North Ndebele
| North Ndebele | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Spoken in |
Republic of South Africa , Zimbabwe and Botswana | |
| speaker | 4 million | |
| Linguistic classification |
||
| Official status | ||
| Official language in |
 Zimbabwe
|
|
| Recognized minority / regional language in |
 Botswana Namibia
|
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639 -1 |
nd |
|
| ISO 639 -2 |
nd |
|
| ISO 639-3 | ||
North Ndebele (own name: isiNdebele ) is the second main language in Zimbabwe next to Shona , spoken by the approximately two million amaNdebele mainly in Matabeleland . It is one of the 16 official languages of Zimbabwe.
In north-east Botswana and in the Caprivi Strip , around 100,000 speakers of this language are estimated. It belongs to the Nguni languages . The South Ndebele spoken in South Africa , also called isiNdebele , is more closely related to the Sotho Tswana languages . The Venda of North Sotho lie between the two language areas .
Synonyms
Ndebele, isiNdebele, Sindebele, Tabele, Tebele
classification
- Language family: Bantu
- Group: Southeastern Bantu (also Ntu)
- Subgroup: Nguni (Zunda)
- SIL code: NDF
- ISO 639-1: nd
- ISO 639-2: nde
History of the amaNdebele
In the early 19th century, the amaNdebele separated from the Zulu and initially moved westwards to the area of today's Pretoria , where the name Ndebele came up as a foreign name from neighboring peoples. Part of the Ndebele stayed there. In their language elements of the Nguni and Sotho-Tswana languages combined. The greater part moved on to what is now Zimbabwe and subjugated the Shona resident there . The language of the Zimbabwean Ndebele contains hardly any elements of the Sotho-Tswana languages.
Linguistic peculiarity
Most African languages know either R or L; isiNdebele is a language with L. Some words that are spoken with R in other Bantu languages have an L in Ndebele and are otherwise similar. In addition, Ndebele is characterized by clicking sounds .
Pronunciation of the letters
- a as in evening
- b as in German, but a little softer towards the W
- Bra harder and more pronounced than in German
- c tooth click (see below)
- d similar to German, a little more on the front teeth
- dl a fused sound that is spoken very softly, almost like GL
- e as in weather, depending on the emphasis on longer
- f as in German
- g soft and lightly rubbed towards R.
- hh similar to the English W (world), only softer
- hl like the Welsh LL, i.e. a heavily curled L shifted to the J
- i as in German
- j as in English (job)
- k as in G in German
- kh as in K in German
- l somewhat rounder than in German, similar to Dutch or English
- m, n, ng as in German
- ny like nj (Anja)
- o open O (hole), also longer than in German
- p as in French (with less H and a little softer)
- ph as in P in German (with more H and sharper)
- q palate click (see below)
- s spicy S (water)
- t as in French (with less H and a little softer)
- th as in German (with more H and sharper)
- tlh T with HL (see above)
- tj a TSCH spoken with little air (but no DSCH)
- tjh a TSCH spoken with more blown air
- tsh like a TSCH spoken with a lot of expelled air
- ts like the German Z, spoken very sharply
- u closed, medium-short U (curve)
- v like the German W (wave)
- w like the English W (water)
- x side click (see below)
- y like the German J
- z voiced S (sing)
Pronunciation of clicks
- c Tooth click
- Press the tip of the tongue against the front teeth, then pull it back quickly while removing the back of the tongue from the soft palate. The tooth click is comparable to the sound you make when you suck something out of your teeth, or to a friendly, reproachful ts-ts-ts.
- q Palate click
- Press the tip of the tongue against the front roof of the mouth, then continue as when clicking the tooth. The sound is similar to when you try to imitate a pulled cork.
-
x side click
- Place the tip of your tongue on the hard palate, as if you were trying to pronounce an N. Press one side of the tongue against the side of the jaw. Then, without removing the tip of the tongue from the roof of the mouth, sharply separate the side of the tongue from the jaw. The resulting tone is different from the two previous ones, it is sometimes made regretfully with us, or when encouraging.
literature
- Wilkes, A. 2001: Mashada Nemithetho Yekugwala Kwesindebele Sasenyakatho / Northern Ndebele Orthography and Spelling Rules.
- Text example: Kalibusiswe Ilizwe leZimbabwe , the Zimbabwean national anthem on Ndebele
Individual evidence
- ^ Constitution of Zimbabwe at constituteproject.org (English; PDF), accessed on October 15, 2016