Shona language

Shona ( ;Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh ) is a Bantu language spoken by the Shona people of Zimbabwe and Mozambique. The term is variously used to collectively describe all the Central Shonic varieties (comprising Zezuru, Manyika, Korekore and Karanga or Ndau) or specifically Standard Shona, a variety codified in the mid-20th century. By the broader definition, the language is spoken by over 14 million people.

The larger group of historically related languages—called Shona or Shonic languages by linguists—also includes Ndau (Eastern Shona) and Kalanga (Western Shona). In Guthrie's classification of Bantu languages, zone S.10 designates the Shonic group.

Instruction

Shona is a written standard language with an orthography and grammar that was codified during the early 20th century and fixed in the 1950s. In the 1920s, the Rhodesian administration was faced with the challenge of preparing schoolbooks and other materials in the various languages and dialects and requested the recommendation of South African linguist Clement Doke. The language is now described through monolingual and bilingual dictionaries (chiefly Shona – English).

The first novel in Shona, Solomon Mutswairo's Feso, was published in 1957. Subsequently, hundreds of novels, short story collections and poetry volumes in Shona have appeared. Shona is taught in the schools, but after the first few grades it is not the general medium of instruction for subjects other than Shona grammar and literature.

Varieties

The last systematic study of varieties and sub-varieties of the Central Shona dialect continuum was that done by Clement Doke in 1930, so many sub-varieties are no longer functional and should be treated with caution.

According to information from Ethnologue:

S14 Karanga (Chikaranga). Spoken in southern Zimbabwe, near Masvingo. It is also mostly spoken in the Midlands province, most notably in Gutu, Masvingo, Mberengwa and Zvishavane districts. Some people refer it as Vhitori. Subdialects: Duma, Jena, Mhari (Mari), Ngova, Venda (not the Venda language), Govera.

S12 Zezuru (Chizezuru, Bazezuru, Bazuzura, Mazizuru, Vazezuru, Wazezuru). Spoken in Mashonaland east and central Zimbabwe, near Harare. The standard language. Standard Shona is based on Zezuru, and this has led to the decline and possible extinction of other related languages now referred to as "Shona dialects". Subdialects: Shawasha, Gova, Mbire, Tsunga, Kachikwakwa, Harava, Nohwe, Njanja, Nobvu, Kwazvimba (Zvimba).

S11 Korekore (Northern Shona, Goba, Gova, Shangwe). Spoken in northern Zimbabwe, Mvurwi, Bindura, Mt Darwin, Guruve, Chiweshe, Centenary. Subdialects: Gova, Tande, Tavara, Nyongwe, Pfunde, Shangwe.

Languages with partial intelligibility with Central Shona, of which the speakers are considered to be ethnically Shona, are the S15 Ndau language, spoken in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, and the S13 Manyika language, spoken in eastern Zimbabwe, near Mutare specifically Chipinge. Ndau literacy material has been introduced into primary schools. Maho (2009) recognizes Korekore, Zezuru, Manyika, Karanga, and Ndau as distinct languages within the Shona cluster.

Phonology Shona allows only open syllables. Consonants belong to the next syllable. For example, ("morning") is syllabified as ; is . Shona is written with a phonemic orthography, with only slightly different pronunciation or grammatical differences according to variety. Shona has two tones, a high and a low tone, but these tones are not indicated in the standard writing system.

Vowels Shona has a simple 5-vowels system: . This inventory is quite common cross-linguistically, with similar systems occurring in Greek, Spanish, Tagalog, Swahili and Japanese. Each vowel is pronounced separately even if they fall in succession. For example, ? ("Where do you go?") is pronounced .

Consonants The consonant sounds of Shona are:

BilabialLabio-dentalAlveolarPalatalVelarGlottalplainwhistledPlosivevoiceless breathy implosive prenasalized Affricatevoiceless breathy prenasalized Fricativevoiceless breathy prenasalized Nasalplain breathy Trill Approximant

Whistled sibilants

Shona and other languages of Southern and Eastern Africa include whistling sounds, (this should not be confused with whistled speech).

Shona's whistled sibilants are the fricatives "sv" and "zv" and the affricates "tsv" and "dzv".

Sound example translation notessv "shooting stars""sv" can be represented by , from the Extensions to the International Phonetic Alphabet "ants"tsv "sweep" (Standard Shona)svw "schemer" (Shangwe, Korekore dialect)zv "gold nuggets" (Tsunga, Zezuru dialect)dzv "he/she was unsuccessful" zvw"emotions" (Gova, Korekore dialect)nzv"to dodge" (Standard Shona)zvc "the Milky Way"Dental clicks. Only found in Ngova, Karanga dialect.svc "tortoise" Whistled sibilants stirred interest among the Western public and media in 2006, due to questions about how to pronounce the name of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe. The BBC Pronunciation Unit recommended the pronunciation "chang-girr-ayi" .

Special characters

' - the apostrophe can be used after the character "n" to create a sound similar to the "-ng" from the English word "ping". An example word is , which is the word for a traditional healer.

Alphabet

+ Shona alphabet Letter Name IPA A B Bh Ch (Č) D Dh (Ď) E F G H I J K M N Nh (Ň) O P R S Sh (Š) T U V Vh W Y Z Zh (Ž) + Shona digraphs Digraph IPA bv dz dzv dy mb mbw mh mv nd ng nj ny nz nzv pf sv sw ts tsv ty zv The letters "L", "Q", and "X" are not used in Shona and are used only in loanwords.

Old alphabet From 1931 to 1955, Unified Shona was written with an alphabet developed by linguist Clement Martyn Doke. This included the following:

+ Doke alphabet letters Letter Description ɓ b with hook ɗ d with hook ŋ n with leg ȿ s with swash tail ʋ v with hook ɀ z with swash tail

In 1955, these were replaced by letters or digraphs from the basic Latin alphabet. For example, today is used for and is used for .

Grammar Noun classes ()

Shona nouns are grouped by noun class () based on:

Meanings () e.g. words found in class 1 and 2 describe a person: ("person") is in 1 and ("girl") is in 2. Prefix () e.g. words in class 1 have prefix -, class 8 -, class 10 -, class 11 -, etc. Empty prefix units refer to words that do not require a prefix Singular and plural forms () e.g. words found in class 8 are plurals of class 7: ("schools") in class 8 is the plural form of ("school") in class 7. Agreement () e.g. words in class 5 have accordance of the marker -- with pronouns and modifiers: ("this crocodile"), ("this stone"), ("this baboon"); means 'this'. Noun class("word example")Word constructionPrefix+body=wordEnglish translationPrefixBody1"boy"1a –"father"2"boys" 2a"best friend"2a"father-in-law"2b"aunt"3"tree"4"trees"5"scorpion"6"scorpions"7"bread"8"bread"9"house"10"houses"11"river"12"that little dog"13"those little dogs"14"mealie meal"15"going"16"home"17"rural home"17a –"below"18"in the farm"19"goat"21"big boy"

Sample text in Shona

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Shona language

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