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Nguni Languages
The Nguni languages are a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa by the Nguni peoples. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele (sometimes referred to as "Northern Ndebele"), and Swazi. The appellation "Nguni" derives from the Nguni cattle type. ''Ngoni'' (see below) is an older, or a shifted, variant. It is sometimes argued that the use of ''Nguni'' as a generic label suggests a historical monolithic unity of the people in question, where in fact the situation may have been more complex. The linguistic use of the label (referring to a subgrouping of Bantu) is relatively stable. From an English editorial perspective, the articles "a" and "an" are both used with "Nguni", but "a Nguni" is more frequent and arguably more correct if "Nguni" is pronounced as it is suggested. Classification Within a subset of Southern Bantu, the label "Nguni" is used both genetically (in the linguistic sense) and typologically (quite apart from any historical sign ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number of river systems; the Zambezi River being the most prominent. The Zambezi flows from the northwest corner of Zambia and western Angola to the Indian Ocean on the coast of Mozambique. Along the way, the Zambezi River flows over the mighty Victoria Falls on the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world and a major tourist attraction for the region. Southern Africa includes both subtropical and temperate climates, with the Tropic of Capricorn running through the middle of the region, dividing it into its subtropical and temperate halves. Countries commonly included in Southern Africa include Angola, Botswana, the Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namib ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linguistic Typology
Linguistic typology (or language typology) is a field of linguistics that studies and classifies languages according to their structural features to allow their comparison. Its aim is to describe and explain the structural diversity and the common properties of the world's languages. Its subdisciplines include, but are not limited to phonological typology, which deals with sound features; syntactic typology, which deals with word order and form; lexical typology, which deals with language vocabulary; and theoretical typology, which aims to explain the universal tendencies. Linguistic typology is contrasted with genealogical linguistics on the grounds that typology groups languages or their grammatical features based on formal similarities rather than historic descendence. The issue of genealogical relation is however relevant to typology because modern data sets aim to be representative and unbiased. Samples are collected evenly from different language families, emphasizing t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Augment (Bantu Languages)
The augment, also called the pre-prefix or just initial vowel, is a morpheme that is prefixed to the noun class prefix of nouns in certain Bantu languages. Shape The augment originates in the Proto-Bantu pronominal prefix, which is usually identical to the subject prefix of verbs. In some contemporary languages, such as Masaba, this shape has remained more or less unaltered. In others, the augment has been reduced to a simple vowel, often the vowel of the following noun class prefix (e.g. in Zulu ''umu-'', ''ama-''), or a lowered variety (Luganda ''omu-''). Where the noun class prefix normally has a low tone, the augment has a high tone. The following table gives an overview of the shape of the augment in various languages:The Bantu languages, edited by Derek Nurse & Gérard Philippson, section 7.4 The Tekela Nguni languages have the augment only in some noun classes, but with a relatively predictable distribution:The Bantu languages, edited by Derek Nurse & Gérard Philippson, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sotho Language
Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free State), where it is one of the 11 official languages; and in Zimbabwe where it is one of 16 official languages. Like all Bantu languages, Sesotho is an agglutinative language, which uses numerous affixes and derivational and inflexional rules to build complete words. Classification Sotho is a Southern Bantu language, belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30). Although Southern Sotho shares the name ''Sotho'' with Northern Sotho, the two groups have less in common with each other than they have with Setswana. "Sotho" is also the name given to the entire Sotho-Tswana group, in which case Sesotho proper is called "Southern Sotho". Within the Sotho-Tswana group, Southern Sotho is most ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proto-Bantu
Proto-Bantu is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Bantu languages, a subgroup of the Southern Bantoid languages. It is thought to have originally been spoken in West/Central Africa in the area of what is now Cameroon.Dimmendaal, Gerrit J. (2011). ''Historical Linguistics and the Comparative Study of African Languages'', pp. 337ff. About 5,000 years ago, it split off from Proto-Southern Bantoid when the Bantu expansion began to the south and east. Two theories have been put forward about the way the languages expanded: one is that the Bantu-speaking people moved first to the Congo region and then a branch split off and moved to East Africa; the other (more likely) is that the two groups split from the beginning, one moving to the Congo region, and the other to East Africa. Like other proto-languages, there is no record of Proto-Bantu. Its words and pronunciation have been reconstructed by linguists. From the common vocabulary which has been reconstructed on the basis of pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Mfengu Language
The ''amaMfengu'' (in the Xhosa language ''Mfengu'', plural ''amafengu'') was a reference of Xhosa clans whose ancestors were refugees that fled from the Mfecane in the early 19th century to seek land and protection from the Xhosa and have since been assimilated into the Xhosa cultural way of life, becoming part of the Xhosa people. The term derives from the Xhosa verb "ukumfenguza" which means to wander about seeking service. They were previously known as the ''Fingo'', and they gave their name to the district of Fingoland, the southwestern portion of Transkei, in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. History Formation and early history The name ''amaMfengu'' translates as "wanderers" and the Mfengu people – like the Bhaca, Bhele, Hlubi and Dlamini peoples – was formed from the tribes that were broken up and dispersed by Shaka and his Zulu armies in the Mfecane wars. Most of them fled westwards and settled amongst the Xhosa. After some years of oppression by the Gcaleka Xhos ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nhlangwini Language
Nhlangwini (Hlangwane) is a Bantu language of South Africa. It is located along the border between Xhosa and Zulu, but is more closely related to Swazi Swazi may refer to: * Swazi people, a people of southeastern Africa * Swazi language * Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked coun .... Nhlangwini People (Ethic Group) Nhlangwini people are a small nguni ethnic group found in KZN South Coast, Ixopo,uMzimkhulu and in parts of the Eastern Cape areas such as Matatiele (kwaMzongwana) Tsolo,Tsomo, Ngqamakhwe and Keiskammahoek (kuQoboqobo) The Language derived from an animal called Reedbuck (INhlangu -Zulu/iNtlangu-Xhosa) The chief Nombewu a father of a prominent chief, inkosi uFodo of Nhlangwini clan in eGugwini, east of uMzimkhulu was a hunter with his son Fodo. It is said that the skin of inhlangu cannot be pierced by a spear. All that the hunters did when tryi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lala Language (South Africa)
Lala is a Bantu language of South Africa, claimed to be extinct in some sources. As of 1999, however, there were still a number of communities of speakers in the coastal regions of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Although it is a Tekela Nguni language, for sociological reasons it is often considered a dialect of Zulu (a Zunda Nguni language), whereas it differs quite markedly in phonology and to a degree in morphology, and with a large portion of its lexicon derived from Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ... (because of Xhosa-medium schooling in the old Natal South Coast) and the ''IsiZansi'' Tekela variety of the lower South Coast. References Languages of South Africa Nguni languages Endangered Niger–Congo languages {{Bantu-la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hlubi Language
Hlubi is a minor Bantu language of South Africa, traditionally considered a dialect of Swazi language, Swazi. It is spoken in South Africa, near where the Xhosa language, Xhosa, Sotho language, Sotho, and Phuthi language, Phuthi languages meet at the Orange River and the southern point of Lesotho. The scattered Hlubi people speak several languages, including Swazi language, Swazi, and the Hlubi dialect of Xhosa in the former Bantustan of Ciskei. References [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bhaca Language
Bhaca, or IsiBhaca (Baca) is a Bantu language of South Africa. Traditionally considered a dialect of Swati, it is closer to Zulu, Phuthi and Xhosa. It is spoken southeast of Lesotho, where Sotho, Xhosa and Zulu meet, mainly around Mount Frere, Mzimkhulu, and to a lesser extent in Mount Ayliff, Matatiele, Harding, Bulwer, Underberg, Highflats, Umzinto, Umzumbe and Ixopo Ixopo is a town situated on a tributary of the Mkhomazi River along the R56 highway in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Background Ixopo was formerly known as Stuartstown, was laid out in 1878 and named after M Stuart, Resident Magi .... Vocabulary Months in IsiBhaca: Example: Bendicela undithsengele amaqandza nentusi na ukhamba. Translation hosa/Zulu/English Bendicela undithengele amaqanda nobisi xa uhamba/Bengicela ungithengela amaqanda nobisi ma uhamba/Please buy me eggs and milk when you go out References {{Narrow Bantu languages, N-S Nguni languages ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phuthi Language
Phuthi (''Síphùthì'') is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border. The closest substantial living relative of Phuthi is Swati (or ''Siswati''), spoken in Eswatini and the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Although there is no contemporary sociocultural or political contact, Phuthi is linguistically part of a historic dialect continuum with Swati. Phuthi is heavily influenced by the surrounding Sesotho and Xhosa languages, but retains a distinct core of lexicon and grammar not found in either Xhosa or Sesotho, and found only partly in Swati to the north. The documentary origins of Phuthi can be traced to Bourquin (1927), but in other oblique references more than 100 years from the present (Ellenberger 1912). Until recently, the language has been very poorly documented with respect to its linguistic properties. The only significant earlier study (but with very uneven data, and limited coherent linguistic assump ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sumayela Ndebele Language
Sumayela Ndebele, Northern Transvaal Ndebele or siNdebele is a Bantu language of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri .... It is spoken northeast of Southern Ndebele. References Languages of South Africa Nguni languages {{Bantu-lang-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
