Northern Ndebele
Mthwakazi Ndebele
isiNdebele
Region	Limpopo, Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe; North-East District in Botswana
Ethnicity	Northern Ndebele people
Native speakers	2.6 million[1] (2023)[2]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni Zunda Northern Ndebele
Writing system	Latin script
Official status
Official language in	Zimbabwe
Language codes
ISO 639-1	nd – North Ndebele
ISO 639-2	nde – North Ndebele
ISO 639-3	nde – North Ndebele
Glottolog	nort2795
Guthrie code	S.44[3]
Linguasphere	99-AUT-fk incl. varieties 99-AUT-fka to 99-AUT-fkd
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Northern Ndebele (English: /ɛndəˈbiːliː/), also called Ndebele, isiNdebele saseNyakatho, Zimbabwean Ndebele^[2][4] or North Ndebele,^[5][6] associated with the term Matabele, is a Bantu language spoken by the Northern Ndebele people which belongs to the Nguni group of languages.

Ndebele is a term used to refer to a collection of many different African cultures in Zimbabwe.^[7] As a language, it is by no means similar to the Ndebele language spoken in kwaNdebele in South Africa although, like many Nguni dialects, some words will be shared. Many of the natives that were colonized by the Matabele were assimilated into Mzilikazi's kingdom to create a version of isiZulu. The Matebele people of Zimbabwe descend from followers of the Zulu leader Mzilikazi (one of Zulu King Shaka's generals), who left the Zulu Kingdom in the early 19th century, during the Mfecane, arriving in present-day Zimbabwe in 1839.

Although there are some differences in grammar, lexicon and intonation between Zulu and Northern Ndebele, the two languages share more than 85% of their lexicon.^[8] To prominent Nguni linguists like Anthony Trevor Cope and Cyril Nyembezi, Northern Ndebele is a dialect of Zulu. To others like Langa Khumalo, it is a language. Distinguishing between a language and a dialect for language varieties that are very similar is difficult, with the decision often being based not on objective linguistic criteria but on more subjective, often politicised considerations.^[9][10][11]

Northern Ndebele and Southern Ndebele (or Transvaal Ndebele), which is spoken in South Africa, are separate but related languages with some degree of mutual intelligibility, although the former is more closely related to Zulu. Southern Ndebele, while maintaining its Nguni roots, has been influenced by the Sotho languages.^[12]

Phonology

Consonants

Many consonant sounds may result in depressed (or breathy) allophones. Alveolar consonants, t, d, and n, may have dentalized allophones of . Consonants k and h can result in allophones of and .

Ndebele /t͡ʃ/ generally correspond to Zulu /ʃ/.^[11]

Click consonants

In Northern Ndebele, there are fifteen click consonants.

The five clicks spelled with a c are made by placing the tip of the tongue against the front upper teeth and gums, the centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip of the tongue is drawn backwards. The resulting sound is similar to the sound used in English to express annoyance.^[13] Some examples are cina (end), cela (ask).^[14]

The five clicks spelled with a q are made by raising the back of the tongue to touch the soft palate and touching the gums with the sides and tip of the tongue. The centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip drawn quickly away from the gum. The resulting sound is like the "pop" heard when quickly removing the cork from a bottle.^[13] Some examples are qalisa (start), qeda (finish).^[14]

The five clicks spelled with a x are made by placing the tongue so that the back of the tongue touches the soft palate and the sides and tip of the tongue touch the gums. One side of the tongue is quickly withdrawn from the gums.^[13] Some examples are xoxa (discuss), ixoxo (frog).^[14]

Vowels

There are five vowel phonemes, written with the letters a, e, i, o, u.

• a is pronounced , approximately like a in father; e.g. abantwana (children)
• e is pronounced or , sometimes like e in bed; e.g. emoyeni (in the air)
• i is pronounced , like ee in see; e.g. siza (help)
• o is pronounced or , sometimes approximately like o in bone; e.g. okhokho (ancestors)
• u is pronounced , like oo in soon; e.g. umuntu (person)

Examples

Months in Northern and Southern Ndebele

Grammar

The grammar of Northern Ndebele, which is a dialect of the Zulu, shares similarities with Zulu as they both stem from the same language origins. Although there are some distinctions between them; as speakers of Northern Ndebele, a Nguni language, can also partially understand Swati and Xhosa. This dialect includes distinct click sounds that are characteristic of Southern African languages, predominantly spoken in the Eastern Cape region.

Nouns

The Northern Ndebele noun consists of two essential parts, the prefix and the stem. Using the prefixes, nouns can be grouped into noun classes, which are numbered consecutively, to ease comparison with other Bantu languages.

The following table gives an overview of Northern Ndebele noun classes, arranged according to singular-plural pairs.

¹ umu- replaces um- before monosyllabic stems, e. g. umuntu (person).

Verbs

Verbs are marked with the following prefixes in agreement with the noun class of the subject and the object: