Zulu English Explained

Zulu English is a variety of English, spoken almost exclusively in South Africa among the Zulu. The variety is heavily influenced by the phonology and lexicon of the Zulu language.

Phonology

• The met–mate merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English where pronounced as //eɪ// and pronounced as //ɛ// are both pronounced pronounced as //ɛ//. As a result, the words "met" and "mate" are homophonous as pronounced as //mɛt//.
• The cot–coat merger is a phenomenon occurring for some speakers of Zulu English where the phonemes pronounced as //ɒ// and pronounced as //əʊ// are not distinguished.
• Confusion between pronounced as //ʃ// and pronounced as //tʃ// also occurs: it is reported that pronounced as //tʃ// is sometimes replaced by pronounced as //ʃ//, so ship may be pronounced like chip.
• Devoicing of certain obstruents, particularly pronounced as //b, d, g, dʒ, z//.

Bibliography

• Wade. Rodrik D.. 1996. An Investigation of the Putative Restandardisation of South African English in the Direction of a 'New' English, Black South African English. Structural characteristics of Zulu English. Durban. University of Natal. http://www.und.ac.za/und/ling/archive/wade_pre.html. unfit. https://web.archive.org/web/20081013143757/http://www.und.ac.za/und/ling/archive/wade_pre.html. 13 October 2008.