AskBiography Logo   Latest News  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Google Buzz  Became Fan - Facebook  Subscribe to RSSRSS   Bookmark and Share

Southern Ndebele language

NameSouthern Ndebele
NativenameisiNdebele
StatesSouth Africa
RegionMpumalanga
Limpopo
Gauteng
North West
Speakers586,961 (1996 census)
FamilycolorNiger-Congo
Fam2Atlantic � Congo
Fam3Benue � Congo
Fam4Bantoid
Fam5Southern Bantoid
Fam6Bantu
Fam7Southern Bantu
Fam8Sotho � Tswana
NationSouth Africa
Iso1nr|iso2=nbl|iso3=nbl

     Home | Language | Southern Ndebele language



The Southern Ndebele language (isiNdebele or Nrebele in Southern Ndebele) is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the amaNdebele (the Ndebele people of South Africa). There are two dialects of Southern Ndebele in South Africa:

* the Northern Transvaal Ndebele or Nrebele. It is untrue to declare that this language is extinct and that no one has compiled an orthography. There are speakers of this language in both rural and urban areas. Sindrebele language, as it is affectionately called by its speakers, orthography was compiled in 1959 by Mr. D. Ziervogel. There are various writers including Mr. J. L. Rafapa (the author of the Northern Sotho book Lerato Sello) amongst many who are prepared to write Sindrebele. Much of the history of the speakers of this language has not been written, but that does not necessarily mean that it does not exist. This language falls under the Tekela Nguni languages.

* and the Southern Transvaal Ndebele.

There is also another, separate dialect called Northern Ndebele or Matabele spoken in Zimbabwe and Botswana � see Sindebele language. The Zimbabwean Ndebele is closer to Zulu than it is to the two South African Ndebele languages.


Warning: simplexml_load_file(http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Southern/Ndebele/language?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10) [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 410 Gone in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Southern/Ndebele/language?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10" in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 260