Venda language explained

TshiVenda
Nativename:Venda: Tshivenḓa
Region:Limpopo
Speakers: million
Date:2011 census
Ref:e18
Speakers2:1.7 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2002)[1]
Familycolor:Niger-Congo
Fam2:Atlantic–Congo
Fam3:Volta-Congo
Fam4:Benue–Congo
Fam5:Bantoid
Fam6:Southern Bantoid
Fam7:Bantu
Fam8:Southern Bantu
Dia1:Guvhu
Dia2:Ilafuri
Dia3:Lembetu
Dia4:Manda
Dia5:Mbedzi
Dia6:Phani
Dia7:Tavha-Tsindi
Script:Latin (Venda alphabet)
Venda Braille
Ditema tsa Dinoko
Nation: Zimbabwe
South Africa
Ethnicity:Venda
Iso1:ve
Iso2:ven
Iso3:ven
Lingua:99-AUT-b incl. varieties
99-AUT-baa to 99-AUT-bad
Guthrie:S.20 (S.21)
Map:South Africa Venda speakers proportion map.svg
Mapcaption:Geographical distribution of Tshivenda in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks Tshivenda at home.
Map2:South Africa Venda speakers density map.svg
Mapcaption2:Geographical distribution of Tshivenda in South Africa: density of Tshivenda home-language speakers.
Notice:IPA
Sign:Signed Venda
Glotto:vend1245
Glottorefname:Venda
Root:Venda
Person:Muvenda
People:Vhavenda
Language:Tshivenda
Lifestyle:TshiVenda
Country/Homeland:Venda

Venḓa or Tshivenḓa is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is mainly spoken by the Venda people (or Vhavenḓa) in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo province, as well as by some Lemba people in South Africa. The Tshivenda language is related to the Kalanga language which is spoken in Southern Africa. During the apartheid era of South Africa, the Bantustan of Venda was set up to cover the Venda speakers of South Africa.

According to the 2011 census, Venda speakers are concentrated in the following areas: Makhado Local Municipality, with 350,000 people; Thulamela Local Municipality, with 370,000 people; Musina Local Municipality, with 35,000 people; and Mutale Local Municipality, with 89,000 people. The total number of speakers in Vhembe district currently stands at 844,000. In Gauteng province, there are 275,000 Venda speakers. Fewer than 10,000 are spread across the rest of the country—for a total number of Venda speakers in South Africa at 1.2 million people or just 2.2% of South Africa's population, making Venda speakers the second smallest minority language in South Africa, after the Ndebele language, which number 1.1 million speakers. The population statistics of the Venda people in Zimbabwe are not clear but may currently stand at a million. The people are concentrated in the South of the country but also spread to other towns and cities. There is also a significant number of them in neighbouring South Africa where they are migrant workers.

Writing system

The Venda language uses the Latin alphabet with five additional accented letters. There are four dental consonants with a circumflex accent below the letter (ḓ, ḽ, ṋ, ṱ) and an overdot for velar . Five vowel letters are used to write seven vowels. The letters C, J and Q are used only for foreign words and names.

The Venda alphabet
A a B b (C c) D d Ḓ ḓ E e F f G g
H h I i (J j) K k L l Ḽ ḽ M m N n
Ṋ ṋ Ṅ ṅ O o P p (Q q) R r S s T t
Ṱ ṱ U u V v W w X x Y y Z z
letter(s) value(s) in IPA notes
apronounced as /[a]/, pronounced as /[ɔ]/
bpronounced as /[b]/
bv pronounced as /[b̪v]/
bw pronounced as /[bɣʷ]/ or pronounced as /[bj]/Varies by dialect
dpronounced as /[d]/
dz pronounced as /[d͡z]/
dzh pronounced as /[d͡ʒ]/ Similar to English "j"
dzw pronounced as /[d͡zʷ]/
pronounced as /[d̪]/
epronounced as /[ɛ]/, pronounced as /[e]/
fpronounced as /[f]/
fh pronounced as /[ɸ]/
gpronounced as /[ɡ]/
hpronounced as /[ɦ]/, pronounced as /[h]/ Pronounced pronounced as /[h]/ before e.
hw pronounced as /[ɣʷ], [hʷ]/
ipronounced as /[i]/
j[j]In the word Jerusalema
kpronounced as /[kʼ]/
kh pronounced as /[kʰ]/
khw pronounced as /[kʷʰ]/
lpronounced as /[l]/
pronounced as /[l̪]/
mpronounced as /[m]/, pronounced as /[m̩]/ M is syllabic pronounced as /[m̩]/, when the following syllable begins with m.
npronounced as /[n]/, pronounced as /[n̩]/ N is syllabic when the following syllable begins with n.
ng pronounced as /[ŋɡ]/
ny pronounced as /[ɲ]/
nz pronounced as /[nd͡z]/
pronounced as /[n̪]/
pronounced as /[ŋ]/
ṅw pronounced as /[ŋʷ]/
opronounced as /[ɔ]/, pronounced as /[o]/
ppronounced as /[pʼ]/
ph pronounced as /[pʰ]/
pf pronounced as /[p̪f]/
pfh pronounced as /[p̪fʰ]/
rpronounced as /[ɾ]/
spronounced as /[s]/
sh pronounced as /[ʃ]/
sw pronounced as /[ʂ]/
tpronounced as /[tʼ]/
th pronounced as /[tʰ]/
thspronounced as /[t͡sʰ]/
thsh pronounced as /[t͡ʃʰ]/
tspronounced as /[t͡sʼ]/
tshpronounced as /[t͡ʃʼ]/
tsw pronounced as /[t͡sʷ]/
ty pronounced as /[c]/
pronounced as /[t̪ʼ]/
ṱh pronounced as /[t̪ʰ]/
upronounced as /[u]/
vpronounced as /[v]/
vh pronounced as /[β]/
wpronounced as /[w]/
xpronounced as /[x]/ Similar to the ch in Scottish loch.
xw pronounced as /[xʷ]/
ypronounced as /[j]/
zpronounced as /[z]/
zh pronounced as /[ʒ]/
zw pronounced as /[ʐ]/

Unicode

The extra letters have the following Unicode names:

Luṱhofunḓeraru lwa Mibvumo

The sintu writing system Isibheqe Sohlamvu/Ditema tsa Dinoko, known technically in Venda as Luṱhofunḓeraru lwa Mibvumo, is also used for the Venda language.

Phonology

Venda distinguishes dental ṱ, ṱh, ḓ, ṋ, ḽ from alveolar t, th, d, n, l as well as (like in Ewe) labiodental f, v from bilabial fh, vh (the last two are slightly rounded). There are no clicks. As in other South African languages like Zulu, ph, ṱh, th, kh are aspirated and the "plain" stops p, ṱ, t, and k are ejective.

Vowels

There are five vowel sounds and two high vowels in Tshivenḓa.

Two high vowels in Tshivenḓa are e[e] and o[o] !! Front! Back
Closepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Midpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Openpronounced as /ink/

Consonants

BilabialLabio-
dental
DentalAlveolarPalatal/
Post-
alveolar
VelarGlottal
plainlab.pal.plainsib.lab.pal.plainlab.
Nasalpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/(pronounced as /ink/)pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Plosive/
Affricate
ejectivepronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
aspiratedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /p̪fʰ/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /tsʰ/pronounced as /tsʷʰ/pronounced as /tʃʰ/pronounced as /ink/
voicedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Fricativevoicelesspronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
voicedpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Approximantpronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/pronounced as /ink/
Rhoticvoicedpronounced as /ink/
flappronounced as /ink/

A labiodental nasal pronounced as //ɱ// sound appears in prenasalised consonant sounds. Labiovelar sounds occur as alternatives to labiopalatal sounds and may also be pronounced pronounced as //pkʰ pkʼ bɡ mŋ//. Fortition of pronounced as //ɸ β s ʃ x h l̪ l r w// occurs after nasal prefixes, likely to pronounced as /[pʰ? b tsʰ tʃʰ kʰ? pʰ d̪ d d b]/.[2]

Tones

Venda has a specified tone,, with unmarked syllables having a low tone. Phonetic falling tone occurs only in sequences of more than one vowel or on the penultimate syllable if the vowel is long. Tone patterns exist independently of the consonants and vowels of a word and so they are word tones. Venda tone also follows Meeussen's rule: when a word beginning with a high tone is preceded by that high tone, the initial high tone is lost. (That is, there cannot be two adjacent marked high tones in a word, but high tone spreads allophonically to a following non-tonic ("low"-tone) syllable.) There are only a few tone patterns in Venda words (no tone, a single high tone on some syllable, two non-adjacent high tones), which behave as follows:

WordPatternAfter LAfter HNotes
thamana–.–.–thàmà:nàthámâ:nàUnmarked (low) tone is raised after a high tone. That is, the preceding tone spreads.
dukana–.–.Hdùkà:nádúkâ:náA preceding high tone spreads but drops before the final high tone.
danana–.H.–dàná:nàdánâ:nàThe pitch peaks on the tonic syllable, and a preceding non-adjacent high tone merges into it.
phaphama–.H.–phàphá:nápháphâ:nà
madzhieH.–má:dzhíèmâ:dzhìèInitial high tone spreads. With an immediately preceding high tone, that initial tone is lost.
(The preceding tone also spreads but not as far.)
dakaloH.–.–dáká:lòdákà:lò
khokholaH.–.Hkhókhô:lákhókhò:lá

References

  1. Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development." Impact: Studies in language and society, 14:78
  2. Netshisaulu N.C & Nyoni A. 2021. Tshivenḓa Tsho Vhibvaho. World wide Publishers

Sources

External links

Software