| Zulu | |
| Nativename: | isiZulu |
| Pronunciation: | in Zulu pronounced as /isízṳːlu/ |
| States: | South Africa, Lesotho |
| Ethnicity: | Zulu |
| Speakers: | million |
| Ref: | e18 |
| Speakers2: | L2 speakers million (2002)[1] |
| Familycolor: | Niger-Congo |
| Fam2: | Atlantic–Congo |
| Fam3: | Volta-Congo |
| Fam4: | Benue–Congo |
| Fam5: | Bantoid |
| Fam6: | Southern Bantoid |
| Fam7: | Bantu |
| Fam8: | Southern Bantu |
| Fam9: | Nguni-Tsonga |
| Fam10: | Nguni |
| Fam11: | Zunda |
| Dia1: | KwaZulu Natal Zulu |
| Dia2: | Transvaal Zulu |
| Dia3: | Qwabe |
| Dia4: | Cele |
| Agency: | Pan South African Language Board |
| Script: | Latin (Zulu alphabet) Zulu Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko |
| Sign: | Signed Zulu |
| Iso1: | zu |
| Iso2: | zul |
| Iso3: | zul |
| Glotto: | zulu1248 |
| Glottorefname: | Zulu |
| Guthrie: | S.42 |
| Lingua: | 99-AUT-fg incl. varieties 99-AUT-fga to 99-AUT-fge |
| Map: | South Africa Zulu speakers proportion map.svg |
| Mapcaption: | Proportion of the South African population that speaks Zulu at home |
| Notice: | IPA |
| Root: | Zulu |
| Person: | umZulu |
| People: | amaZulu |
| Language: | isiZulu |
| Country: | kwaZulu |
Zulu, or IsiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken and indigenous to Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 13.56 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.[2] Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population.[3] It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994.[4]
According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili. Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet.
In South African English, the language is often referred to in its native form, isiZulu.[5]
Zulu migrant populations have taken it to adjacent regions, especially Zimbabwe, where the Northern Ndebele language (isiNdebele) is closely related to Zulu.
Xhosa, the predominant language in the Eastern Cape, is often considered mutually intelligible with Zulu, as is Northern Ndebele.[6] [7]
Maho (2009) lists four dialects: central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu, northern Transvaal Zulu, eastern coastal Qwabe, and western coastal Cele.
The Zulu, like Xhosa and other Nguni people, have lived in South Africa for hundreds of years. The Zulu language possesses several click sounds typical of Southern African languages, not found in the rest of Africa. The Nguni people have coexisted with other Southern tribes like the San and Khoi.
Zulu, like most indigenous Southern African languages, was not a written language until the arrival of missionaries from Europe, who documented the language using the Latin script. The first grammar book of the Zulu language was published in Norway in 1850 by the Norwegian missionary Hans Schreuder.[8] The first written document in Zulu was a Bible translation that appeared in 1883. In 1901, John Dube (1871–1946), a Zulu from Natal, created the Ohlange Institute, the first native educational institution in South Africa. He was also the author of Insila kaShaka, the first novel written in Zulu (1930). Another pioneering Zulu writer was Reginald Dhlomo, author of several historical novels of the 19th-century leaders of the Zulu nation: U-Dingane (1936), U-Shaka (1937), U-Mpande (1938), U-Cetshwayo (1952) and U-Dinizulu (1968). Other notable contributors to Zulu literature include Benedict Wallet Vilakazi and, more recently, Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali.
The written form of Zulu was controlled by the Zulu Language Board of KwaZulu-Natal. This board has now been disbanded and superseded by the Pan South African Language Board[9] which promotes the use of all eleven official languages of South Africa.
English, Dutch and later Afrikaans had been the only official languages used by all South African governments before 1994. However, in the Kwazulu bantustan, the Zulu language was widely used. All education in the country at the high school level was in English or Afrikaans. Since the demise of apartheid in 1994, Zulu has been enjoying a marked revival. Zulu-language television was introduced by the SABC in the early 1980s and it broadcasts news and many shows in Zulu. Zulu radio is very popular and newspapers such as isoLezwe,[10] Ilanga[11] and UmAfrika in the Zulu language are available in Kwazulu-Natal province and Johannesburg. In January 2005 the first full-length feature film in Zulu, Yesterday, was nominated for an Oscar.[12]
The mutual intelligibility of many Nguni languages has increased the likelihood of Zulu becoming the lingua franca of the eastern half of the country.
In the 1994 film The Lion King, in the "Circle of Life" song, the phrases Ingonyama nengw' enamabala (English: A lion and a leopard spots), Nans' ingonyama bakithi Baba (English: Here comes a lion, Father) and Siyonqoba (English: We will conquer) was used. In some movie songs, like "This Land", the voice says Busa leli zwe bo (Rule this land) and Busa ngothando bo (Rule with love) were used too.
The song Siyahamba is a South African hymn originally written in the Zulu language that became popular in North American churches in the 1990s.
The remix of the 2019 worldwide hit Jerusalema contains lyrics in Zulu language.
Standard Zulu as it is taught in schools, also called "deep Zulu" (isiZulu esijulile), differs in various respects from the language spoken by people living in cities (Urban Zulu, isiZulu sasedolobheni). Standard Zulu tends to be purist, using derivations from Zulu words for new concepts, whereas speakers of Urban Zulu use loan words abundantly, mainly from English. For example:
| Standard Zulu | Urban Zulu | English | |
|---|---|---|---|
| umakhalekhukhwini | iselula | mobile(cell) phone | |
| Ngiyezwa | Ngiya-andastenda | I understand |
The vowel system of Zulu consists of five vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Mid | pronounced as /link/ | pronounced as /link/ | ||
| Open | pronounced as /link/ |
pronounced as //ɛ// and pronounced as //ɔ// are pronounced [{{IPA link|e}}] and [{{IPA link|o}}], respectively, if the following syllable contains the [+[[Advanced and retracted tongue root|ATR]]] vowels pronounced as //i// or pronounced as //u//.[14] They are pronounced as /[ɛ]/ and pronounced as /[ɔ]/ otherwise:
There is limited vowel length in Zulu, as a result of the contraction of certain syllables. For example, the word ithambo pronounced as //íːtʰámbó// "bone", is a contraction of an earlier ilithambo pronounced as //ílítʰámbó//, which may still be used by some speakers. Likewise, uphahla pronounced as //úːpʰaɬa// "roof" is a contraction of the earlier uluphahla pronounced as //ulúpʰaɬa//. In addition, the vowel of the penultimate syllable is allophonically lengthened phrase- or sentence-finally.
| Labial | Dental/Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Click | 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/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Nasal | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | (pronounced as /ink/) | |||||
| Plosive | 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/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||||
| Affricate | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | ||||
| Fricative | 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/ | ||||
| Liquid | (pronounced as /ink/) | pronounced as /ink/ pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
| Semivowel | pronounced as /ink/ | pronounced as /ink/ | |||||
The use of click consonants is one of the most distinctive features of Zulu. This feature is shared with several other languages of Southern Africa, but it is very rare in other regions. There are three basic articulations of clicks in Zulu:
Each articulation covers five click consonants, with differences such as being slack-voiced, aspirated or nasalised, for a total of 15.
Zulu syllables are canonically (N)C(w)V, and words must always end in a vowel. Consonant clusters consist of any consonant, optionally preceded by a homorganic nasal consonant (so-called "prenasalisation", described in more detail below) and optionally followed by the consonant pronounced as //w//.
In addition, syllabic pronounced as //m̩// occurs as a reduction of former pronounced as //mu//, and acts like a true syllable: it can be syllabic even when not word-initial, and can also carry distinctive tones like a full syllable. It does not necessarily have to be homorganic with the following consonant, although the difference between homorganic nonsyllabic pronounced as //mC// and syllabic pronounced as //m̩C// is distinctive, e.g. umpetshisi pronounced as //um̩pétʃiːsi// "peach tree" (5 syllables) versus impoko pronounced as //ímpoːɠo// "grass flower" (3 syllables). Moreover, sequences of syllabic m and homorganic m can occur, e.g. ummbila pronounced as //úm̩mbíːla// "maize" (4 syllables).
Recent loanwords from languages such as English may violate these constraints, by including additional consonant clusters that are not native to Zulu, such as in igremu pronounced as //iːgreːmu// "gram". There may be some variation between speakers as to whether clusters are broken up by an epenthetic vowel or not, e.g. ikhompiyutha pronounced as //iːkʰompijuːtʰa// or ikhompyutha pronounced as //iːkʰompjuːtʰa// "computer".
Stress in Zulu words is mostly predictable and normally falls on the penultimate syllable of a word. It is accompanied by an allophonic lengthening of the vowel. When the final vowel of a word is long due to contraction, it receives the stress instead of the preceding syllable.
Lengthening does not occur on all words in a sentence, however, but only those that are sentence- or phrase-final. Thus, for any word of at least two syllables, there are two different forms, one with penultimate length and one without it, occurring in complementary distribution. In some cases, there are morphemic alternations that occur as a result of word position as well. The remote demonstrative pronouns may appear with the suffix -ana when sentence-final, but only as -ā otherwise. Likewise, the recent past tense of verbs ends in -ile sentence-finally, but is reduced to -ē medially. Moreover, a falling tone can only occur on a long vowel, so the shortening has effects on tone as well.
Some words, such as ideophones or interjections, can have stress that deviates from the regular pattern.
Like almost all other Bantu and other African languages, Zulu is tonal. There are three main tonemes: low, high and falling. Zulu is conventionally written without any indication of tone, but tone can be distinctive in Zulu. For example, the words "priest" and "teacher" are both spelt umfundisi, but they are pronounced with different tones: pronounced as //úm̩fúndisi// for the "priest" meaning, and pronounced as //úm̩fundísi// for the "teacher" meaning.
In principle, every syllable can be pronounced with either a high or a low tone. However, low tone does not behave the same as the other two, as high tones can "spread" into low-toned syllables while the reverse does not occur. A low tone is therefore better described as the absence of any toneme; it is a kind of default tone that is overridden by high or falling tones. The falling tone is a sequence of high-low and occurs only on long vowels. The penultimate syllable can also bear a falling tone when it is long due to the word's position in the phrase. However, when it shortens, the falling tone becomes disallowed in that position.
In principle, every morpheme has an inherent underlying tone pattern which does not change regardless of where it appears in a word. However, like most other Bantu languages, Zulu has word tone, meaning that the pattern of tones acts more like a template to assign tones to individual syllables, rather than a direct representation of the pronounced tones themselves. Consequently, the relationship between underlying tone patterns and the tones that are pronounced can be quite complex. Underlying high tones tend to surface rightward from the syllables where they are underlyingly present, especially in longer words.
The breathy consonant phonemes in Zulu are depressor consonants or depressors for short. Depressor consonants have a lowering effect on pitch, adding a non-phonemic low-tone onset to the normal tone of the syllable. Thus, in syllables with depressor consonants, high tones are realised as rising, and falling tones as rising-then-falling. In both cases, the pitch does not reach as high as in non-depressed syllables. The possible tones on a syllable with a voiceless consonant like hla are pronounced as /[ɬá ɬâ ɬà]/, and the possible tones of a breathy consonant syllable, like dla, are pronounced as /[ɮǎ̤ ɮa̤᷈ ɮà̤]/. A depressor does not affect a syllable that's already low, but it blocks assimilation to a preceding high tone so that the tone of the depressor syllable and any following low-tone syllables stays low.
Prenasalisation occurs whenever a consonant is preceded by a homorganic nasal, either lexically or as a consequence of prefixation. The most notable case of the latter is the class 9 noun prefix in-, which ends in a homorganic nasal. Prenasalisation triggers several changes in the following consonant, some of which are phonemic and others allophonic. The changes can be summed as follows:[15] [16]
| Normal | Prenasalised | Rule | |
|---|---|---|---|
| pronounced as //pʰ//, pronounced as //tʰ//, pronounced as //kʰ// | pronounced as //mp//, pronounced as //nt//, pronounced as //ŋk// | Aspiration is lost on obstruents. | |
| pronounced as //ǀʰ//, pronounced as //ǁʰ//, pronounced as //ǃʰ// | pronounced as //ᵑǀ//, pronounced as //ᵑǁ//, pronounced as //ᵑǃ// | Aspiration is replaced by nasalisation of clicks. | |
| pronounced as //ǀ//, pronounced as //ǁ//, pronounced as //ǃ// | pronounced as //ᵑǀʱ//, pronounced as //ᵑǁʱ//, pronounced as //ᵑǃʱ// | Plain clicks become breathy nasal. | |
| pronounced as //ɓ// | pronounced as //mb// | Implosive becomes breathy. | |
| pronounced as //f//, pronounced as //s//, pronounced as //ʃ//, pronounced as //ɬ// pronounced as //v//, pronounced as //z//, pronounced as //ɮ// | pronounced as /[ɱp̪fʼ]/, pronounced as /[ntsʼ]/, pronounced as //ntʃ//, pronounced as /[ntɬʼ]/ pronounced as /[ɱb̪vʱ]/, pronounced as /[ndzʱ]/, pronounced as /[ndɮʱ]/ | Fricatives become affricates. Only phonemic, and thus reflected orthographically, for pronounced as //ntʃ//. | |
| pronounced as //h//, pronounced as //ɦ//, pronounced as //w//, pronounced as //wʱ// | pronounced as /[ŋx]/, pronounced as /[ŋɡʱ]/, pronounced as /[ŋɡw]/, pronounced as /[ŋɡwʱ]/ | Approximants are fortified. This change is allophonic, and not reflected in the orthography. | |
| pronounced as //j// | pronounced as //ɲ// | Palatal approximant becomes palatal nasal. | |
| pronounced as //l// | pronounced as //l// or rarely pronounced as //nd// | The outcome pronounced as //nd// is a fossilised outcome from the time when pronounced as //d// and pronounced as //l// were still one phoneme. See Proto-Bantu language. | |
| pronounced as //m//, pronounced as //n//, pronounced as //ɲ// | pronounced as //m//, pronounced as //n//, pronounced as //ɲ// | No change when the following consonant is itself a nasal. |
Zulu has tonic assimilation: high tones tend to spread allophonically to following low-tone syllables, raising their pitch to a level just below that of adjacent high-tone syllables. A toneless syllable between a high-tone syllable and another tonic syllable assimilates to that high tone. That is, if the preceding syllable ends on a high tone and the following syllable begins with a high tone (because it is high or falling), the intermediate toneless syllable has its pitch raised as well. When the preceding syllable is high but the following is toneless, the medial toneless syllable adopts a high-tone onset from the preceding syllable, resulting in a falling tone contour.
For example, the English word spoon was borrowed into Zulu as Zulu: isipunu, phonemically pronounced as //ísipúnu//. The second syllable Zulu: si assimilates to the surrounding high tones, raising its pitch, so that it is pronounced pronounced as /[ísípʼúːnù]/ sentence-finally. If tone pitch is indicated with numbers, with 1 highest and 9 lowest pitch, then the pitches of each syllable can be denoted as 2-4-3-9.[17] The second syllable is thus still lower in pitch than both of the adjacent syllables.
Depressor consonants have an effect called tone displacement. Tone displacement occurs whenever a depressor occurs with a high tone, and causes the tone on the syllable to shift rightward onto the next syllable. If the next syllable is long, it gets a falling tone, otherwise a regular high tone. If the penultimate syllable becomes high (not falling), the final syllable dissimilates and becomes low if it was not already. Tone displacement is blocked under the following conditions:
Whenever tone displacement is blocked, this results in a depressor syllable with a high tone, which will have the low-tone onset as described above. When the following syllable already has a high or falling tone, the tone disappears from the syllable as if it had been shifted away, but the following syllable's tone is not modified.
Some examples:
Palatalization is a change that affects labial and alveolar consonants whenever they are immediately followed by pronounced as //j//. While palatalization occurred historically, it is still productive and occurs as a result of the addition of suffixes beginning with pronounced as //j//. A frequent example is the diminutive suffix Zulu: -yana.
Moreover, Zulu does not generally tolerate sequences of a labial consonant plus pronounced as //w//. Whenever pronounced as //w// follows a labial consonant, it changes to pronounced as //j//, which then triggers palatalization of the consonant. This effect can be seen in the locative forms of nouns ending in Zulu: -o or Zulu: -u, which change to Zulu: -weni and Zulu: -wini respectively in the locative. If a labial consonant immediately precedes, palatalization is triggered. The change also occurs in nouns beginning in Zulu: ubu- with a stem beginning with a vowel.
The following changes occur as a result of palatalization:
| Original consonant | Palatalized consonant | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| pronounced as /pʰ/ | pronounced as /ʃ/ |
|
| pronounced as /tʰ/ |
| |
| pronounced as /p/ | pronounced as /tʃʼ/ |
|
| pronounced as /t/ |
| |
| pronounced as /bʱ / |
| |
| pronounced as /b/ | pronounced as /dʒ/ |
|
| pronounced as /d/ |
| |
| pronounced as /m/ | pronounced as /ɲ/ |
|
| pronounced as /n/ |
| |
| pronounced as /mp/ | pronounced as /ntʃʼ/ |
|
| pronounced as /nt/ |
| |
| pronounced as /mb/ | pronounced as /ndʒ/ |
|
| pronounced as /nd/ |
|
Zulu employs the 26 letters of the ISO basic Latin alphabet. However, some of the letters have different pronunciations than in English. Additional phonemes are written using sequences of multiple letters. Tone, stress and vowel length are not indicated.
| Letter(s) | Phoneme(s) | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | pronounced as //a// | amanzi pronounced as //ámáːnzi// "water" | |
| b | pronounced as /link/ | ubaba pronounced as //úɓaːɓá// "my/our father" | |
| bh | pronounced as /link/ | ukubhala pronounced as //úɠubâːla// "to write" | |
| c | pronounced as /link/ | icici pronounced as //îːǀíːǀi// "earring" | |
| ch | pronounced as //ǀʰ// | ukuchaza pronounced as //uɠúǀʰaːza// "to fascinate/explain" | |
| d | pronounced as /link/ | idada pronounced as //íːdaːda// "duck" | |
| dl | pronounced as /link/ | ukudla pronounced as //úɠuːɮá// "to eat" | |
| e | pronounced as //e// | ibele pronounced as //îːɓéːle// "breast" | |
| f | pronounced as /link/ | ifu pronounced as //íːfu// "cloud" | |
| g | pronounced as /link/ | ugogo pronounced as //úɡóːɡo// "grandmother" | |
| gc | pronounced as //ᶢǀʱ// | isigcino pronounced as //isíᶢǀʱiːno// "end" | |
| gq | pronounced as //ᶢǃʱ// | uMgqibelo pronounced as //umúᶢǃʱiɓéːlo// "Saturday" | |
| gx | pronounced as //ᶢǁʱ// | ukugxoba pronounced as //uɠúᶢǁʱoːɓa// "to stamp" | |
| h | pronounced as /link/ | ukuhamba pronounced as //úɠuháːmba// "to go" | |
| hh | pronounced as /link/ | ihhashi pronounced as //îːɦáːʃi// "horse" | |
| hl | pronounced as /link/ | ukuhlala pronounced as //uɠúɬaːla// "to sit" | |
| i | pronounced as //i// | imini pronounced as //ímíːni// "daytime" | |
| j | pronounced as /link/ | uju pronounced as //úːdʒu// "honey" | |
| k | pronounced as /link/ | ikati pronounced as //îːkáːti// "cat" | |
| pronounced as //ɠ// | ukuza pronounced as //uɠúːza// "to come" | ||
| kh | pronounced as //kʰ// | ikhanda pronounced as //îːkʰâːnda// "head" | |
| kl | pronounced as /link/ | umklomelo pronounced as //umukxómeːlo// "prize" | |
| l | pronounced as /link/ | ukulala pronounced as //úɠuláːla// "sleep" | |
| m | pronounced as /link/ | imali pronounced as //ímaːlí// "money" | |
| pronounced as //mʱ// | umama pronounced as //úmʱáːma// "my/our mother" | ||
| mb | pronounced as //mb// | imbube pronounced as //ímbuːɓé// "lion" | |
| n | pronounced as /link/ | unina pronounced as //úniːna// "his/her/their mother" | |
| pronounced as //nʱ// | nendoda pronounced as //nʱéndoːda// "with a man" | ||
| nc | pronounced as //ᵑǀ// | incwancwa pronounced as //íᵑǀwáːᵑǀwa// "sour corn meal" | |
| ng | pronounced as //ŋ(ɡ)// | ingane pronounced as //ínɡáːne// "child" | |
| ngc | pronounced as //ᵑǀʱ// | ingcosi pronounced as //íᵑǀʱoːsí// "a bit" | |
| ngq | pronounced as //ᵑǃʱ// | ingqondo pronounced as //íᵑǃʱoːndo// "brain" | |
| ngx | pronounced as //ᵑǁʱ// | ingxenye pronounced as //íᵑǁʱéːɲe// "part" | |
| nj | pronounced as //ɲdʒ// | inja pronounced as //îːɲdʒá// "dog" | |
| nk | pronounced as //ŋk// | inkomo pronounced as //íŋkoːmó// "cow" | |
| nq | pronounced as //ᵑǃ// | inqola pronounced as //íᵑǃóːla// "cart" | |
| ntsh | pronounced as //ɲtʃ// | intshe pronounced as //îːɲtʃé// "ostrich" | |
| nx | pronounced as //ᵑǁ// | inxeba pronounced as //íːᵑǁeːɓa// "wound" | |
| ny | pronounced as /link/ | inyoni pronounced as //íɲoːni// "bird" | |
| o | pronounced as //o// | uphondo pronounced as //úːpʰoːndo// "horn" | |
| p | pronounced as /link/ | ipipi pronounced as //îːpíːpi// "pipe for smoking" | |
| ph | pronounced as //pʰ// | ukupheka pronounced as //uɠúpʰeːɠa// "to cook" | |
| q | pronounced as /link/ | iqaqa pronounced as //íːǃaːǃá// "polecat" | |
| qh | pronounced as //ǃʰ// | iqhude pronounced as //îːǃʰúːde// "rooster" | |
| r | pronounced as /link/ | iresiphi pronounced as //iːrésiːpʰi// "recipe" | |
| s | pronounced as /link/ | isisu pronounced as //isíːsu// "stomach" | |
| sh | pronounced as /link/ | ishumi pronounced as //îːʃûːmi// "ten" | |
| t | pronounced as /link/ | itiye pronounced as //îːtíːje// "tea" | |
| th | pronounced as //tʰ// | ukuthatha pronounced as //úɠutʰáːtʰa// "to take" | |
| ts | pronounced as /link/ | itswayi pronounced as //íːtswaːjí// "salt" | |
| tsh | pronounced as /link/ | utshani pronounced as //útʃaːní// "grass" | |
| u | pronounced as //u// | ubusuku pronounced as //úɓusûːɠu// "night" | |
| v | pronounced as /link/ | ukuvala pronounced as //uɠúvaːla// "to close" | |
| w | pronounced as /link/ | ukuwela pronounced as //uɠúweːla// "to cross" | |
| pronounced as //wʱ// | wuthando pronounced as //wʱúːtʰâːndo// "It's love." | ||
| x | pronounced as /link/ | ixoxo pronounced as //íːǁoːǁo// "frog" | |
| xh | pronounced as //ǁʰ// | ukuxhasa pronounced as //úɠuǁʰáːsa// "to support" | |
| y | pronounced as /link/ | uyise pronounced as //újiːsé// "his/her/their father" | |
| pronounced as //jʱ// | yintombazane pronounced as //jʱintómbazâːne// "It's a girl" | ||
| z | pronounced as /link/ | umzuzu pronounced as //umúzuːzú// "moment" |
Reference works and older texts may use additional letters. A common former practice was to indicate the implosive pronounced as //ɓ// using the special letter Zulu: ɓ, while the digraph Zulu: bh would then be simply written as Zulu: b. Some references may also write Zulu: h after letters to indicate that they are of the depressor variety, e.g. Zulu: mh, Zulu: nh, Zulu: yh, a practice that is standard in Xhosa orthography.
Very early texts, from the early 20th century or before, tend to omit the distinction between plain and aspirated voiceless consonants, writing the latter without the Zulu: h.
Nouns are written with their prefixes as one orthographical word. If the prefix ends with a vowel (as most do) and the noun stem also begins with a vowel, a hyphen is inserted in between, e.g. Zulu: i-Afrika. This occurs only with loanwords.
See main article: Zulu grammar. Here are some of the main features of Zulu:
Zulu: '''B'''onke '''aba'''ntu '''aba'''qatha '''ba'''sepulazini '''ba'''yagawula.
All the strong people on the farm are felling (trees).
The various agreements that qualify the word "abantu" (people) can be seen in effect.
Suffixes are also put into common use to show the causative or reciprocal forms of a verb stem.
The root can be combined with several prefixes and thus create other words. For example, here is a table with some words constructed from the roots -Zulu: Zulu and Zulu: -ntu (the root for person/people):
| Prefix | Zulu: -zulu | Zulu: -ntu |
|---|---|---|
| Zulu: '''um(u)''' | Zulu: um|italic=noZulu: Zulu (a Zulu person) | Zulu: umu|italic=noZulu: ntu (a person) |
| Zulu: '''ama, aba''' | Zulu: ama|italic=noZulu: Zulu (Zulu people) | Zulu: aba|italic=noZulu: ntu (people) |
| Zulu: '''isi''' | Zulu: isi|italic=noZulu: Zulu (the Zulu language) | Zulu: isi|italic=noZulu: ntu (culture, heritage, mankind) |
| Zulu: '''ubu''' | Zulu: ubuZulu|italic=no (personification/Zulu-like tendencies) | Zulu: ubu|italic=noZulu: ntu (humanity, compassion) |
| Zulu: '''kwa''' | Zulu: kwa|italic=noZulu: Zulu (place of the Zulu people) | – |
| Zulu: '''i(li)''' | Zulu: i|italic=noZulu: zulu (the weather/sky/heaven) | – |
| Zulu: '''pha''' | Zulu: phe|italic=noZulu: zulu (on top) | – |
| Zulu: '''e''' | Zulu: e|italic=noZulu: zulZulu: wini|italic=no (in, at, to, from heaven) | – |
The following is a list of phrases that can be used when one visits a region whose primary language is Zulu:
| Zulu: Sawubona | Hello, to one person | |
| Zulu: Sanibonani | Hello, to a group of people | |
| Zulu: Unjani? / Zulu: Ninjani? | How are you (sing.)? / How are you (pl.)? | |
| Zulu: Ngiyaphila / Zulu: Siyaphila | I'm okay / We're okay | |
| Zulu: Ngiyabonga (kakhulu) | Thanks (a lot) | |
| Zulu: Ngubani igama lakho? | What is your name? | |
| Zulu: Igama lami ngu... | My name is... | |
| Zulu: Isikhathi sithini? | What's the time? | |
| Zulu: Ngingakusiza? | Can I help you? | |
| Zulu: Uhlala kuphi? | Where do you stay? | |
| Zulu: Uphumaphi? | Where are you from? | |
| Zulu: Hamba kahle / Zulu: Sala kahle | Go well / Stay well, used as goodbye. The person staying says "Zulu: Hamba kahle", and the person leaving says "Zulu: Sala kahle". Other translations include Go gently and Walk in peace.[18] | |
| Zulu: Hambani kahle / Zulu: Salani kahle | Go well / Stay well, to a group of people | |
| Zulu: Eish! | Wow! (No real European equivalent, used in South African English) (you could try a semi-expletive, such as oh my gosh or what the heck. It expresses a notion of shock and surprise) | |
| Zulu: Hhayibo | No! / Stop | / No way! (used in South African English too) |
|---|---|---|
| Zulu: Yebo | Yes | |
| Zulu: Cha | No | |
| Zulu: Angazi | I don't know | |
| Zulu: Uyasikhuluma isiNgisi na? | Do you speak English? | |
| Zulu: Ngisaqala ukufunda isiZulu | I've just started learning Zulu | |
| Zulu: Uqonde ukuthini? | What do you mean? | |
| Zulu: Ngiyakuthanda. | I love you |
The following is from the preamble to the Constitution of South Africa:
| Zulu: Thina, bantu baseNingizimu Afrika, Siyakukhumbula ukucekelwa phansi kwamalungelo okwenzeka eminyakeni eyadlula; Sibungaza labo abahluphekela ubulungiswa nenkululeko kulo mhlaba wethu; Sihlonipha labo abasebenzela ukwakha nokuthuthukisa izwe lethu; futhi Sikholelwa ekutheni iNingizimu Afrika ingeyabo bonke abahlala kuyo, sibumbene nakuba singafani. |
| We, the people of South Africa, Recognise the injustices of our past; Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land; Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity. |
The digital numerical counting etiquette on the fingers begins with the little finger of the left hand to the left thumb and then continues with the right-hand thumb towards the right little finger. Starting with a closed left hand, each finger is extended with each subsequent number from one to five. Once the left hand is open, then counting continues on the right hand with each finger opening in turn. It is noteworthy that in isiZulu, the names for the numbers six to nine reflect either the anatomical name of the digit (six, Zulu: isithupha, means "thumb"), action (seven, Zulu: isikhombisa, means "the one that points out"), or position/placement (eight or Zulu: isishiyagalombili, means "two remaining", and nine or Zulu: isishiyagalolunye, indicating "one remaining").[19]
| IsiZulu | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Zulu: Kunye | One | |
| Zulu: Kubili | Two | |
| Zulu: Kuthathu | Three | |
| Zulu: Kune | Four | |
| Zulu: Isihlanu | Five | |
| Zulu: Isithupha | Six | |
| Zulu: Isikhombisa | Seven | |
| Zulu: Isishiyagalombili | Eight | |
| Zulu: Isishiyagalolunye | Nine | |
| Zulu: Ishumi | Ten |
Months in Zulu
| English | Zulu | |
|---|---|---|
| January | Zulu: uMasingana | |
| February | Zulu: uNhlolanja | |
| March | Zulu: uNdasa | |
| April | Zulu: uMbaso | |
| May | Zulu: uNhlaba | |
| June | Zulu: uNhlangulana | |
| July | Zulu: uNtulikazi | |
| August | Zulu: uNcwaba | |
| September | Zulu: uMandulo | |
| October | Zulu: uMfumfu | |
| November | Zulu: uLwezi | |
| December | Zulu: uZibandlela |
In 1912, Franz Mayr, an Austrian missionary in southern Africa from 1890 until his death in 1914,[20] published a collection of 150 proverbs in Zulu with an English translation.[21] The proverbs include:
John Colenso also included a selection of Zulu proverbs with English translations in his Zulu-English Dictionary, first published in 1884.[22] Here are some of those proverbs:
In 1868, Henry Callaway published a collection of traditional Zulu tales told by storytellers in the Colony of Natal; the book includes the Zulu text accompanied by an English translation.[23] The stories include the Tale of Uhlakanyana, a long cycle narrating the adventures of the famous Zulu trickster figure;[24] the story of the Zulu hero Usikulumi and his family;[25] the story of Usitungusohenthle who was carried away by pigeons;[26] and the legend of the mythical bird that gave milk,[27] along with an account of the very real honeyguide bird, called inhlamvu in Zulu.[28] There are many cannibal stories, including Itshe Likantunjambili, "The Cannibal's Cave;" Intombi Namazimu, "The Girl and the Cannibals;" "Umbadhlanyana and the Cannibal;" and Amazimu, "Cannibals," along with an appendix on cannibalism.[29] Women are the main characters in many of the stories, such as Ugungqu-Kubantwana, the popular folktale of the old woman who must seek a pond of clear water;[30] the tale of Princess Umkxakaza-Wakogingqwayo;[31] the tale of Princess Umdhlubu;[32] and the tale of Princess Untombi-Yapansi,[33] along with the story of Ununana-Bosele, the woman who defeated a swallowing monster in the form of an elephant.[34] Some stories, like Ubongopa-Kamagadhlela,[35] feature numerous songs in Zulu, for which Callaway provides the lyrics but not the music.
In 1870, Callaway published The Religious System of the Amazulu[36] which also contains Zulu texts and English translations, including Unkulunkulu, "The Tradition of Creation,"[37] along with lengthy Zulu testimony regarding ancestor worship, dream interpretation, divination, and medicine.
Callaway's 1868 collection of Zulu texts also contains 12 riddles in Zulu with an English translation.[38] The riddles include:
There are six Zulu riddles reported in the Folklore Journal of the South African Folklore Society in 1880.[39] Here are two of them:
In 1920, Madikane Čele contributed Zulu song lyrics and music to Natalie Curtis Burlin's book Songs and Tales from the Dark Continent.[40] Zulu texts and English translations, plus commentary, are provided for "Iga'ma Le 'Mpi," "A Song of War;"[41] "Iga'ma La Bantwa'na," "A Song of Children" (lullaby);[42] "Iga'ma Lo Kusi'na," "A Dance-Song;"[43] "Iga'ma Lo Ta'ndo,"[44] "A Love-Song," along with the music for the songs.[45]
South African English has absorbed many words from the Zulu language. Others, such as the names of local animals (Zulu: [[impala]] and Zulu: [[mamba]] are both Zulu names) have made their way into standard English. A few examples of Zulu words used in South African English: