Zulu language

Lore & Background

Zulu, like Xhosa and other Nguni languages, has been spoken in South Africa for hundreds of years. The language possesses several click sounds typical of Southern African languages, which are not found in the rest of Africa, reflecting coexistence with other Southern tribes like the San and Khoi. Other pioneering Zulu writers include Reginald Dhlomo, who wrote several historical novels about 19th-century Zulu leaders, and later contributors such as Benedict Wallet Vilakazi and Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali. The written form was controlled by the Zulu Language Board of KwaZulu-Natal, now superseded by the Pan South African Language Board. Standard Zulu, taught in schools and called 'deep Zulu' (isiZulu esijulile), differs from Urban Zulu (isiZulu sasedolobheni), which uses loan words abundantly, mainly from English. This has led to problems in education because standard Zulu is often not understood by young people.

Reader's Guide

According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili. Its use of click consonants is a distinctive feature shared with several other Southern African languages but rare elsewhere.

Did You Know?

• Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa, with about 13.56 million native speakers.
• Zulu possesses three basic articulations of click consonants: denti-alveolar, postalveolar, and lateral.

Geographical Reach and Linguistic Kinship

Zulu, known natively as isiZulu, belongs to the Nguni branch of the Southern Bantu language family and is indigenous to Southern Africa. Approximately 13.56 million people speak it as their first language, with the majority concentrated in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. It holds the position of the most widely spoken home language in the country, representing 24 percent of the population, while over half of all South Africans understand it to some degree. Ethnologue ranks it as the second most widely spoken Bantu language after Swahili. The language's influence extends beyond its heartland. Migrant Zulu communities carried it into neighboring regions, most notably Zimbabwe, where the closely related Northern Ndebele (isiNdebele) developed. Xhosa, the dominant tongue of the Eastern Cape, is frequently regarded as mutually intelligible with Zulu, as is Northern Ndebele. Linguist Maho (2009) identifies four principal dialects: central KwaZulu-Natal Zulu, northern Transvaal Zulu, eastern coastal Qwabe, and western coastal Cele. In South African English, the language is commonly referred to by its native name, isiZulu.

From Oral Tradition to Written Literature

For centuries, the Zulu people of South Africa preserved their language exclusively through oral tradition, coexisting alongside other Southern African groups such as the San and Khoi. The transition to a written language began with European missionaries who adopted the Latin alphabet to document the tongue. A milestone came in 1850 when Norwegian missionary Hans Schreuder published the first grammar book of Zulu in Norway. The first full written document in the language was a Bible translation that appeared in 1883. The twentieth century saw a flowering of Zulu literary production. John Dube, a Zulu man from Natal, founded the Ohlange Institute in 1901, establishing the first native educational institution in South Africa, and later authored Insila kaShaka in 1930, recognized as the first novel written in Zulu. Reginald Dhlomo followed with a remarkable series of historical novels chronicling nineteenth-century Zulu leaders: U-Dingane (1936), U-Shaka (1937), U-Mpande (1938), U-Cetshwayo (1952), and U-Dinizulu (1968). Other significant literary figures include Benedict Wallet Vilakazi and, in more recent times, Oswald Mbuyiseni Mtshali. The written standard was long overseen by the Zulu Language Board of KwaZulu-Natal before that body was replaced by the Pan South African Language Board.

Post-Apartheid Revival and Global Media Presence

Before 1994, South African governments recognized only English and Afrikaans (and earlier Dutch) as official languages, and all high school instruction was conducted in one of those two tongues. Zulu, however, remained widely used within the KwaZulu bantustan. The end of apartheid in 1994 marked a turning point: Zulu was elevated to one of the country's twelve official languages, and a marked revival of the language followed. Media became a powerful vehicle for that revival. The SABC introduced Zulu-language television in the early 1980s, broadcasting news and a range of programs in the language. Zulu radio enjoys very high popularity, and newspapers such as isoLezwe, Ilanga, and UmAfrika serve readers in KwaZulu-Natal and Johannesburg. In January 2005, the first full-length feature film produced in Zulu, Yesterday, received an Oscar nomination. Zulu has also entered global popular culture. The 1994 film The Lion King incorporated Zulu phrases in its "Circle of Life" song, including "Ingonyama nengw' enamabala," "Nans' ingonyama bakithi Baba," and "Siyonqoba," while "This Land" featured "Busa leli zwe bo" and "Busa ngothando bo." The hymn Siyahamba, originally composed in Zulu, gained widespread popularity in North American churches during the 1990s, and the 2019 remix of Jerusalema includes Zulu lyrics.

A Distinctive Sound System

Zulu's phonology distinguishes it from most other African languages, most notably through its click consonants. These clicks, shared with several other Southern African tongues but virtually absent elsewhere on the continent, represent one of the language's most distinctive features. Three basic articulations of clicks exist in Zulu. The vowel system comprises five vowels, with /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ shifting to [e] and [o] when the following syllable contains the [+ATR] vowels /i/ or /u/, as in umgibeli ("passenger") and ukupheka ("to cook"). Limited vowel length arises from syllable contraction; for instance, ithambo ("bone") is a shortened form of an earlier ilithambo, and uphahla ("roof") derives from uluphahla. The penultimate syllable's vowel is also allophonically lengthened at phrase or sentence end. On the consonant side, plain voiceless plosives and affricates are realized as ejectives. The consonant /ɠ/ appears exclusively in medial positions, while /k/ and /kʰ/ occur almost exclusively root-initially, though recent loanwords like isekhondi ("second") and ibhayisikili ("bicycle") place them elsewhere. Slack-voiced consonants act as depressors, lowering the tone of their syllable. The trill /r/ is not native to Zulu except in expressive words but appears in recent European borrowings.