Back Zoeloe Afrikaans ዙሉኛ Amharic Idioma zulú AN ज़ुलु भाषा ANP اللغة الزولوية Arabic الزولويه ARZ Idioma zulú AST Zulu dili Azerbaijani IsiZulu BAR Зулу Byelorussian
| Zulu | |
|---|---|
| isiZulu | |
| Pronunciation | [isízṳːlu] |
| Native to | South Africa, Lesotho |
| Region |
|
| Ethnicity | Zulu |
Native speakers | 15 million (2022)[1] L2 speakers: 16 million (2002)[2] |
| Dialects |
|
| Latin (Zulu alphabet) Zulu Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko | |
| Signed Zulu | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  South Africa |
| Regulated by | Pan South African Language Board |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | zu |
| ISO 639-2 | zul |
| ISO 639-3 | zul |
| Glottolog | zulu1248 |
S.42[3] | |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUT-fg incl. varieties 99-AUT-fga to 99-AUT-fge |
 Proportion of the South African population that speaks Zulu at home
0–20%
20–40%
40–60%
60–80%
80–100%
| |
| Zulu | |
|---|---|
| Person | umZulu |
| People | amaZulu |
| Language | isiZulu |
| Country | kwaZulu |
Zulu (/ˈzuːluː/ ZOO-loo), or IsiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken and indigenous to Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 13.56 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.[4] The word "KwaZulu-Natal" translates into English as "Home of the Zulu Nation is Natal". Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population.[5] It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994.[6]
According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili.[a] Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet.
In South African English, the language is often referred to in its native form, isiZulu.[10]
- ^ Zulu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development", Impact: Studies in language and society, 14:78
- ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ "Zulu speaking countries". www.worlddata.info. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
- ^ Ethnologue 2005
- ^ Carter, Phillip M. (2016). Languages In The World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language. Wiley. p. 139. ISBN 9781118531280.
- ^ Swahili, Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015): "47,000,000 in Tanzania, all users. L1 users: 15,000,000 (2012), increasing. L2 users: 32,000,000 (2015 D. Nurse). Total users in all countries: 98,310,110 (as L1: 16,010,110; as L2: 82,300,000)."
- ^ "Ethnologue: Zulu". Ethnologue. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
- ^ "Ethnologue: Shona". Retrieved 6 March 2017.
- ^ sahoboss (3 April 2011). "Zulu". South African History Online. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
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