Ndau language

Not to be confused with Ndao language or Pendau language.

Ndau
Region	Mozambique, Zimbabwe, South Africa
Native speakers	(2.4 million cited 2000–2006)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Southern Bantoid Bantu Shona (S.10) Ndau
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ndc
Glottolog	ndau1241
Guthrie code	S.15

Ndau (also called chiNdau, Chindau, Ndzawu, Njao, Chidanda) is a Bantu language spoken by 2,400,000 people.

Ndau is a Shona language and it is mutually intelligible with other Shona languages such as Manyika, Zezuru and Karanga. The 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe accorded Ndau's status as an official language.

It is a national language of Zimbabwe.

Sample text

AIDS awareness street art in Machaze district, promoting condom use. The text reads in Portuguese: "think of the consequences, change behaviour, prevent HIV/ADS". To the left, the same text in the Ndau language.

The mutual intelligibility of Ndau with other Shona varieties is fairly high, but some speakers of other Shona varieties may find it difficult to understand. Differences and similarities can be measured by examining a Ndau version of Lord's Prayer:

Baba edu ari mudenga, ngariremeredzwe zina renyu. UMambo hwenyu ngahuuye. Kuda kwenyu ngakuitwa munyika kudai ngomudenga. Tipei nege kurya kwedu kwatinotama nyamashi. Tirekererei ndaa dzedu kudai tisu takarekerera avo vane ndaa kwetiri. Usatipinza mukuedzwa, asi tinunure kuno uwo wakashata.

The equivalent paragraph in Standard Shona (mainly based on Zezuru) is:

Baba vedu vari kudenga, zita renyu ngarikudzwe. UMambo hwenyu ngahwuuye. Kuda kwenyu ngakuitwe pasi sokudenga. Tipei nhasi kudya kwedu kwakwezuva. Tiregererei zvatinokutadzirai sekuregerera kwatinoita vakatitadzira. Musatipinze mukuedzwa, asi mutinunure mune zvakaipa.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar				Lateral		Post- alveolar		Velar		Glottal
		plain	lab.	plain	wstd.	lab.	pal.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Plosive	voiceless	p	pʷ	t		tʷ	tʲ					k	kʷ
	voiced	b	bʷ	d		dʷ	dʲ					ɡ	ɡʷ
	aspirated	pʰ	pʷʰ	tʰ		tʷʰ	tʲʰ					kʰ	kʷʰ
	implosive	ɓ	ɓʷ	ɗ		ɗʷ	ɗʲ					(ɠ)
	ejective	pʼ		tʼ								kʼ
	prenasal vl.	ᵐp		ⁿt		ⁿtʷ						ᵑk
	prenasal asp.	ᵐpʰ		ⁿtʰ								ᵑkʰ
	prenasal vd.	ᵐb	ᵐbʷ	ⁿd		ⁿdʷ	ⁿdʲ					ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ
Affricate	voiceless	p͡f		t͡s	t͡sᶲ	t͡sʷ				t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ
	voiced	b͡v		d͡z	d͡zᵝ	d͡zʷ				d͡ʒ	d͡ʒʷ
	aspirated	p͡fʰ		t͡sʰ	t͡sᶲʰ	t͡sʷʰ				t͡ʃʰ	t͡ʃʷʰ
	ejective	p͡fʼ		t͡sʼ	t͡sᶲʼ					t͡ʃʼ
	prenasal	ᵐb͡v		ⁿd͡z	ⁿd͡zᵝ	ⁿd͡zʷ				ᶮd͡ʒ	ᶮd͡ʒʷ
Fricative	voiceless	f	fʷ	s	sᶲ	sʷ		ɬ	ɬʷ	ʃ	ʃʷ			h	hʷ
	voiced	v	vʷ	z	zᵝ	zʷ		ɮ	ɮʷ	ʒ	ʒʷ
	prenasal	ᶬv