Northern Ndebele language

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

Northern Ndebele (English: /ɛndəˈbiːliː/) is an African language. It is also called Sindebele, Zimbabwean Ndebele^[1] or North Ndebele,^[3][4] and formerly known as Matabele. It is part of the Nguni group of Bantu languages. It is spoken by the amaNdebele,^[5] Ndebele and Matabele people of Zimbabwe. It is also known as siNdebele or simply Ndebele.^[5]

Ndebele is related to the Zulu language spoken in South Africa. The Ndebele people of Zimbabwe are descended from followers of the Zulu leader Mzilikazi. Mzilikazi and his people left kwaZulu in the early 1800s during the Mfecane. They travelled North, past what is now Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, in South Africa, and into Zimbabwe and Botswana. There are Sindebele speakers in many places in Southern Africa.^[6]

The Northern Ndebele language and the Southern Ndebele language are not two variations of the same language. Both are Bantu languages, but Northern Ndebele is very similar to Zulu. The Southern Ndebele language has similarities to the Sotho and Tswana languages.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Ndebele at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
2. ↑ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
3. ↑ "Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: nde". ISO 639-2 Registration Authority - Library of Congress. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22. Retrieved 2017-07-04. Name: North Ndebele
4. ↑ "Documentation for ISO 639 identifier: nde". ISO 639-3 Registration Authority - SIL International. Archived from the original on 2017-11-01. Retrieved 2017-07-04. Name: North Ndebele
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "Northern Ndebele Blog". Northern Ndebele Blog.
6. ↑ "Regions where Ndebele is spooken". Northern Ndebele for Beginners.