The Nguni languages are a group of Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa (mainly South Africa, Zimbabwe and Eswatini) by the Nguni people. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele, and Swati. The appellation "Nguni" derives from their ancestor called Mnguni type. Ngoni (see below) is an older, or a shifted, variant.

It is sometimes argued that the use of Nguni as a generic label suggests a historical monolithic unity of the people in question, where in fact the situation may have been more complex.{{sfn|Wright|1987}} The linguistic use of the label (referring to a subgrouping of Bantu) is relatively stable.

From an English editorial perspective, the articles "a" and "an" are both used with "Nguni", but "a Nguni" is more frequent and more correct especially if "Nguni" is pronounced as it is suggested ({{IPA|/ŋˈɡuːni/}}){{by whom|date=July 2023}}.

Classification

{{Multiple image

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| image1 = South Africa Nguni speakers proportion map.svg

| width1 = 220

| alt1 = Proportion of the population that speaks a Nguni language at home in South Africa.

| caption1 = Proportion of the population that speaks a Nguni language at home in South Africa. Eswatini, Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique excluded.South Africa. Census 2011. electoral ward data

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|{{legend|#EDF8E9|0–20%}}

|{{legend|#BAE4B3|20–40%}}

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|{{legend|#31A354|60–80%}}

|{{legend|#006D2C|80–100%}}

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| image2 = South Africa Nguni speakers density map.svg

| width2 = 220

| alt2 = Density of home-language speakers of Nguni languages in South Africa.

| caption2 = Density of home-language speakers of Nguni languages in South Africa. Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and southern Mozambique excluded.

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|{{legend|#ffffcc|<1 /km²}}

|{{legend|#ffeda0|1–3 /km²}}

|{{legend|#fed976|3–10 /km²}}

|{{legend|#feb24c|10–30 /km²}}

|{{legend|#fd8d3c|30–100 /km²}}

|{{legend|#fc4e2a|100–300 /km²}}

|{{legend|#e31a1c|300–1000 /km²}}

|{{legend|#bc0026|1000–3000 /km²}}

|{{legend|#800026|>3000 /km²}}

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Within a subset of Southern Bantu, the label "Nguni" is used both genetically (in the linguistic sense) and typologically (quite apart from any historical significance).

The Nguni languages are closely related, and in many instances different languages are mutually intelligible; in this way, Nguni languages might better be construed as a dialect continuum than as a cluster of separate languages. On more than one occasion, proposals have been put forward to create a unified standard Nguni language.{{Cite journal |url=https://d.lib.msu.edu/caj/170 |title=Language and National Unity in a Post-Apartheid South Africa|author=Eric P. Louw|year=1992|journal=Critical Arts }}{{cite web |url=http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/language-policy-and-national-unity-south-africa-neville-alexander |title=Language Policy and National Unity in South Africa/Azania |author=Neville Alexander|year=1989}}

In scholarly literature on southern African languages, the linguistic classificatory category "Nguni" is traditionally considered to subsume two subgroups: "Zunda Nguni" and "Tekela Nguni".{{sfn|Doke|1954}}{{sfn|Ownby|1985}} This division is based principally on the salient phonological distinction between corresponding coronal consonants: Zunda {{IPA|/z/}} and Tekela {{IPA|/t/}} (thus the native form of the name Swati and the better-known Zulu form Swazi), but there is a host of additional linguistic variables that enables a relatively straightforward division into these two substreams of Nguni.

= Tekela languages =

Bhaca {{sfn|Jordan|1942}}
Hlubi{{cite web |url=http://www.mkhangelingoma.co.za/heritage/history.pdf |title=Isizwe SamaHlubi: Submission to the Commission on Traditional Leadership Disputes and Claims: Draft 1 |date=July 2004 |access-date=28 July 2011}}
Lala
Nhlangwini
Northern Transvaal Ndebele (Sumayela Ndebele)
Phuthi {{sfn|Donnelly|2009|p=1–61}}
Swazi

= Zunda languages =

Northern Ndebele (Zimbabwean Ndebele)
Southern Ndebele (South African Ndebele)
Xhosa
Zulu

Note: Maho (2009) also lists S401 Old Mfengu^†.

Characteristics

The following aspects of Nguni languages are typical:

A 5-vowel system, by merging the near-close and close series of Proto-Bantu. (Phuthi has re-acquired a new series of superclose vowels from Sotho)
Spreading of high tones to the antepenultimate syllable.
A distinction between high and low tones on noun prefixes, indicating different grammatical roles, accompanied in some cases by an overt pre-prefix called the augment.
Development of breathy-voiced consonants, acting as depressor consonants.
Development of aspirated consonants.
Development of click consonants.

Comparative data

File:116320 jerusalem pater noster church PikiWiki Israel, isiNdebele and siSwati pair.jpg in Southern Ndebele and Swazi respectively, displayed on tablets at the Church of the Pater Noster, Jerusalem]]

Compare the following sentences:

class="wikitable"

!Language

!"I like your new sticks"

Zulu

|Ngi-ya-zi-thanda izi-nduku z-akho ezin-tsha

Xhosa

|Ndi-ya-zi-thanda ii-ntonga z-akho ezin-tsha

Northern Ndebele

|Ngi-ya-zi-thanda i-ntonga z-akho ezin-tsha

Southern Ndebele

|Ngi-ya-zi-thanda iin-ntonga z-akho ezi-tjha

Bhaca

|Ndi-ya-ti-thsandza ii-ntfonga t-akho etin-tsha

Hlubi

|Ng'ya-zi-thanda iin-duku z-akho ezintsha

Swazi

|Ngi-ya-ti-tsandza ti-ntfonga t-akho letin-sha

Mpapa Phuthi

|Gi-ya-ti-tshadza ti-tfoga t-akho leti-tjha

Sigxodo Phuthi

|Gi-ya-ti-tshadza ti-tshoga t-akho leti-tjha

Note: Xhosa {{angle bracket|tsh}} = Phuthi {{angle bracket|tjh}} = IPA {{IPA|[tʃʰ]}}; Phuthi {{angle bracket|tsh}} = {{IPA|[tsʰ]}}; Zulu {{angle bracket|sh}} = IPA {{IPA|[ʃ]}}, but in the environment cited here {{IPA|/ʃ/}} is "nasally permuted" to {{IPA|[tʃ]}}. Phuthi {{angle bracket|jh}} = breathy voiced {{IPA|[dʒʱ]}} = Xhosa, Zulu {{angle bracket|j}} (in the environment here following the nasal {{IPA|[n]}}). Zulu, Swazi, Hlubi {{angle bracket|ng}} = {{IPA|[ŋ]}}.

class="wikitable"

!Language

!"I understand only a little English"

Zulu

|Ngisi-zwa ka-ncane isi-Ngisi

Xhosa

|Ndisi-qonda ka-ncinci nje isi-Ngesi

Northern Ndebele

|Ngisi-zwisisa ka-ncane isiKhiwa [http://www.northerndebele.blogspot.com www.northerndebele.blogspot.com]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Southern Ndebele

|Ngisi-zwisisa ka-ncani nje isi-Ngisi

Hlubi

|Ng'si-visisisa ka-ncani nje isi-Ngisi

Swazi

|Ngisiva ka-ncane nje si-Ngisi

Mpapa Phuthi

|Gisi-visisa ka-nci të-jhë Si-kguwa

Sigxodo Phuthi

|Gisi-visisa ka-ncinci të-jhë Si-kguwa

Note: Phuthi {{angle bracket|kg}} = IPA {{IPA|[x]}}.

References

= Bibliography =

{{cite book|last=Doke|first=Clement Martyn|author-link=Clement Martyn Doke|year=1954|title=The Southern Bantu Languages. Handbook of African Languages.|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press}}
{{cite thesis |last=Donnelly|first=Simon|year=2009|title=Aspects of Tone and Voice in Phuthi|type=Doctoral dissertation|publisher=University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign}}
{{cite thesis |last=Jordan|first=Archibald C.|author-link=Archibald Campbell Jordan|year=1942|title=Some features of the phonetic and grammatical structure of Baca|type=Masters dissertation|publisher=University of Cape Town}}
{{cite thesis |last=Ownby|first=Caroline P.|year=1985|title=Early Nguni History: The Linguistic Evidence and Its Correlation with Archeology and Oral Tradition|type=Doctoral dissertation|publisher=University of California, Los Angeles}}
{{cite book |last=Wright |first=J. |publisher=Ravan Press |others=Published in association with the African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand |year=1987 |orig-date=1986 |chapter=Politics, ideology, and the invention of the 'nguni' |editor=Lodge |editor-first=Tom |title=Resistance and ideology in settler societies |location=Johannesburg}}

nguni languages