Zulu language information

Zulu
Zulu
Person	umZulu
People	amaZulu
Language	isiZulu
Country	kwaZulu

Zulu
Zulu
isiZulu
Pronunciation	[isízṳːlu]
Native to	South Africa, Lesotho
Region	KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mpumalanga; scattered communities elsewhere;
Ethnicity	Zulu people
Native speakers	13 million; L2 speakers: 16 million (2002)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni-Tsonga Nguni Zunda Zulu; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	KwaZulu Natal Zulu; Transvaal Zulu; Qwabe; Cele;
Writing system	Latin (Zulu alphabet); Zulu Braille; Ditema tsa Dinoko
Signed forms	Signed Zulu
Official status
Official language in	South Africa
Regulated by	Pan South African Language Board
Language codes
ISO 639-1	zu
ISO 639-2	zul
ISO 639-3	zul
Glottolog	zulu1248
Guthrie code	S.42
Linguasphere	99-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 (/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.[1] 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.^[4] It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994.^[5]

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.^[9]

^ Zulu at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^ 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
^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
^ Ethnologue 2005
^ Carter, Phillip M. (2016). Languages In The World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language. Wiley. p. 139. ISBN 9781118531280.
^ 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)."
^ "Ethnologue: Zulu". Ethnologue. Retrieved 5 March 2017.
^ "Ethnologue: Shona". Retrieved 6 March 2017.
^ sahoboss (3 April 2011). "Zulu". South African History Online. Retrieved 17 June 2018.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[e18-1] 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

[Guthrie-3] Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online

[4] Ethnologue 2005

[5] Carter, Phillip M. (2016). Languages In The World: How History, Culture, and Politics Shape Language. Wiley. p. 139. ISBN 9781118531280.

[6] 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)."

[7] "Ethnologue: Zulu". Ethnologue. Retrieved 5 March 2017.

[8] "Ethnologue: Shona". Retrieved 6 March 2017.

[10] sahoboss (3 April 2011). "Zulu". South African History Online. Retrieved 17 June 2018.

Zulu language information

and 25 Related for: Zulu language information

Zulu language

Zulu people

Zulu

Zulu calendar

Northern Ndebele language

Zulu grammar

Zulu royal family

Zulu Kingdom

Shaka

Siyahamba

Bhaca language

Fanagalo

Zulu Wikipedia

Afrikaans

Impi

Zulu music

IETF language tag

List of Zulu people

Durban

Bantu languages

Inkatha Freedom Party

Githeri

Nguni languages

Zulu Dawn

English words of African origin

Zulu
isiZulu
Pronunciation	[isízṳːlu]
Native to	South Africa, Lesotho
Region	KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mpumalanga; scattered communities elsewhere
Ethnicity	Zulu people
Native speakers	13 million^[1] L2 speakers: 16 million (2002)^[2]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni-Tsonga Nguni Zunda Zulu
Dialects	KwaZulu Natal Zulu Transvaal Zulu Qwabe Cele
Writing system	Latin (Zulu alphabet) Zulu Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko
Signed forms	Signed Zulu
Official status
Official language in	South Africa
Regulated by	Pan South African Language Board
Language codes
ISO 639-1	`zu`
ISO 639-2	`zul`
ISO 639-3	`zul`
Glottolog	`zulu1248`
Guthrie code	`S.42`^[3]
Linguasphere	`99-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.