Nguni languages (S40) are located in South Africa (and Zimbabwean Ndebele in western Zimbabwe). They typically show: —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, accompanied in some cases by a pre-prefix called the augment —Development of breathy-voiced consonants, acting as depressor consonants —Development of aspirated consonants —Development of click consonants through contact with Khoekhoe languages
The Nguni group is traditionally divided into two groups, Zunda and Tekela on the basis of their different Z-reflexes, e.g. the word ‘to come’ has z in Zulu uku-za but t in Swati ku-ta.
Tekela Swati (S43), as well as several languages not usually recorded in this dictionary: Bhaca (S402), Hlubi (S403), Phuthi (S404, influenced by Southern Sotho and Xhosa), Nhlangwini (S405), Lala (S406), and Sumayela Ndebele (S408 Sendebele, also called Northern Transvaal Ndebele, influenced by Northern Sotho)
The reconstructed common ancestor of these languages, called Proto-Nguni, was probably spoken around 1000 years ago before developing into different varieties. A possible history of the Nguni languages is represented in this chart by Christie (2023). It is important to note that the various types of contact among groups means that certain features (especially the lexicon) of today's languages do not follow cleanly from a single branching tree.
For innovations at the level of Proto-Nguni or individual Nguni languages, the appendices of Ownby 1981 and 1985 are particularly useful.
Bibliography:
Christie, Camilla R. 2023. Click consonants in contact: A comparative sociohistorical analysis with special reference to Nama-Afrikaans contact. PhD Thesis, Rhodes University.
Ownby, Carolan Postma. 1981. Early Nguni history: linguistic suggestions. South African journal of African languages. Supp. 1. pp. 60-81.
Ownby, Carolan Postma. 1985. Early Nguni History: the Linguistic Evidence and Its Correlation With Archaeology and Oral Tradition. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of California at Los Angeles.
