Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Xhosa is spoken by about 18% of the South African population, and has some mutual intelligibility with Zulu, especially Zulu spoken in urban areas. Many Xhosa speakers, particularly those living in urban areas, also speak Zulu and/or Afrikaans and/or English. [11]
Xhosa (/ ˈ k ɔː s ə / KAW-sə or / ˈ k oʊ s ə / ⓘ KOH-sə, [5] [6] [7] Xhosa: [ᵏǁʰôːsa] ⓘ), formerly spelled Xosa and also known by its local name isiXhosa, is a Bantu language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. [8]
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.
Zulu people in KwaZulu-Natal. The term African in South Africa generally refers to individuals who can trace their ancestral lineage exclusively on the continent, excluding Europe, Oceania, the Americas or Asia. [citation needed]
The Zulu were originally a minor clan in what is today Northern KwaZulu-Natal, founded c. 1574 by Zulu kaMalandela.In the Nguni languages, iZulu means heaven or weather. At that time, the area was occupied by many large Nguni communities and clans (also called the isizwe people or nation, or called isibongo, referring to their clan or family name).
At least thirty-five languages are spoken in South Africa, twelve of which are official languages of South Africa: Ndebele, Pedi, Sotho, South African Sign Language, Swazi, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu, and English, which is the primary language used in parliamentary and state discourse, though all official languages are equal in legal status.
Xhosa and Yeyi are Bantu languages, from the two geographic areas of that family that have acquired clicks. (Zulu is similar to Xhosa apart from not having /ᵑꞰˀ/) Damin was an initiation jargon in northern Australia. Each language below is illustrated with Ʞ as a placeholder for the different click types.
The Xhosa often called the "Red Blanket People," are Bantu people living in south-east South Africa and in the last two centuries throughout the southern and central-southern parts of the country. Both the Ndebele of Zimbabwe and the Ngoni migrated northward out of South Africa in the early 19th century, during a politically tumultuous era that ...