Nguni languages

Nguni
Geographic distribution:	South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe
Linguistic classification:	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni
Subdivisions:	Zunda Tekela
Glottolog:	ngun1267

The Nguni languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa by the Nguni people. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Swati, Hlubi, Phuthi, Bhaca, Lala, Nhlangwini and the three languages called Ndebele: Southern Transvaal Ndebele, Northern Ndebele and Sumayela Ndebele (the latter sometimes also being referred to as "Northern Ndebele"). The appellation "Nguni" derives from the Nguni cattle type. Ngoni (see below) 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 (referring to a subgrouping of the Bantu languages) is relatively stable.

Classification

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Proportion of the population that speaks an Nguni language at home.

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Density of home-language speakers of Nguni languages.

Column-generating template families

The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using {{col-float}} with {{col-end}} instead of {{col-float-end}} would leave a HTML "div" (division) open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.

Column templates

Type	Family	Handles wiki  table code?	Responsive/ Mobile suited	Start template	Column divider	End template
Float	"Col-float"	Yes	Yes	{{Col-float}}	{{Col-float-break}}	{{Col-float-end}}
	"Columns-start"	Yes	Yes	{{Columns-start}}	{{Column}}	{{Columns-end}}
Columns	"Div col"	Yes	Yes	{{Div col}}	–	{{Div col end}}
	"Columns-list"	No	Yes	{{Columns-list}} (wraps div col)	–	–
Flexbox	"Flex columns"	No	Yes	{{Flex columns}}	–	–
Table	"Col"	Yes	No	{{Col-begin}}, {{Col-begin-fixed}} or {{Col-begin-small}}	{{Col-break}} or {{Col-2}} .. {{Col-5}}	{{Col-end}}

Can template handle the basic wiki markup {| | || |- |} used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as {{(!}}, {{!}}, {{!!}}, {{!-}}, {{!)}})—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.

Within a subset of Southern Bantu, the label "Nguni" is used both genetically (in the linguistic sense) and typologically (quite apart from any historical significance).

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 /z/ and Tekela /t/ (thus the native form of the name Swati and the better-known Zulu form Swazi), 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
• Northern Ndebele (or 'Zimbabwean Ndebele')
• Southern Ndebele

Tekela languages

• Swazi
• Northern Transvaal Ndebele (Sumayela Ndebele)
• Phuthi
• Bhaca
• Hlubi (not the Hlubi dialect of Xhosa)
• Lala
• Nhlangwini

Maho (2009) also lists S401 Old Mfengu†

Comparative data

Compare the following sentences:

English	"I like your new sticks"
Zulu	Ngiyazithanda izinduku zakho ezintsha
Xhosa	Ndi-ya-zi-thanda ii-ntonga z-akho ezin-tsha
Southern Ndebele	Ngi-ya-zi-thanda iin-ntonga z-akho ezi-tjha
Northern Ndebele	Ngi-ya-zi-thanda i-ntonga z-akho ezin-tsha
Hlubi	Ng'ya-zi-thanda iin-duku z-akho ezin-sha
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 ⟨tsh⟩ = Phuthi ⟨tjh⟩ = IPA [tʃʰ]; Phuthi ⟨tsh⟩ = [tsh]; Zulu ⟨sh⟩ = IPA [ʃ], but in the environment cited here /ʃ/ is "nasally permuted" to [tʃ]. Phuthi ⟨jh⟩ = breathy voiced [dʒʱ] = Xhosa, Zulu ⟨j⟩ (in the environment here following the nasal [n]). Zulu, Swazi, Hlubi ⟨ng⟩ = [ŋ].

English	"I understand only a little English"
Zulu	Ngisizwa kancane isingisi
Xhosa	Ndi-qonda ka-ncinci nje isi-Ngesi
Northern/Southern Ndebele	Ngi-zwisisa ka-ncani nje isi-Ngisi
Northern Ndebele	Ngi-zwisisa ka-ncani nje isi-Khiwa
Swazi	Ngi-siva ka-ncane nje si-Ngisi
Mpapa Phuthi	Gi-visisa ka-nci të-jhë Si-kguwa
Sigxodo Phuthi	Gi-visisa ka-ncinci të-jhë Si-kguwa

Note: Phuthi ⟨kg⟩ = IPA [x].

Proto-Nguni

Proto-Nguni is the reconstructed ancestor of the Nguni languages.

Writing System

The sintu writing system, Isibheqe Sohlamvu (also known in Sotho as Ditema tsa Dinoko), for Southern Bantu languages, is used to represent all Nguni languages consistently under one orthography. This includes Tekela languages, which, with the exception of Swati, are unstandardised in the Latin alphabet. For example, it contains a specific grapheme indicating vowel nasality - a feature which only occurs phonemically in Tekela languages:

English	down/below
Zunda	phansi	File:Pʰaːntsʼi.jpg pʰaːntsʼi
Tekela	phãsi	File:Pʰãːsi.jpg pʰãːsi

See also

• Ngoni is the ethnonym and language name of a group living in Malawi, who are a geographically distant descendant of South African Nguni. Ngoni separated from all other Nguni languages subsequent to the massive political and social upheaval within southern Africa, the mfecane, lasting until the 1830s.
• IsiNgqumo is an argot spoken by the homosexuals of South Africa who speak Bantu languages; as opposed to Gayle, the argot spoken by South African homosexuals who speak Germanic languages. IsiNgqumo is based on a Nguni lexicon.

References

Further reading

• Shaw, E. M. and Davison, P. (1973) The Southern Nguni (series: Man in Southern Africa) South African Museum, Cape Town
• Ndlovu, Sambulo. 'Comparative Reconstruction of Proto-Nguni Phonology'