Venda language facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Tshivenda |
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| Tshivenḓa | ||||
| Native to | South Africa, Zimbabwe | |||
| Region | Limpopo Province | |||
| Native speakers | 1.3 million (2011 census)e18 1.7 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2002) |
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| Language family |
Niger–Congo
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| Writing system | Latin (Venda alphabet) Venda Braille |
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| Official status | ||||
| Official language in |  South Africa Zimbabwe |
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| Guthrie code | S.20 (S.21) | |||
| Linguasphere | 99-AUT-b incl. varieties 99-AUT-baa to 99-AUT-bad |
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Geographical distribution of Tshivenda in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks Tshivenda at home.
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Geographical distribution of Tshivenda in South Africa: density of Tshivenda home-language speakers.
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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.
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.
Writing
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).
| 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 | ||
| b | ||
| bv | ||
| bw | or | Varies by dialect |
| d | ||
| dz | ||
| dzh | Like the English "j" | |
| dzw | ||
| ḓ | ||
| e | ||
| f | ||
| fh | ||
| g | ||
| h | Pronounced before e. | |
| hw | ||
| i | ||
| k | ||
| kh | ||
| khw | ||
| l | ||
| ḽ | ||
| m | M is syllabic when the next syllable begins with m. | |
| n | N is syllabic, when the next syllable begins with n. | |
| ng | ||
| ny | ||
| nz | ||
| ṋ | ||
| ṅ | ||
| ṅw | ||
| o | ||
| p | ||
| ph | ||
| pf | ||
| pfh | ||
| r | ||
| s | ||
| sh | ||
| sw | ||
| t | ||
| th | ||
| ts | ||
| tsh | ||
| tsw | ||
| ty | ||
| ṱ | ||
| ṱh | ||
| u | ||
| v | ||
| vh | ||
| w | ||
| x | Like the ch in Scottish 'loch.' | |
| y | ||
| z | ||
| zh | ||
| zw |
Unicode
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
Computer programs
Images for kids
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[t̪ʼaːɽa]
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[tʼaːɽa]
See also
In Spanish: Idioma venda para niños
