Sindebele language

Northern Ndebele
North Ndebele
siNdebele saseNyakatho
Native to	Zimbabwe, Botswana
Region	Matabeleland North, Matabeleland South in Zimbabwe; North-East District in Botswana
Native speakers	1.6 million (2012)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni Zunda Northern Ndebele
Official status
Official language in	Zimbabwe, Botswana
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`nd` – North Ndebele
ISO 639-2	`nde` – North Ndebele
ISO 639-3	– North Ndebele
Glottolog	`nort2795`
Guthrie code	`S.44`
Linguasphere	`99-AUT-fk incl. varieties 99-AUT-fka to 99-AUT-fkd`

The Ndebele Language
Person	iNdebele
People	amaNdebele (prev. Matebele)
Language	isiNdebele

The Northern Ndebele (siNdebele saseNyakatho) language, also called isiNdebele, Sindebele, Ndebele, or North Ndebele, and formerly known as Matabele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the Ndebele or Matabele people of Zimbabwe.

isiNdebele is related to the Zulu language spoken in South Africa. This is because the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe descend from followers of the Zulu leader Mzilikazi, who left KwaZulu in the early 19th century during the Mfecane.

Northern Ndebele and Transvaal Ndebele are separate languages. Both fall in the Nguni group of Bantu languages, but Zimbabwean Ndebele is essentially a dialect of Zulu, and Transvaal Ndebele is within a different subgroup. The shared name is by contact between Mzilikazi's people and the original amaNdebele through whose territory they crossed during the Mfecane.

Dental

alveolar

There are seven vowel phonemes, written with the letters a, e, i, o, u.

In isiNdebele there are three click consonants c, q and x.

c [ǀ] is made by placing the tip of the tongue against the front upper teeth and gums, the centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip of the tongue is drawn backwards. The resulting sound is similar to the sound used in English to express annoyance. Some examples are cina (end), cela (ask)

The q [!] sound is made by raising the back of the tongue to touch the soft palate and touching the gums with the sides and tip of the tongue. The centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip drawn quickly away from the gum. The resulting sound is like the "pop" heard when quickly removing the cork from a bottle. Some examples are qalisa (start), qeda (finish)

...
Wikipedia