Venda language

Lore & Background

Venda is spoken by the Venda people in northern Limpopo province and by some Lemba people. Population statistics in Zimbabwe are unclear but may currently stand at a million, concentrated in the south and also spread to other towns and cities, with a significant number of migrant workers in South Africa.

Reader's Guide

Venda is significant as an official language of South Africa and Zimbabwe, representing the cultural identity of the Venda people. Its writing system uses the Latin alphabet with five additional accented letters, including dental consonants with circumflex below (ḓ, ḽ, ṋ, ṱ) and an overdot for velar ṅ. The language also employs the sintu writing system Isibheqe Sohlamvu/Ditema tsa Dinoko, known in Venda as Luṱhofunḓeraru lwa Mibvumo. Phonologically, Venda distinguishes dental from alveolar consonants and labiodental from bilabial fricatives, with no clicks. It has five vowel sounds and a specified high tone, with low tone on unmarked syllables; tone patterns follow Meeussen's rule. The language's legacy includes its role in the apartheid-era Bantustan of Venda and its continued use by migrant workers in South Africa.

Did You Know?

• Venda is the second smallest minority language in South Africa, after Ndebele, with 1.2 million speakers.
• The language uses five additional accented letters in its Latin alphabet, including ḓ, ḽ, ṋ, ṱ, and ṅ.
• Venda distinguishes dental from alveolar consonants and labiodental from bilabial fricatives, with no clicks.
• The sintu writing system Isibheqe Sohlamvu/Ditema tsa Dinoko is also used for Venda, called Luṱhofunḓeraru lwa Mibvumo.