Nguni languages
The Nguni languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa by the Nguni peoples. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, Swati, Hlubi, Phuthi, Bhaca, Lala, Nhlangwini, Southern Transvaal Ndebele, and Sumayela Ndebele. The appellation "Nguni" derives from the Nguni cattle type. Ngoni is an older, or a shifted, variant.
It is sometimes argued that use of Nguni as a generic label suggests a historical monolithic unity of the peoples in question, where in fact the situation may have been more complex. The linguistic use of the label is relatively stable.
Classification
Within a subset of Southern Bantu, the label "Nguni" is used both genetically and typologically.The Nguni languages are closely related, and in many instances different languages are mutually intelligible; in this way, Nguni languages might better be construed as a dialect continuum than as a cluster of separate languages. On more than one occasion, proposals have been put forward to create a unified Nguni language.
In scholarly literature on southern African languages, the linguistic classificatory category "Nguni" is traditionally considered to subsume two subgroups: "Zunda Nguni" and "Tekela Nguni." This division is based principally on the salient phonological distinction between corresponding coronal consonants: Zunda and Tekela , but there is a host of additional linguistic variables that enables a relatively straightforward division into these two substreams of Nguni.
Zunda languages
- Zulu
- Xhosa
- Ndebele
- Southern Ndebele
Tekela languages
- Swazi
- Northern Transvaal Ndebele
- Phuthi
- Bhaca
- Hlubi
- Lala
- Nhlangwini
Characteristics
The following aspects of Nguni languages are typical:- A 5-vowel system, by merging the near-close and close series of Proto-Bantu.
- Spreading of high tones to the antepenultimate syllable.
- A distinction between high and low tones on noun prefixes, indicating different grammatical roles, accompanied in some cases by an overt pre-prefix called the augment.
- Development of breathy-voiced consonants, acting as depressor consonants.
- Development of aspirated consonants.
- Development of click consonants.
Comparative data
| English | "I like your new sticks" |
| Zulu | Ngi-ya-zi-thanda izi-nduku z-akho ezin-tsha |
| Xhosa | Ndi-ya-zi-thanda ii-ntonga z-akho ezin-tsha |
| Northern Ndebele | Ngi-ya-zi-thanda i-ntonga z-akho ezin-tsha |
| Southern Ndebele | Ngi-ya-zi-thanda iin-ntonga z-akho ezi-tjha |
| Bhaca | Ndi-ya-ti-thsandza ii-ntfonga t-akho etin-tsha |
| Hlubi | Ng'ya-zi-thanda iin-duku z-akho ezintsha |
| Swazi | Ngi-ya-ti-tsandza ti-ntfonga t-akho letin-sha |
| Mpapa Phuthi | Gi-ya-ti-tshadza ti-tfoga t-akho leti-tjha |
| Sigxodo Phuthi | Gi-ya-ti-tshadza ti-tshoga t-akho leti-tjha |
Note: Xhosa = Phuthi = IPA ; Phuthi = ; Zulu = IPA, but in the environment cited here is "nasally permuted" to. Phuthi = breathy voiced = Xhosa, Zulu . Zulu, Swazi, Hlubi =.
| English | "I understand only a little English" |
| Zulu | Ngisi-zwa ka-ncane isi-Ngisi |
| Xhosa | Ndisi-qonda ka-ncinci nje isi-Ngesi |
| Northern Ndebele | Ngisi-zwisisa ka-ncane isiKhiwa |
| Southern Ndebele | Ngisi-zwisisa ka-ncani nje isi-Ngisi |
| Hlubi | Ng'si-visisisa ka-ncani nje isi-Ngisi |
| Swazi | Ngisiva ka-ncane nje si-Ngisi |
| Mpapa Phuthi | Gisi-visisa ka-nci të-jhë Si-kguwa |
| Sigxodo Phuthi | Gisi-visisa ka-ncinci të-jhë Si-kguwa |
Note: Phuthi = IPA.