A Brief History of the isiZulu Language

IsiZulu is one of the African languages spoken in South Africa. African languages in South Africa are divided into two main groups i.e. Nguni and Sotho. The Nguni group is subdivided into four languages i.e. isiZulu, isiXhosa, isiSwati, and isiNdebele. IsiZulu is the dominant language in South Africa as whole spoken by 24% of the population (census: 2001).

In KwaZulu-Natal it is spoken by 80%, Gauteng 22% and Mpumalanga 26% (Deprez & Du Plessis, 2000). IsiZulu as an African language is different from European languages like English. IsiZulu is an agglutinative language while English is disjunctive,

e.g.

English > I am still eating

IsiZulu > ngisadla

IsiZulu glues morphemes together to form a word or a sentence. One word in isiZulu could be a sentence like the above example. IsiZulu has a noun class system, i.e. all the nouns belong to a certain class. In the structure of isiZulu language there are differences between singular and plural forms. For instance, in commands such as: go (hamba [sg] or hambani [pl]), the ending is different depending on whether you are speaking to one person or more than one.

Part of the
TKZN Network:
www.zulu.org.za
Regions:
- Battlefields
- - Ladysmith
- North Coast (Dolphin Coast)
- Drakensberg
- - East Griqualand
- Durban
- - 1000 Hills
- - Sugarcoast
- Pietermaritzburg
And The Midlands
- - Howick
- - Nottingham Road
- - Boston-Bulwer
- - The Amble
- - The Beer Route
- - Mpophomeni
- Midlands Meander
- South Coast
- -Umdoni (Greater Scottburgh)
- -Hibiscus Coast
- Zululand
- Elephant Coast
Experiences:
- Battlefields
- Beach
- Berg
- Bush
- Buzz
Other Sites:
- KZN Literature
- Community Tourism Association
- Safety and Security
- Backpacking
Miscellaneous:
- Feedback
- Search These Sites

Translations:


Tourism KwaZulu-Natal Email: info@tourism-kzn.org. Telephone: +27 (0) 31 304 7144. Fax: +27 (0) 31 305 6693 Postal Address: TKZN, P.O. Box 2516, Durban 4000, South Africa Street Address: Suite 303 Tourist Junction, 160 Pine Street, Durban 4001, South Africa Durban Airport Office: +27 (0) 31 408 1000 V+A Cape Town Office: +27 (0) 21 405 4540 Careline: 086 010 1099 Fax-on-demand: +27 (0)82 232 5670				Disclaimer: The information in this Web site is used entirely at the reader's discretion, and is made available on the express condition that no liability, expressed or implied, is accepted by the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority or any of its associates, employees, branches or subsidiaries for the accuracy, content or use thereof. Important: links to other Web sites from this Web site do not imply endorsement by the KwaZulu-Natal Tourism Authority.

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