Zulu language
| Zulu | |
|---|---|
| isiZulu | |
| Native to | South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi, Mozambique |
| Region | Zululand, Durban, Johannesburg |
Native speakers | First language - 9,563,422
Second language - 15,700,000 Total - 25,263,422 |
| Official status | |
Official language in | South Africa and Swaziland |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | zu |
| ISO 639-2 | zul |
| ISO 639-3 | zul |
Zulu (called isiZulu in Zulu) is a language originating in South Africa. It is spoken by 10 million worldwide, plus 16 million as a second language. It is also spoken in Lesotho, Swaziland, Malawi and Mozambique.
It is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority (over 95%) of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population) as well as being understood by over 50% of the population (Ethnologue 2005). It became one of South Africa's 11 official languages in 1994 at the end of apartheid.
Geographical distribution
Zulu belongs to the South-Eastern group of Bantu languages (the Nguni group).
The language is widely spoken in KwaZulu-Natal (81% of the province's population are Zulu first language speakers), Mpumalanga (26%) and Gauteng (21%). It is also spoken in some other African countries, with significant Zulu-speaking populations in Lesotho and Swaziland, Ndebele, spoken in Zimbabwe, Swazi and the Nguni language formerly spoken in Malawi are all closely related to Zulu and developed from nineteenth century Zulu migrant populations. Xhosa, the predominant language in the Eastern Cape, and Zulu are also mutually intelligible.
History
The Zulu presence in South Africa dates from about the fourteenth century AD. Much like the Xhosa who had moved into South Africa during earlier waves of the Bantu migrations, the Zulu assimilated many sounds from the San and Khoi languages of the country's earliest inhabitants. This has resulted in the preservation of click consonants in Zulu and Xhosa, (the sounds are unique to Southern Africa except for the Australian Aborigine Damin ceremonial language) despite the extinction of many San and Khoi languages.
Zulu, like all indigenous Southern African languages, was an oral language until contact with missionaries from Europe, who documented the language using the Latin alphabet. The first written document in Zulu was a Bible translation that appeared in 1883. In 1901, John Dube (1871-1946), a Zulu from Natal, created the Ohlange Institute, the first native educational institution in South Africa. He was also the author of Insila kaShaka, the first novel written in isiZulu (1933). Another pioneering Zulu writer was Reginald Dhlomo, author of several historical novels of the 19th-century leaders of the Zulu nation: : U-Dingane (1936), U-Shaka (1937), U-Mpande (1938), U-Cetshwayo (1952) and U-Dinizulu (1968). Other notable contributors to Zulu literature include Benedict Wallet Vilakazi and, more recently, Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali.
The written form of Zulu is controlled by the Zulu Language Board of KwaZulu-Natal.
Contemporary usage
English, Dutch and later Afrikaans, had been the only official languages used by all South African governments before 1994. However in the Kwazulu bantustan the Zulu language was widely used. All education in the country at the high-school level was in English or Afrikaans. Since the demise of apartheid in 1994, Zulu has been enjoying a marked revival. Zulu-language television was introduced by the SABC in the early 1980s and it still broadcasts shows in Zulu. Zulu radio is very popular and newspapers such as isoLezwe in the Zulu language are available, mainly available in Kwazulu-Natal province and in Johannesburg. Recently, the first full length feature film in Zulu (Yesterday) was nominated for an Oscar.
South African matriculation requirements no longer specify which South African language needs to be taken as a second language, and some people have made the switch to learning Zulu. However people taking Zulu at high-school level overwhelmingly take it as first language: according to recent statistics [1] Afrikaans is still over 30 times more popular than Zulu as a second language. The mutual intelligibility of many Nguni languages, has increased the likelihood of Zulu becoming the lingua franca of the Eastern half of the country although the political dominance of Xhosa-speaking people on national level mitigates against this really happening. (The predominant language in the Western Cape and Northern Cape is Afrikaans - see the map below.)
Phonology
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One of the most distinctive features of Zulu is the use of click consonants. This feature is shared with several other languages of Southern Africa, but is almost entirely confined to this region. There are three basic clicks in Zulu:
- c - dental (comparable to a sucking of teeth)
- q - alveolar (comparable to a bottle top 'pop')
- x - lateral (comparable to a click one may do for a horse)
These can have several variants such as being voiced, aspirated or nasalised so that there are a total of about 15 different click sounds in Zulu. The same sounds occur in Xhosa, where they are used more frequently than in Zulu.
Vowels
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (Written) | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [i] | [ˈsiːza] | -siza | "help" | This vowel is pronounced somewhat like ease in English. |
| [u] | [uˈmuːzi] | umuzi | "village" | Somewhat like English vowel in the word loom. |
| [e] | [umgiˈɓeːli] | umgibeli | "passenger" | e is e when the following syllable contains an "i" or a "u", or final |
| [ɛ] | [ˈpʰɛːɠa] | -pheka | "cook" | e is ɛ everywhere else |
| [o] | [umaˈɠoːti] | umakoti | "bride" | o is o when the following syllable contains an "i" or a "u", or final |
| [ɔ] | [ɔˈgɔːgo] | ogogo | "grandmother" | o is ɔ everywhere else |
| [a] | [ˈdaːda] | dada | "puzzle" | Is pronounced somewhat like mama in English. |
Vowels are long when they are the stressed syllable.
Consonants
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (Written) | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [m] | [uˈmaːma] | umama | "my/our mother" | This consonant is pronounced as in English. |
| [n] | [uˈniːna] | unina | "his/her/their mother" | This consonant is pronounced as in nine in English. |
| [ɲ] | [iˈɲoːni] | inyoni | "bird" | This consonant is pronounced as in French vignette. |
| [ŋ] | [iŋˈgaːne] | ingane | "child" | This consonant is pronounced as in sing. |
| [p] | [iːˈpiːpi] | ipipi | "pipe for smoking" | This consonant is pronounced as in speech. |
| [pʰ] | [ˈpʰɛːɠa] | -pheka | "cook" | This consonant is pronounced as in pin. |
| [t] | [iːˈtiːje] | itiye | "tea" | This consonant is pronounced as in "step". |
| [tʰ] | [ˈtʰaːtʰa] | -thatha | "take" | This consonant is pronounced somewhat as in English "top". |
| [k] | [kumˈnaːndi] | kumnandi | "it is delicious" | This consonant is pronounced as in English "skill". |
| [ɠ] | [uˈɠuːza] | ukuza | "to come" | This consonant does not exist in English, a voiced implosive. |
| [kʰ] | [iːˈkʰaːnda] | ikhanda | "head" | This consonant is pronounced somewhat like c in "cat". |
| [g] | [ɔˈgɔːgo] | ogogo | "grandmother" | This consonant is pronounced somewhat like in go, but fully voiced. |
| [ɓ] | [uˈɓaːɓa] | ubaba | "my/our father" | This consonant is pronounced with implosion. |
| [b] | [ˈbaːla] | -bhala | "write" | This consonant is pronounced more or less as in English bed, but fully voiced. |
| [d] | [iːˈdaːda] | idada | "duck" | This consonant is pronounced more or less as in English duck, but fully voiced. |
| [f] | [ˈiːfu] | ifu | "cloud" | This consonant is pronounced more or less as in English fun. |
| [v] | [ˈvaːla] | -vala | "close" | This consonant is pronounced as in English very. |
| [s] | [iːˈsiːsu] | isisu | "stomach" | This consonant is pronounced as in English say. |
| [z] | [umˈzuːzu] | umzuzu | "moment" | As in English "zoo" |
| [ʃ] | [iːˈʃuːmi] | ishumi | "ten" | This consonant is pronounced as in English shall. |
| [h] | [ˈhaːmba] | -hamba | "go" | This consonant is pronounced as in English hand. |
| [ɦ] | [iːˈɦaːʃi] | ihhashi | "horse" | This consonant is pronounced as in English behind. |
| [l] | [ˈlaːla] | -lala | "sleep" | This consonant is pronounced as in English laugh, but without velarization. |
| [ɬ] | [ˈɬaːla] | -hlala | "sit" | This consonant is pronounced as in Welsh Llanelli. |
| [ɮ] | [ɮa] | -dla | "eat" | This consonant is voiced form of ɬ. |
| [tʃ] | [uˈtʃaːni] | utshani | "grass" | This consonant is pronounced as the English chin. |
| [ʤ] | [ˈuːʤu] | uju | "honey" | This consonant is pronounced as the English jump. |
| [kx, kɬ, kl] | [umklɔˈmɛːlo] | umklomelo | "prize" | This consonant varies by speaker. |
| [j] | [uˈjiːse] | uyise | "his/her/their father" | This vowel is pronounced as in yes in English. |
| [w] | [ˈwɛːla] | wela | "cross" | This vowel is pronounced as in wall in English. |
Click Consonants
| IPA | Example (IPA) | Example (Written) | Meaning | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [ǀ] | [iːˈǀiːǀi] | icici | "earring" | |
| [ǀʰ] | [uɠuˈǀʰa:za] | ukuchaza | "to explain" | |
| [gǀ] | [isiˈgǀi:no] | isigcino | "end" | |
| [nǀ] | [iˈnǀwaːnǀwa] | incwancwa | "sour corn meal" | |
| [ŋǀ] | [iˈŋǀoːsi] | ingcosi | "a bit" | |
| [!] | [iːˈ!aː!a] | iqaqa | "polecat" | |
| [!ʰ] | [iːˈ!ʰuːde] | iqhude | "rooster" | |
| [g!] | [umg!ˈɓɛːlo] | uMgqibelo | "Saturday" | |
| [n!] | [iˈn!ɔːla] | inqola | "cart" | |
| [ŋ!] | [iˈŋ!ɔːndo] | ingqondo | "intelligence" | |
| [ǁ] | [iːˈǁɔːǁo] | ixoxo | "frog" | |
| [ǁʰ] | [uɠuˈǁʰaːsa] | ukuxhasa | "to support" | |
| [gǁ] | [uɠuˈgǁɔːɓa] | ukugxoba | "to stamp" | |
| [nǁ] | [iˈnǁɛːɓa] | inxeba | "wound" | |
| [ŋǁ] | [iˈŋǁɛːɲe] | ingxenye | "part" |
Tonal
Like the great majority of other Bantu and African languages, Zulu is tonal; that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said with a rising or falling or high or low intonation. Yet, as in nearly all other such languages, it is conventionally written without any indication of tone. As a rough rule of thumb, drop the voice on the next-to-last syllable of each word, and lengthen that syllable as well.
Grammar
Some of the main grammatical features of Zulu are:
- Constituent word order is Subject Verb Object.
- Morphologically, it is an agglutinative language.
- As in other Bantu languages, Zulu nouns are classified into fifteen morphological classes (or genders), with different prefixes for singular and plural. Various parts of speech that qualify a noun must agree with the noun according to its gender. These agreements usually reflect part of the original class that it is agreeing with. An example of this is the use of the class 'aba-':
- Bonke abantu abaqatha basepulazini bayagawula.
- All the strong people of the farm are felling (trees).
- Here, the various agreement that qualify the word 'abantu' (people) can be seen in effect.
- Its verbal system shows a combination of temporal and aspectual categories in their finite paradigm. Typically verbs have two stems, one for Present-Indefinite and another for Perfect. Different prefixes can be attached to these verbal stems to specify subject agreement and various degrees of past or future tense. For example, in the word uyathanda ("he loves"), the Present stem of the verb is -thanda, the prefix u- expresses third-person singular subject and -ya- is a filler used in short sentences.
- Suffixes are also put into common use to show the causative or reciprocal forms of a verb stem.
- Most property words (words which are encoded as adjectives in English) are represented by things called relatives, such is the sentence umuntu ubomvu ("the person is red"), the word ubomvu (root -bomvu) behaves similarly to a verb and uses the agreement prefix u-, but there are subtle differences, for example, it does not use the infix -ya-.
Phrases
The following is a list of phrases that can be used when visiting a region where the primary language is Zulu.
| Sawubona | Hello, to one person |
| Sanibonani | Hello, to a group of people |
| Unjani? / Ninjani? | How are you (sing.)? / How are you (pl.)? |
| Ngisaphila / Sisaphila | I'm okay / We're okay |
| Ngiyabonga (kakhulu) | Thanks (a lot) |
| Ngubani igama lakho? | What is your name? |
| Igama lami ngu... | My name is... |
| Isikhathi sithini? | What's the time? |
| Ngingakusiza? | Can I help you? |
| Uhlala kuphi? | Where do you stay? |
| Uphumaphi? | Where are you from? |
| Hamba kahle / Sala kahle | Go well / Stay well (used as goodbye) |
| Hambani kahle / Salani kahle | Go well / Stay well, to a group of people |
| Eish! | Wow! (No real European equivalent, used in South African English) |
| Hhayibo | No!!! / Stop!!! / No way! (used in South African English too) |
| Yebo | Yes |
| Cha | No |
| Angazi | I don't know |
| Ukhuluma isiNgisi na? | Do you speak English? |
| Ngisaqala ukufunda isiZulu | I've just started learning Zulu |
Sample text
(From the preamble to the South African Constitution)
Thina, bantu baseNingizimu Afrika, Siyakukhumbula ukucekelwa phansi kwamalungelo okwenzeka eminyakeni eyadlula; Sibungaza labo abahluphekela ubulungiswa nenkululeko kulo mhlaba wethu; Sihlonipha labo abasebenzela ukwakha nokuthuthukisa izwe lethu; futhi Sikholelwa ekutheni iNingizimu Afrika ingeyabo bonke abahlala kuyo, sibumbene nakuba singafani.
Translation:
We, the people of South Africa, Recognize the injustices of our past; Honor those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.
Common place names in Zulu
Zulu place names usually occur in their locative form, which combines what would in English be separate prepositions with the name concerned. This is usually achieved by simply replacing the i- prefix with an e- prefix (for example, 'eGoli' translates literally as 'to/at/in/from Johannesburg' when iGoli is simply Johannesburg), but changes in the name can also occur (see Durban below). The locatives are given in brackets.
- South Africa - iNingizimu Afrika / uMzansi Afrika
- Durban - iTheku (eThekwini)
- Johannesburg - iGoli (eGoli)
- Cape Town - iKapa (eKapa)
- Pretoria - iPitoli (ePitoli)
- Pietermaritzburg - uMgungundlovu (eMgungundlovu)
- Ladysmith - uMnambithi (eMnambithi)
- Overseas - phesheya
The 'Zulu'/'isiZulu' debate
The Zulu language is called 'isiZulu' in Zulu, 'isi-' being the prefix associated with languages (e.g., isiNgisi = English, isiXhosa = Xhosa, isiBhunu = Afrikaans, isiJalimane = German, etc.).
The root word Zulu can take many other forms in Zulu, each with a different meaning. Here is a table showing how the meanings of two roots - Zulu and ntu - change according to their prefix.
| Prefix | -zulu | -ntu |
|---|---|---|
| um(u) | umZulu (a Zulu person) | umuntu (a person) |
| ama, aba | amaZulu (Zulu people) | abantu (people) |
| isi | isiZulu (the Zulu language) | isintu (culture, heritage, mankind) |
| ubu | - | ubuntu (humanity, compassion) |
| kwa | kwaZulu (place of the Zulu people) | - |
| i(li) | izulu (the weather/sky/heaven) | - |
| pha | phezulu (on top) | - |
| e | ezulwini (in, at, to, from heaven) | - |
Some have argued that for this reason, the language should be called 'isiZulu' in English. There would be no sound linguistic reason for this. There is no ambiguity in the name Zulu and it is not unusual for languages to have their own names for other languages. For example, the language of the Germans is called German not Deutsch in English; the language of the French is called French and not Français in English; the gaelic language of Ireland is called Irish and not Gaeilge in English, the language of Japan is called Japanese not nihon-go; and so on.
Zulu words in South African English
South African English has absorbed many words from the Zulu language. Others, such as the names of local animals (impala and mamba are both Zulu names) have made their way into standard English. A few examples of Zulu words used in South African English:
- Muti (from umuthi) - medicine
- Donga (from udonga) - ditch (udonga actually means 'wall' in Zulu)
- Indaba - conference (it means 'an item of news' in Zulu)
- Shongololo (from ishongololo) - millipede
- Ubuntu - compassion/humanity
See also
- Zulu (the ethnic group)
- Shaka Zulu
- List of Zulu first names
- Nguni culture
- Bantu language
- Tsotsitaal - a Zulu-based creole language spoken in Soweto
- Swadesh list of Zulu words
- UCLA Language Materials Project
Sources
Books
- Doke, C.M. (1947) Text-book of Zulu grammar. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
- Wilkes, Arnett, Teach Yourself Zulu. ISBN 0-07-143442-9
- Nyembezi, C.L.S. (1957) Learn Zulu. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter. ISBN 0-7960-0237-1
- Nyembezi, C.L.S. (1970) Learn More Zulu. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter. ISBN 0-7960-0278-9
- Doke, C.M. (1958) Zulu-English Vocabulary. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. ISBN 0-85494-009-X
- Dent, G.R. and Nyembezi, C.L.S. (1959) Compact Zulu Dictionary. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter. ISBN 0-7960-0760-8
- Dent, G.R. and Nyembezi, C.L.S. (1969) Scholar's Zulu Dictionary. Pietermaritzburg: Shuter & Shooter. ISBN 0-7960-0718-7
- Doke, C.M. (1953) Zulu-English Dictionary. Johannesburg: Witwatersrand University Press. ISBN 1-86814-160-8
External links
Grammars
Dictionaries
Newspapers
Software
- Spell checker for OpenOffice.org and Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox web-browser, and Mozilla Thunderbird email program in Zulu
- Translate.org.za Project to translate Free and Open Source Software into all the official languages of South Africa including Zulu
- PanAfrican L10n wiki page on Zulu