This study investigates the linguistic relationship between Southern and Northern Ndebele. The focus is on the historical background of the two main South African Ndebele groups, covering various linguistic aspects, such as phonology, morphology, lexicography and spelling rules. The research reveals that, despite the fact that Southern and Northern Ndebele share a common name and historical background, the death of the Ndebele ancestral chief, Musi, at KwaMnyamana, which caused this nation to split into Southern and Northern Ndebele, resulted in the two Ndebele languages. As this study shows, these differ substantially from each other. The two Ndebele languages are examined, phonologically, in Chapters Three and Four revealing demonstrable phonological differences. Southern Ndebele, for instance, has several sounds (e.g., click sounds) that do not occur in its northern counterpart, while Northern Ndebele contains a number of non-Nguni sounds (e.g., interdentals) that do not occur in Southern Ndebele. Phonologically, Southern Ndebele, like other Zunda Nguni languages, employs the voiced lateral alveolar fricative phoneme /z/ [z] (e.g., izifo ‘diseases’), whereas Northern Ndebele, like other Tekela Nguni languages, uses the ejective interdental explosive /t/ [t’] (e.g., tifo ‘diseases’). Morphophonologicallly, the so-called denasalition feature that both languages manifest in their primary and secondary nasal compounds (i.e., Classes 9 and 10 noun class prefixes) occurs in almost opposing ways. In Southern Ndebele, the nasal /n/ resurfaces in all noun class prefixes of Class 10 nouns, while in Northern Ndebele, it occurs only in the noun class prefixes with monosyllabic stems or stems beginning with a voiced or semi-voiced consonant. This morphophonological feature (denasalisation) has spread to other grammatical environments, such as adjectival concords, inclusive quantitative pronouns and all formatives with the nasal compound ng [g] , in Northern Ndebele. The two languages also reveal that there are differences in assimilation, syllabification, palatalization, vowel elision, vowel substitution, consonantalization, glide insertion and labialization. Chapters Five to Eight focus on morphological differences. Here, the two Ndebele languages show differences in the various word categories: nouns, pronouns, qualificatives, copulatives, adverbs, moods, tenses, verbs, auxiliary verbs, conjunctives and ideophones. For instance, whereas Southern Ndebele noun class prefixes, like other Nguni languages – such as isiZulu and isiXhosa – comprises the pre-prefix + basic prefix + stem (e.g., u-mu-ntu ‘person’ a-ba-ntu ‘people’), in Northern Ndebele, this word category comprises the basic prefix + stem like Sotho languages (e.g., mu-nru ‘person’ ba-nru ‘people’). In addition, while the noun class prefix of Class 8 in Southern Ndebele contains a nasal before polysyllabic noun stems (e.g., iinkhova ‘owls’), in Northern Ndebele, Class 8 noun class prefixes contain no nasal (e.g., tikxabula ‘shoe’). Lexically, the most salient differences are that, although the two Ndebele languages share similar Nguni vocabulary, they have been unequally influenced by the neighbouring Sotho languages. Most importantly, despite the fact that both Ndebele languages have borrowed words from Northern Sotho and Setswana, Northern Ndebele has borrowed many more terms than Southern Ndebele. Lastly, in line with the Southern Ndebele (2008) and Northern Ndebele (2001) Spelling Rules, this investigation observes that the two Ndebele languages differ radically. In Southern Ndebele, for instance, there are numerous language aspects that have spelling rules governing their encryption, but in Northern Ndebele no rules exist as yet for such aspects. The findings reveal that Southern and Northern can be regarded as two distinct languages that deserve autonomous development even though they trace their origin from the same historical source. / Thesis (DLitt)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / African Languages / unrestricted

PhD (Tshivenda) / Senthara ya M.E.R. Mathivha ya Nyambo dza Afrika kha Vhutsila na Mvelele / Tshivenḓa is one of African languages spoken in the Northern parts of South Africa and some parts of Zimbabwe. This proposal focuses on a study of selected phonological processes involving Tshivenḓa vowels. The Tshivenḓa phonological processes involving vowels under this study include vowel elision/deletion, vowel epenthesis, vowel coalescence, vowel nasalisation, vowel harmony, vowel raising and glide formation. In this regard, consonants are not part and parcel of this study. Furthermore, the study enriches the phonology of Tshivenḓa with more phonological processes thereby adding on the existing literature. The study also attempts to motivate and encourage Tshivenḓa speaking people and those who are interested in the language to have a clear understanding of phonological processes which occur in Tshivenḓa. The theoretical framework underpinning this study is the Optimality Theory (OT). The study will be carried out through phonological analysis, that is, field work and word list. Secondary sources will also be used for data collection.

This dissertation is an analysis of the segmental phonology of the Shangani language as spoken in the South Eastern parts of Zimbabwe. It starts by presenting the language situation in Zimbabwe and comparing the language’s status in Zimbabwe with that of its sister varieties in South Africa where it is referred to as Tsonga and in Mozambique where it is referred to as XiChangana or Changana. The dissertation is based on data collected from the speakers of Shangani using a variety of research techniques. The dissertation identifies and characterizes the language’s distinctive phonemes using the minimal pair and set tests. It presents the language’s consonants, which include aspirated, breathy-voiced, pre-nasalized, labialized and palatalized consonants. It shows that in Shangani, voiceless consonants cannot be pre-nasalized and that there is an incompatibility between that labio-velar glide /w/ and most labial consonants excpt /m/. The phonemes are analysed using Chomsky and Halle’s (1968) distinctive feature theory. The study uses Clements and Keyser’s (1983) CV phonology of the syllable structure to analyse the language’s syllable structure. The language’s canonical syllable structure is CV. It is also shown that consonant clusters are gaining their way into the language through borrowing from English, Afrikaans and other languages that have consonant clusters in their inventories. Onsetless Vs are marginally attested word-initially. In agent nouns, VV sequences are in most cases retained. These sequences are not analysed as diphthongs since they occupy different V slots on the syllable tier. The second vowel in the sequence is the onsetless syllable. Affricates, NCs, Cws and Cjs are presented as unitary segments that occupy a single C slot of the CV tier. Phonological processes that are attested in the language are also presented. Secondary articulation, vowel deletion, feature spreading, vowel coalescence and nasalization are shown to be the most common phonological process in the language. Since Shangani has the CV syllable typology, most of the phonological processes are there to resolve hiatus that would have been induced by suffixation of vowel commencing stems or suffixes to vowel final prefixes or stems. The notion of domains is shown to be a diagnostic tool for identifying a process in a hiatus situation. The study shows that vowel deletion is the least preferred strategy when secondary articulation, feature spreading, vowel coalescence have been blocked by some constraints like syllable structure processes or the language’s phonotactics / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This dissertation is an analysis of the segmental phonology of the Shangani language as spoken in the South Eastern parts of Zimbabwe. It starts by presenting the language situation in Zimbabwe and comparing the language’s status in Zimbabwe with that of its sister varieties in South Africa where it is referred to as Tsonga and in Mozambique where it is referred to as XiChangana or Changana. The dissertation is based on data collected from the speakers of Shangani using a variety of research techniques. The dissertation identifies and characterizes the language’s distinctive phonemes using the minimal pair and set tests. It presents the language’s consonants, which include aspirated, breathy-voiced, pre-nasalized, labialized and palatalized consonants. It shows that in Shangani, voiceless consonants cannot be pre-nasalized and that there is an incompatibility between that labio-velar glide /w/ and most labial consonants excpt /m/. The phonemes are analysed using Chomsky and Halle’s (1968) distinctive feature theory. The study uses Clements and Keyser’s (1983) CV phonology of the syllable structure to analyse the language’s syllable structure. The language’s canonical syllable structure is CV. It is also shown that consonant clusters are gaining their way into the language through borrowing from English, Afrikaans and other languages that have consonant clusters in their inventories. Onsetless Vs are marginally attested word-initially. In agent nouns, VV sequences are in most cases retained. These sequences are not analysed as diphthongs since they occupy different V slots on the syllable tier. The second vowel in the sequence is the onsetless syllable. Affricates, NCs, Cws and Cjs are presented as unitary segments that occupy a single C slot of the CV tier. Phonological processes that are attested in the language are also presented. Secondary articulation, vowel deletion, feature spreading, vowel coalescence and nasalization are shown to be the most common phonological process in the language. Since Shangani has the CV syllable typology, most of the phonological processes are there to resolve hiatus that would have been induced by suffixation of vowel commencing stems or suffixes to vowel final prefixes or stems. The notion of domains is shown to be a diagnostic tool for identifying a process in a hiatus situation. The study shows that vowel deletion is the least preferred strategy when secondary articulation, feature spreading, vowel coalescence have been blocked by some constraints like syllable structure processes or the language’s phonotactics / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)