Zulu language

Zulu
isiZulu
Pronunciation[isízṳːlu]
Native toSouth Africa, Lesotho
Region
EthnicityZulu
Native speakers
15 million (2022)[1]
L2 speakers: 16 million (2002)[2]
Dialects
  • KwaZulu Natal Zulu
  • Transvaal Zulu
  • Qwabe
  • Cele
Latin (Zulu alphabet)
Zulu Braille
Ditema tsa Dinoko
Signed Zulu
Official status
Official language in
 South Africa
Regulated byPan South African Language Board
Language codes
ISO 639-1zu
ISO 639-2zul
ISO 639-3zul
Glottologzulu1248
S.42[3]
Linguasphere99-AUT-fg incl.
varieties 99-AUT-fga to 99-AUT-fge
Proportion of the South African population that speaks Zulu at home
  0–20%
  20–40%
  40–60%
  60–80%
  80–100%
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Zulu
PersonumZulu
PeopleamaZulu
LanguageisiZulu
CountrykwaZulu

Zulu (/ˈzuːluː/ ZOO-loo), or IsiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken and indigenous to Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 13.56 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.[4] The word "KwaZulu-Natal" translates into English as "Home of the Zulu Nation is Natal". Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population.[5] It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994.[6]

According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili.[a] Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet.

In South African English, the language is often referred to in its native form, isiZulu.[10]

  1. ^ Zulu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development", Impact: Studies in language and society, 14:78
  3. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  4. ^ "Zulu speaking countries". www.worlddata.info. Retrieved 16 August 2024.
  5. ^ Ethnologue 2005
  6. ^ Carter, Phillip M. (2016). Languages In The World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language. Wiley. p. 139. ISBN 9781118531280.
  7. ^ Swahili, Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015): "47,000,000 in Tanzania, all users. L1 users: 15,000,000 (2012), increasing. L2 users: 32,000,000 (2015 D. Nurse). Total users in all countries: 98,310,110 (as L1: 16,010,110; as L2: 82,300,000)."
  8. ^ "Ethnologue: Zulu". Ethnologue. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Ethnologue: Shona". Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  10. ^ sahoboss (3 April 2011). "Zulu". South African History Online. Retrieved 17 June 2018.


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