Ndau dialect
Ndau | |
---|---|
Region | Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa |
Native speakers | 2.4 million (2000–2006)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | ndc |
Glottolog | ndau1241 |
S.15 [2] |
Ndau (also called chiNdau, Chindau, Ndzawu, Njao, Chidanda) is a Bantu language spoken by 1,400,000[contradictory] people.
Ndau has often been included as Nguni dialect.[citation needed] The 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe accorded Ndau status as an official language.[3]
Sample text[edit]
The mutual intelligibility of Ndau with other Shona varieties is fairly high, but some speakers of other Shona varieties may find it difficult to understand. Differences and similarities can be measured by examining a Ndau version of Lord's Prayer:
Baba edu ari mudenga, ngariremeredzwe zina renyu. UMambo hwenyu ngahuuye. Kuda kwenyu ngakuitwa munyika kudai ngomudenga. Tipei nege kurya kwedu kwatinotama nyamashi. Tirekererei ndaa dzedu kudai tisu takarekerera avo vane ndaa kwetiri. Usatipinza mukuedzwa, asi tinunure kuno uwo wakashata.
The equivalent paragraph in Standard Shona (mainly based on Zezuru) is:
Baba vedu vari kudenga, zita renyu ngarikudzwe. UMambo hwenyu ngahwuuye. Kuda kwenyu ngakuitwe pasi sokudenga. Tipei nhasi kudya kwedu kwakwezuva. Tiregererei zvatinokutadzirai sekuregerera kwatinoita vakatitadzira. Musatipinze mukuedzwa, asi mutinunure mune zvakaipa.
Phonology[edit]
Consonants[edit]
Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Alveolar | Lateral | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Glottal | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | wstd. | lab. | pal. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | ||
Plosive | voiceless | p | pʷ | t | tʷ | tʲ | k | kʷ | |||||||||
voiced | b | bʷ | d | dʷ | dʲ | ɡ | ɡʷ | ||||||||||
aspirated | pʰ | pʰʷ | tʰ | tʰʷ | tʰʲ | kʰ | kʰʷ | ||||||||||
breathy | bʱ | bʱʷ | dʱ | dʱʷ | dʱʲ | ||||||||||||
prenasal asp. | ᵐpʰ | ⁿtʰ | ᵑkʰ | ||||||||||||||
prenasal vd. | ᵐb | ᵐbʷ | ⁿd | ⁿdʷ | ᵑɡ | ᵑɡʷ | |||||||||||
prenasal br. | ᵐbʱ | ᵐbʱʷ | ⁿdʱ | ⁿdʱʷ | |||||||||||||
Affricate | voiceless | p͡f | t͡s | t͡sᶲ | t͡sʷ | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃʷ | ||||||||||
voiced | b͡v | d͡z | d͡zᵝ | d͡zʷ | d͡ʒ | d͡ʒʷ | |||||||||||
aspirated | p͡fʰ | t͡sʰ | t͡sᶲʰ | t͡sʷʰ | t͡ʃʰ | t͡ʃʷʰ | |||||||||||
prenasal | ᵐb͡v | ⁿd͡z | ⁿd͡zʷ | ⁿd͡ʒ | ⁿd͡ʒʷ | ||||||||||||
Fricative | voiceless | f | fʷ | s | sᶲ | sʷ | ɬ | ɬʷ | ʃ | ʃʷ | h | hʷ | |||||
voiced | β | βʷ | v | vʷ | z | zᵝ | zʷ | ɮ | ɮʷ | ʒ | ʒʷ | ||||||
prenasal | ᶬv | ⁿz | ⁿzᵝ | ⁿzʷ | ⁿɮ | ||||||||||||
Nasal | voiced | m | mʷ | n | nʷ | ɲ | ɲʷ | ŋ | ŋʷ | ||||||||
breathy | mʱ | mʱʷ | nʱ | nʱʷ | |||||||||||||
Trill | r | rʷ | rʲ | ||||||||||||||
Approximant | l | j | w |
- Other labialized sounds are labialized-whistled sounds as /sᶲʷ, zᵝʷ/.
- Other palatalized sounds are labialized-palatalized ones as /tʲʷ, rʲʷ/.
- Sibilant sounds /d͡z, s/ may have aspirated allophones as [d͡zʱ, sʰ].
- Prenasal aspirated sounds /ᵐpʰ, ⁿtʰ, ᵑkʰ/ can have allophones as prenasal-devoiced plosives [ᵐb̥ʰ, ⁿd̥ʰ, ᵑɡ̊ʰ].[4][5]
Dental | Post- alveolar |
Lateral | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Voiceless | plain | ᵏǀ | ᵏǃ | ᵏǁ |
aspirated | ᵏǃʰ | ᵏǁʰ | ||
nasalized | ᵑǀ | ᵑǃ | ᵑǁ | |
Voiced | plain | ᶢǃ | ᶢǁ | |
nasalized | ᵑǃᶢ |
Vowels[edit]
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u | |
Mid | e | o | |
Open | a |
Alphabet[edit]
While the mainstream Shona language excludes L, Q and X from its alphabet, Ndau orthography uses them as shown by the examples below:
- Mainstream Shona "Akatizira and the Ndau version Akafohla: 'L' is used in the digraph hl for the sound [ɬ].
- Mainstream Shona "kuridza tsamwa and the Ndau version kuxapa: 'X' is used for the click consonant [ᵏǁ].
- Mainstream Shona "Kurara and the Ndau version Kuqambaya: 'Q' is used for the click consonant [ᵏǃ].
These sounds have been acquired from neighboring Nguni languages.
References[edit]
- ^ Ndau at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ "Constitution of Zimbabwe (final draft)" (PDF). Government of Zimbabwe. January 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 October 2013 – via Kubatana.net.
- ^ Borland, Colin H. (1970). Eastern Shona: a comparative dialect study. University of Cape Town.
- ^ Sithole, Emmanuel (2017). From dialect to ‘official’ language: towards the intellectualisation of Ndau in Zimbabwe. Rhodes University.