar to other Nguni languages (such as Zulu, Xhosa and Swati) with which it shares a high level of mutual intelligibility. The South African (or Southern Transvaal Ndebele), while maintaining its Nguni roots, has been influenced by the Sotho languages.[7]
References
^ abNdebele at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development." Impact: Studies in language and society, 14:78
^"Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: nbl". ISO 639-2 Registration Authority - Library of Congress. Retrieved 4 July 2017. Name: South Ndebele
^"Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: nbl". ISO 639-3 Registration Authority - SIL International. Retrieved 4 July 2017. Name: South Ndebele
^Skhosana, Philemon (2010). "The (ama)Ndebele of Africa and their name '(ama)Ndebele'". University of Pretoria – Department of Library Services. University of Pretoria. hdl:2263/17089. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
^ abSkhosana, P.B. (2010) The Linguistic Relationship between Southern and Northern Ndebele, University of Pretoria, DLitt Thesis
External links
Southern Ndebele language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator
List links to Ndebele language resources
Software
, , , and in Ndebele
Project to translate Free and Open Source Software into Ndebele
January 15, 2023
southern, ndebele, language, this, article, about, ndebele, language, spoken, south, africa, ndebele, language, spoken, zimbabwe, northern, ndebele, language, ndebele, language, spoken, limpopo, province, south, africa, sumayela, ndebele, language, southern, n. This article is about the Ndebele language spoken in South Africa For the Ndebele language spoken in Zimbabwe see Northern Ndebele language For the Ndebele language spoken in Limpopo Province South Africa see Sumayela Ndebele language Southern Ndebele English ɛ n d e ˈ b iː l iː also known as Transvaal Ndebele 1 or South Ndebele 4 5 is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages spoken by the Ndebele people of South Africa Southern NdebeleTransvaal NdebeleisiNdebele seSewulaNative toSouth AfricaRegionMpumalanga Limpopo Gauteng North WestNative speakers1 1 million 2011 census 1 1 4 million L2 speakers 2002 2 Language familyNiger Congo Atlantic CongoVolta CongoBenue CongoBantoidSouthern BantoidBantuSouthern BantuNguniZundaSouthern NdebeleWriting systemLatin Ndebele alphabet Ndebele BrailleSigned formsSigned NdebeleOfficial statusOfficial language in South AfricaLanguage codesISO 639 1 span class plainlinks nr span South NdebeleISO 639 2 span class plainlinks nbl span South NdebeleISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code nbl class extiw title iso639 3 nbl nbl a South NdebeleGlottologsout2808Guthrie codeS 407 3 Linguasphere99 AUT fi 99 AUT fjThis article contains IPA phonetic symbols Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols instead of Unicode characters For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA Geographical distribution of isiNdebele in South Africa proportion of the population that speaks isiNdebele at home 0 20 20 40 40 60 60 80 80 100 Geographical distribution of isiNdebele in South Africa density of isiNdebele home language speakers lt 1 km 1 3 km 3 10 km 10 30 km 30 100 km 100 300 km 300 1000 km 1000 3000 km gt 3000 km Bilingual sign in Afrikaans and Transvaal Ndebele at the Pretoria Art Museum There is also a different language called Northern Ndebele or Northern Transvaal Ndebele also known as isiNdebele seNyakatho or simply siNdebele spoken in Limpopo in areas such as Polokwane Bhulungwane Ga Rathoka KaSontronga Ga Mashashane Kalkspruit Mokopane Mghumbane Zebediela Sebetiela which is closer to Southern Ndebele 6 Contents 1 Overview 2 Phonology 2 1 Vowels 2 2 Consonants 2 3 Click consonants 3 Grammar 3 1 Nouns 3 2 Verbs 4 Examples 5 AmaNdebele in Zimbabwe 6 References 7 External links 7 1 SoftwareOverview EditThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed September 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Southern Transvaal Ndebele people s history has been traced back to King Ndebele King Ndebele fathered King Mkhalangana King Mkhalangana fathered King Mntungwa not to be confused with the Khumalo Mntungwa because he was fathered by Mbulazi King Mntungwa fathered King Jonono King Jonono fathered King Nanasi King Nanasi fathered King Mafana king Mafana fathered King Mhlanga and Chief Libhoko King Mhlanga fathered King Musi and Chief Skhube Ndebele Some of his sons were left behind with the Hlubi tribe Mkhalangana Some of his sons branched north and formed the Kalanga tribe Mntungwa Founder of the amaNtungwa clan Njonono He died in Jononoskop near Ladysmith Surname Jonono is in the Hlubi tribe Nanasi He died in Jononoskop near Ladysmith Surname Nanasi is in the Hlubi tribe Mafana He died in Randfontein Emhlangeni Mhlanga He died in Randfontein Emhlangeni Musi He died in kwaMnyamana Pretoria King Musi s kraal was based at eMhlangeni a place named after his father Mhlanga the name of the place is currently known as Randfontein Mohlakeng and later moved to KwaMnyamana which is now called Emarula or Bon Accord in Pretoria King Musi was a polygamist and fathered the following sons Skhosana Masombuka Manala Mbuduma Ndzundza Hlungwana Thombeni Kekana or Gegana Sibasa Mhwaduba Lekhuleni and Mphafuli and others Southern Transvaal Ndebele is one of the eleven official languages in the Republic of South Africa The language is a Nguni or Zunda classification UN spoken mostly in the Mpumalanga Province Gauteng Limpopo and the Northwest The expression isikhethu can be loosely translated to mean the Southern Ndebele way of doing or saying Isikhethu means Southern Ndebele in the same way that sikitsi will mean Swazi and se harona will mean Sotho The language has been severely marginalised over the years Until the formation of the apartheid Southern Ndebele homeland KwaNdebele speaking the language publicly was discouraged Most Southern Transvaal Ndebele speakers preferred Zulu especially because the latter was learned at school Today the Southern Ndebele speakers mostly those who are educated still prefer to use Southern Ndebele as home language for their children and will use Southern Ndebele as a language to communicate with other Southern Ndebele speakers Phonology EditVowels Edit Southern Ndebele vowels Front BackClose i i u u Mid e e ɛ o o ɔ Open a a Consonants Edit Southern Ndebele consonants Labial Alveolar Post alv Palatal Velar Glottalcentral lateralPlosive ejective p pʼ t tʼ k kʼ aspirated ph pʰ th tʰ kh kʰ devoiced bh b d d ɡ ɡ prenasal mp ᵐp nt ⁿt nk ᵑk prenasal vd mb ᵐb nd ⁿd ng ᵑɡ implosive b ɓ Affricate ejective ts tsʼ tl tɬʼ tj tʃʼ kg kxʼ aspirated tsh tsʰ tlh tɬʰ tjh tʃʰ kgh kxʰ plain dz dz devoiced j d ʒ prenasal nj ᶮdʒ Fricative plain f f s s hl ɬ rh x voiced v v z z dl ɮ h ɦ prenasal mf ᶬf prenasal vd mv ᶬv aspirated dlh ɮʰ Nasal m m n n ny ɲ ngh ŋ Liquid r r l l Semivowel w w y j Consonant sounds nt nd k mf and mv often result in allophones of d r dr k ɱp fʼ ɱb v 7 Click consonants Edit Southern Ndebele clicks Dental Post alveolar Lateralvoiceless plain c ᵏǀ q ᵏ x ᵏǁ aspirated ch ᵏǀʰ qh ᵏ ʰ voiced plain gc ᶢǀ gq ᶢ nasalized nc ᵑǀ nq ᵑ nx ᵑǁ Grammar EditNouns Edit The Southern 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 following table gives an overview of Southern Ndebele noun classes arranged according to singular plural pairs Class Singular Plural1 2 um u 1 aba abe 1a 2a u abo 3 4 um u 1 imi 5 6 i ili ilu ama 7 8 is i iz i iiN 9 10 iN iiN 14 ubu ub utj 15 uku 17 uku 1 umu replaces um before monosyllabic stems e g umuntu person Verbs Edit Verbs use the following affixes for the subject and the object Person Class Prefix Infix1st sing ngi ngi 2nd sing u wu 1st plur si si 2nd plur ni ni 1 u m u 2 ba ba 3 u m u 4 i yi 5 li li 6 a wa 7 si si 8 zi zi 9 i yi 10 zi zi 14 bu bu 15 ku ku 17 ku ku reflexive zi Examples EditMonths in Southern Ndebele English Northern Ndebele Zimbabwe Southern Ndebele South Africa Zulu South Africa January uZibandlela uTjhirhweni uMasinganeFebruary uNhlolanja uMhlolanja uNhlolanjaMarch uMbimbitho uNtaka uNdasaApril uMabasa uSihlabantangana UMbasaMay uNkwekwezi uMrhayili UNhlabaJune uNhlangula uMgwengweni UNhlangulanaJuly uNtulikazi uVelabahlinze uNtulikaziAugust uNcwabakazi uRhoboyi UNcwabaSeptember uMpandula uKhukhulamungu uManduloOctober uMfumfu uSewula uMfumfuNovember uLwezi uSinyikhaba uLweziDecember uMpalakazi uNobayeni uZibandlelaAmaNdebele in Zimbabwe EditZimbabwean Ndebele is part of the Nguni cluster and is therefore very similar to other Nguni languages such as Zulu Xhosa and Swati with which it shares a high level of mutual intelligibility The South African or Southern Transvaal Ndebele while maintaining its Nguni roots has been influenced by the Sotho languages 7 References Edit a b Ndebele at Ethnologue 18th ed 2015 subscription required Webb Vic 2002 Language in South Africa the role of language in national transformation reconstruction and development Impact Studies in language and society 14 78 Jouni Filip Maho 2009 New Updated Guthrie List Online Documentation for ISO 639 identifier nbl ISO 639 2 Registration Authority Library of Congress Retrieved 4 July 2017 Name South Ndebele Documentation for ISO 639 identifier nbl ISO 639 3 Registration Authority SIL International Retrieved 4 July 2017 Name South Ndebele Skhosana Philemon 2010 The ama Ndebele of Africa and their name ama Ndebele University of Pretoria Department of Library Services University of Pretoria hdl 2263 17089 Retrieved 24 March 2016 a b Skhosana P B 2010 The Linguistic Relationship between Southern and Northern Ndebele University of Pretoria DLitt ThesisExternal links Edit Southern Ndebele language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator List links to Ndebele language resourcesSoftware Edit Spell checker for OpenOffice org and Mozilla OpenOffice org Mozilla Firefox web browser and Mozilla Thunderbird email program in Ndebele Project to translate Free and Open Source Software into Ndebele Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Southern Ndebele language amp oldid 1110855910, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
