Northern Ndebele phonology

Consonants

Northern Ndebele consonants

		Bilabial	Labio- dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	ejective	p [pʼ]		t [tʼ]			k [kʼ]
	voiced	bh [b]		d [d]			ɡ [ɡ]
	aspirated	ph [pʰ]		th [tʰ]			kh [kʰ]
	prenasalized	mp [ᵐp]		nt [ⁿt]			nk [ᵑk]
	prenasalized (vd.)	mb [ᵐb]		nd [ⁿd]			ng [ᵑɡ]
Fricative	plain		f [f]	s [s]	sh [ʃ]			h [h]
	voiced (depr.)	b [βʱ]	v [vʱ]	z [zʱ]	zh [ʒʱ]		ɣ [ɣʱ]	ħ [ɦ]
	voiced (non-depr.)	b [β]					ɣ [ɣ]
	prenasalized		mf [ᶬf]	ns [ⁿs]
	prenasalized (vd.)		mv [ᶬv]	nz [ⁿz]
Nasal	plain	m [m]		n [n]		ny [ɲ]	ngh [ŋ]
	depressed	m [mʱ]		n [nʱ]		ny [ɲʱ]	ngh [ŋʱ]
Lateral fricative	plain			hl [ɬ]
	voiced			dl [ɮ]
	prenasalized			nhl [ⁿɬ]
	prenasalized (vd.)			ndl [ⁿɮ]
Rhotic				r [r]
Approximant	plain	w [w]				y [j]
	depressed	w [wʱ]				y [jʱ]
Lateral approximant	plain			l [l]
	depressed			l [lʱ]

Affricates

			Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Velar
Affricate	voiceless	ejective	ts [tsʼ]	tj [tʃʼ]	kl [kxʼ]
		aspirated	tsh [tsʰ]	tjh [tʃʰ]
	voiced			j [dʒ]
	prenasalized	ejective	nts [ⁿtsʼ]	ntjh [ᶮtʃʼ]	nkl [ᵑkxʼ]
		voiced		nj [ᶮdʒ]

Many consonant sounds may result in depressed (or breathy) allophones. Alveolar consonants, t, d, and n, may have dentalized allophones of [t̪ʼ, d̪, n̪].

Vowels

There are five vowel phonemes, written with the letters a, e, i, o, u.

• a is pronounced [a] or [ɑ], approximately like a in father; e.g. abantwana (children)
• æ is pronounced [æ]
• e is pronounced [ɛ] or [e], sometimes like e in bed; e.g. emoyeni (in the air)
• i is pronounced [i] or [ɨ], like ee in see; e.g. siza (help)
• o is pronounced [ɔ] or [o], sometimes approximately like o in bone; e.g. okhokho (ancestors)
• u is pronounced [u] or [ʉ], like oo in soon; e.g. umuntu (person)
• ə is pronounced [ə]

Click consonants

In Northern Ndebele, there are three click consonants c, q and x.

c [ǀ] is made by placing the tip of the tongue against the front upper teeth and gums, the centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip of the tongue is drawn backwards. The resulting sound is similar to the sound used in English to express annoyance. Some examples are cina (end), cela (ask)

The q [!] sound is made by raising the back of the tongue to touch the soft palate and touching the gums with the sides and tip of the tongue. The centre of the tongue is depressed and the tip drawn quickly away from the gum. The resulting sound is like the "pop" heard when quickly removing the cork from a bottle. Some examples are qalisa (start), qeda (finish)

The x [ǁ] sound is made by placing the tongue so that the back of the tongue touches the soft palate and the sides and tip of the tongue touch the gums. One side of the tongue is quickly withdrawn from the gums. Some examples are xoxa (discuss), ixoxo (frog).

Northern Ndebele clicks

			Dental	Post- alveolar	Lateral
Plosive	voiceless	plain	c [kǀ]	q [k!]	x [kǁ]
		aspirated	ch [kǀʰ]	qh [k!ʰ]	xh [kǁʰ]
	voiced	depressed	gc [ɡǀʱ]	gq [ɡ!ʱ]	gx [ɡǁʱ]
		nasalized	nc [ŋǀ]	nq [ŋ!]	nx [ŋǁ]
		nasalized (depr.)	ngc [ŋǀʱ]	ngq [ŋ!ʱ]	ngx [ŋǁʱ]

External links

• Northern Ndebele language