Ronga language

Last updated
Ronga
Native to Mozambique, South Africa
Native speakers
720,000 (2006) [1]
Language codes
ISO 639-3 rng
Glottolog rong1268
S.54 [2]
Linguasphere 99-AUT-dd
incl. varieties
99-AUT-dda...-dde
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Ronga, also known as XiRonga and Xizronga is a Bantu language spoken in Maputo in Mozambique. It extends slightly into South Africa. The Xizronga language has its own dialects, which are: Xinondzrwana, Xizingili, Xihlanganu and Xilwandle.

Contents

The Swiss philologist Henri-Alexandre Junod seems to have been the first linguist to have studied it, in the late 19th century.

Phonology

Source: [3]

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid e o
Open a
Labio-(dental) Alveolar Lateral Post-alveolar Retroflex Velar/

Glottal

plainlab.plainlab.plainlab.plainlab.plainlab.plainlab.
Nasal voiced m n ɲ ɲʷ ŋʷ
breathy nʷʱ
Stop voiceless p t k
aspirated kʷʰ
voiced b d dˡʷ ɡ ɡʷ
breathy ɡʱ ɡʷʱ
non-pulmonic ɓ ɗ ɡǂ
Affricate voiceless p̪f psʷ ts tʂʷ
aspirated p̪fʰ psʷʰ tsʰ tʃʰ tʂʰ
voiced b̪v bzʷ dz dʐʷ
breathy dʒʱ
Fricative voiceless f s ɬ ɬʷ ʃ ʃʷ
voiced v z ʒ ʐ ʐʷ
breathy ɦ
Sonorant voiced r l j w
breathy

Alphabet

Its alphabet is similar to that of Tsonga as provided by Methodist missionaries and Portuguese settlers.

Methodist alphabet
LetterABCDEGHIJKLMNOPRSŜTUVWXYZ
Value ab~βde~ɛɡhiklmnŋɔ~oprsʂtuvwʃjzʐ
1989 alphabet [4]
LetterABByChDEGHHlIJKLLhMNOPPsRSSvSwTUVVhWXXjYZZvZw
Value ab~βb͡ʐde~ɛɡh ɬ iklʎmnŋɔ~opp͡ʂrsʂtuʋvwʃʒjzʐ

Grammar

Ronga is grammatically so close to Tsonga in many ways that census officials have often considered it a dialect; its noun class system is very similar and its verbal forms are almost identical. Its most immediately noticeable difference is a much greater influence from Portuguese, due to being centred near the capital Maputo (formerly Lourenço Marques).

Literature

The first book to be published in Ronga was the Gospel of John translated mainly by Henri Berthoud from the Swiss Romande Mission  [ de ]. It was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1896. Further translation was done by Pierre Loze from Mission Romande (Swiss Romande Mission) and H.L. Bishop (Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society), assisted by Jeremia Caetano and Efraim Hely. The New Testament was published in 1903, and the whole Bible was published by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1923.

References

  1. Ronga at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  3. "PHOIBLE 2.0 -". phoible.org. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  4. "Table from 'I Seminario sobre a Padronizacão da Ortografia de Línguas Moçambicanas'". www.bisharat.net.