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Northern Ndebele language

 
Northern Ndebele Language

 
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Northern Ndebele language
 
 
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The Northern Ndebele language, or isiNdebele, or Sindebele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages
Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo languages family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree....
, and spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
. It is commonly known as Sindebele.

Sindebele is related to the Zulu language
Zulu language

Zulu , is a language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population ....
 spoken in South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
. This is because the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
 descend from followers of the Zulu leader Mzilikazi
Mzilikazi

Mzilikazi , also sometimes called Mosilikatze, was a Southern African king who founded the Matabele kingdom , Matabeleland, in what became Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe....
, who left kwaZulu
KwaZulu

KwaZulu was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a semi-independent homeland for the Zulu people. The capital, formerly at Nongoma, was moved in 1980 to Ulundi....
 in the early nineteenth century during the Mfecane
Mfecane

Mfecane , is an African expression which means something like "the crushing" or "scattering". It describes a period of widespread chaos and disturbance in southern Africa during the period between 1815 and about 1840....
.

It is important to note that the Northern and Southern Ndebele languages are not variants of the same language; though they both fall in the Nguni group of Bantu languages, Northern Ndebele is essentially a dialect of Zulu, and the older Southern Ndebele language appears to be the first Nguni language to reach the very Southern parts of Africa.






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The Northern Ndebele language, or isiNdebele, or Sindebele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages
Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo languages family. This grouping is deep down in the genealogical tree of the Bantoid grouping, which in turn is deep down in the Niger-Congo tree....
, and spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
. It is commonly known as Sindebele.

Sindebele is related to the Zulu language
Zulu language

Zulu , is a language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population ....
 spoken in South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
. This is because the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
 descend from followers of the Zulu leader Mzilikazi
Mzilikazi

Mzilikazi , also sometimes called Mosilikatze, was a Southern African king who founded the Matabele kingdom , Matabeleland, in what became Rhodesia and is now Zimbabwe....
, who left kwaZulu
KwaZulu

KwaZulu was a bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a semi-independent homeland for the Zulu people. The capital, formerly at Nongoma, was moved in 1980 to Ulundi....
 in the early nineteenth century during the Mfecane
Mfecane

Mfecane , is an African expression which means something like "the crushing" or "scattering". It describes a period of widespread chaos and disturbance in southern Africa during the period between 1815 and about 1840....
.

It is important to note that the Northern and Southern Ndebele languages are not variants of the same language; though they both fall in the Nguni group of Bantu languages, Northern Ndebele is essentially a dialect of Zulu, and the older Southern Ndebele language appears to be the first Nguni language to reach the very Southern parts of Africa. The shared name may be due to contact between Mzilikazi's people and the original Ndebele, through whose territory they crossed during the Mfecane
Mfecane

Mfecane , is an African expression which means something like "the crushing" or "scattering". It describes a period of widespread chaos and disturbance in southern Africa during the period between 1815 and about 1840....
. Either way, the shared name is only indicative of the most tenuous links - it is not coincidental, but nor is it deeply significant (cf. Ladin
Ladin

Ladin is a Rhaetian languages spoken in the Dolomites mountains in Italy between the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige/S?dtirol and Veneto. It is closely related to the Swiss Romansh language, Surselvan, and Friulian language....
 and Ladino
Ladino

Ladino may refer to:*Ladino - Sephardic language, the Judaeo-Spanish primarily spoken among Sephardic Jews, or for the written form used in religious texts and translations...
).
Sindebele Dict

See also

  • Matabele
  • Provinces of Zimbabwe
    Provinces of Zimbabwe

    |||}Zimbabwe is divided into 8 provinces and 2 cities with provincial status:...
  • Matabeleland North
    Matabeleland North

    Matabeleland North is a Provinces of Zimbabwe in western Zimbabwe. It borders the provinces of Midlands and Mashonaland West to the east and northeast respectively, and the province of Matabeleland South and the city of Bulawayo to the south....
  • Matabeleland South
    Matabeleland South

    Matabeleland South is a Provinces of Zimbabwe of Zimbabwe. It has an area of 54,172 km? and a population of approximately 650,000 . Gwanda is the capital of the province....
  • Bulawayo
    Bulawayo

    Bulawayo is the second largest city in Zimbabwe, after the capital Harare, with a population of 676,000 , now estimated as 707,000. It is located in Matabeleland, 439km south-west of Harare , and is now treated as a separate provincial area from Matabeleland....


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