Venda, also called Tshivenḓa or Luvenḓa, is a Bantu language and an official language of South Africa. Most Venda speakers live in South Africa, but some speakers live in Zimbabwe. The Venda language is very similar to the Kalanga language, which is spoken in Botswana and Zimbabwe. During the Apartheid era of South Africa, Venda speakers lived in the bantustan of Venda.
Venda is a language in the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo language family.
Where it is spoken [change]
Where Tshivenda is spoken in South Africa:
proportion (percentage) of the population that speaks Tshivenda at home.
| 0–20% 20–40% 40–60% |
|
60–80% 80–100% |
Where Tshivenda is spoken in South Africa:
density of the population that speaks Tshivenda at home.
| <1 /km² 1–3 /km² 3–10 /km² 10–30 /km² 30–100 /km² |
|
100–300 /km² 300–1000 /km² 1000–3000 /km² >3000 /km² |
Venda is spoken by about 666,000 people in the northern part of South Africa's Limpopo Province. Around 84,000 people in Zimbabwe also speak the language.
The Venda language uses the Latin alphabet. It has five (5) extra accented letters. Four consonants have a circumflex below the letter (ḓ, ḽ, ṋ, ṱ) and one consonant has an overdot (ṅ).
The Venda alphabet
| A a |
B b |
D d |
Ḓ ḓ |
E e |
F f |
|
| G g |
H h |
I i |
K k |
L l |
Ḽ ḽ |
|
| M m |
N n |
Ṋ ṋ |
Ṅ ṅ |
O o |
P p |
|
| R r |
S s |
T t |
Ṱ ṱ |
U u |
V v |
|
| W w |
X x |
Y y |
Z z |
|
The letters C, J, and Q are used when writing foreign words and names.
| letter(s) |
value(s) in IPA |
notes |
| a |
[a] |
|
| b |
[b] |
|
| bv |
[b̪v] |
|
| bw |
[bɣw] or [bj] |
Varies by dialect |
| d |
[d] |
|
| dz |
[d͡z] |
|
| dzh |
[d͡ʒ] |
Like the English "j" |
| dzw |
[d͡zw] |
|
| ḓ |
[d̪] |
|
| e |
[ɛ], [e] |
|
| f |
[f] |
|
| fh |
[ɸ] |
|
| g |
[ɡ] |
|
| h |
[ɦ], [h] |
Pronounced h] before e. |
| hw |
[ɣw] |
|
| i |
[i] |
|
| k |
[kˀ] |
|
| kh |
[kʰ] |
|
| khw |
[kʰw] |
|
| l |
[ɭ] |
|
| ḽ |
[l̪] |
|
| m |
[m], [m̩] |
M is syllabic, [m̩], when the next syllable begins with m. |
| n |
[n], [n̩] |
N is syllabic, when the next syllable begins with n. |
| ng |
[ŋɡ] |
|
| ny |
[ɲ] |
|
| nz |
[nd͡z] |
|
| ṋ |
[n̪] |
|
| ṅ |
[ŋ] |
|
| ṅw |
[ŋw] |
|
| o |
[ɔ], [o] |
|
| p |
[pˀ] |
|
| ph |
[pʰ] |
|
| pf |
[p̪f] |
|
| pfh |
[p̪fʰ] |
|
| r |
[ɾ] |
|
| s |
[s] |
|
| sh |
[ʃ] |
|
| sw |
[ʂ] |
|
| t |
[tˀ] |
|
| th |
[tʰ] |
|
| ts |
[t͡s] |
|
| tsh |
[t͡ʃʰ] |
|
| tsw |
[t͡sw] |
|
| ty |
[c] |
|
| ṱ |
[t̪] |
|
| ṱh |
[t̪h] |
|
| u |
[u] |
|
| v |
[v] |
|
| vh |
[β] |
|
| w |
[w] |
|
| x |
[x] |
Like the ch in Scottish 'loch.' |
| y |
[j] |
|
| z |
[z] |
|
| zh |
[ʒ] |
|
| zw |
[ʐ] |
|
The extra letters have these Unicode names
- Ḓ U+1E12 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER D WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
- ḓ U+1E13 LATIN SMALL LETTER D WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
- Ḽ U+1E3C LATIN CAPITAL LETTER L WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
- ḽ U+1E3D LATIN SMALL LETTER L WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
- Ṅ U+1E44 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH DOT ABOVE
- ṅ U+1E45 LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH DOT ABOVE
- Ṋ U+1E4A LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
- ṋ U+1E4B LATIN SMALL LETTER N WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
- Ṱ U+1E70 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER T WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
- ṱ U+1E71 LATIN SMALL LETTER T WITH CIRCUMFLEX BELOW
References [change]
Other websites [change]
Computer programs [change]
South Africa
Zimbabwe
