Northern Ndebele language

Northern Ndebele (), also called Ndebele, isiNdebele saseNyakatho, Zimbabwean Ndebele, isiNdebele or North Ndebele, associated with the term Matabele, is a Nguni language spoken by the Northern Ndebele people which belongs to the Nguni group of languages.

Ndebele is a term used to refer to a collection of many different African cultures in Zimbabwe. As a language, it is by no means similar to the Ndebele language spoken in kwaNdebele in South Africa 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 and are an of-shoot of the Zulu tribe. The Matebele people of Zimbabwe descend from the Zulu due to a Zulu leader Mzilikazi (one of Zulu King Shaka's generals), who left the Zulu Kingdom in the early 19th century, during the Mfecane, 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.Langa Khumalo, “Language Contact and Lexical Change: A Lexicographical Terminographical Interface in Zimbabwean Ndebele,” Lexikos 14, no. 108 (2004). To prominent Nguni linguists like Anthony Trevor Cope 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 objective linguistic criteria but on more subjective, often politicised considerations.Anthony Cope, “A Consolidated Classification of the Bantu Languages,” African Studies 30, nos. 3–4 1971): 213–36.Nyembezi, C.L.S., 1957. Learn Zulu, Cape Town: Shuter & SHooterD.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, although the former is more closely related to Zulu. Southern Ndebele, while maintaining its Nguni roots, has been influenced by the Sotho languages.

Phonology

Consonants

+Northern Ndebele consonants Bilabial Labio-dental Dental/alveolar Post-alveolar/PalatalVelar GlottalcentrallateralNasalplain depressed Plosive ejective voiced aspirated prenasalized prenasalized (vd.) Affricateejective aspirated voiced prenasalized ejective prenasalized voiced Fricative plain voiced (depr.) ( )( )voiced (non-depr.) ( )prenasalized prenasalized (vd.) Sonorantplain depressed

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 +Northern Ndebele clicksDenti-alveolarPost-alveolarcentrallateralClicktenuis aspirated depressed nasalized nasalized (depr.) In Northern Ndebele, there are fifteen click consonants.

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 English Northern Ndebele (Zimbabwe) Southern Ndebele (South Africa) Zulu (South Africa) January uZibandlela uTjhirhweni uMasingane February uNhlolanja uMhlolanja uNhlolanja March uMbimbitho uNtaka uNdasa April uMabasa uSihlabantangana UMbasa May uNkwenkwezi uMrhayili UNhlaba June uNhlangula uMgwengweni UNhlangulana July uNtulikazi uVelabahlinze uNtulikazi August uNcwabakazi uRhoboyi UNcwaba September uMpandula uKhukhulamungu uMandulo October uMfumfu uSewula uMfumfu November uLwezi uSinyikhaba uLwezi December uMpalakazi uNobayeni uZibandlela

Numbers in Northern Ndebele +English Northern NdebeleOneKunyeTwo KubiliThree Kuthathu FourKuneFiveKuhlanu SixIsithuphaSevenIsikhombisa Eight SitshiyagalombiliNineSitshiyagalolunyeTen KulitshumiFiftyAmatshumi amahlanuOne hundredIkhuluOne thousand Inkulungwane

Days of the week +English Northern NdebeleMondayuMvuloTuesdayOlwesibiliWednesdayOlwesithathuThursdayOlwesineFridayOlwesihlanuSaturday uMgqibeloSundayiNsonto

Grammar 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 following table gives an overview of Northern Ndebele noun classes, arranged according to singular-plural pairs.

ClassSingularPlural1/2um(u)-1aba-, abe-1a/2au-o-3/4um(u)-1imi-5/6i-, ili-ama-7/8is(i)-iz(i)-9/10iN-iziN-11/10u-, ulu-14ubu-, ub-, utsh-15uku-17uku-

1 umu- replaces um- before monosyllabic stems, e. g. umuntu (person).

Verbs

Verbs are marked with the following prefixes in agreement with the noun class of the subject and the object:

Person/Class Subject marker Object marker 1st sing. ngi- -ngi- 2nd sing. u- -wu- 1st plur. si- -si- 2nd plur. li- -li- 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- 11 lu- -lu- 14 bu- -bu- 15 ku- -ku- 17 ku- -ku- reflexive -zi- 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.

Northern Ndebele language

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