Countries
Zimbabwe
South Africa
Total No. Of Countries
11
0
46
👆🏻
National Language
Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe
South Africa
Second Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Lesotho, South Africa
Speaking Continents
Africa
Africa
Minority Language
Not spoken in any of the countries
Botswana, Lesotho
Regulated By
-
-
Interesting Facts
- Shona language is tonal language.
- The African people in Zimbabwe is made of 10 ethnic groups, each speaking a different languages, shona is spoken by 60 percent of population.
- Xhosa has 15 click sounds, borrowed from the khoi-khoi and san languages of the South Africa.
- The same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meaning when said with different tones, so Xhosa is tonal.
Similar To
Kalanga and Nambya Language
Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele
Derived From
-
Khoi-Khoi and San Languages
Alphabets in
Alphabets
3753
18
247
👆🏻
Phonology
How Many Vowels
510
0
32
👆🏻
How Many Consonants
4643
9
60
👆🏻
Scripts
Latin
Latin
Writing Direction
-
-
Hard to Learn
Language Levels
43
2
12
👆🏻
Time Taken to Learn
30 weeks44 weeks
3
88
👆🏻
Hello
Mhoro
Molo
Thank You
Waita zvako
Ndiyabulela
How Are You?
Wakadini zvako?
Unjani
Good Night
Urare zvakanaka
Ulale kakuhle
Good Evening
Manheru
Ubusuku obuhle
Good Afternoon
Masikati
Uben' emva kwemini entle
Good Morning
Mangwanani
Molo
Please
Ndinokumbirawo
Ndicela
Sorry
Ndineurombo
Ndicela uxolo
Bye
bye
Uhambe/Usale kakuhle
I Love You
Ndinokuda
Ndiyakuthanda
Excuse Me
Pamusoro
Uxolo
Dialect 1
Hwesa
Gcaleka
Where They Speak
Zimbabwe
South Africa
How Many People Speak
11,000,000.0019,000,000.00
1.5
960000000
👆🏻
Dialect 2
Karanga
Thembu
Where They Speak
southern Zimbabwe
South Africa
How Many People Speak
1,100,000.0019,000,000.00
700
274000000
👆🏻
Dialect 3
Zezuru
Hlubi
Where They Speak
central Zimbabwe, Mashonaland
South Africa
How Many People Speak
16.0019.00
2
230000000
👆🏻
Total No. Of Dialects
49
0
188
👆🏻
How Many People Speak?
25.00 million20.00 million
0
1200
👆🏻
Speaking Population
0.13 %0.11 %
0
89
👆🏻
Native Speakers
8.30 million8.20 million
0
873
👆🏻
Second Language Speakers
16.00 million11.00 million
0.01
400
👆🏻
Native Name
chiShona
isiXhosa
Alternative Names
Chishona, “Swina” (pej.), Zezuru
“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa
French Name
shona
xhosa
German Name
Schona-Sprache
Xhosa-Sprache
Pronunciation
[ʃoːna]
[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]
Ethnicity
Shona people
amaXhosa, amaBhaca
Origin
20th century
16th Century
Language Family
Niger-Congo Family
Niger-Congo Family
Subgroup
Benue-Congo
Benue-Congo
Branch
Bantu
Bantu
Language Forms
Early Forms
Old Shona and Middle Shona
No early forms
Standard Forms
Standard Shona
isiXhosa
Language Position
10721
1
120
👆🏻
Signed Forms
Signed Shona
Signed Xhosa
Scope
Individual
Individual
ISO 639 1
sn
xh
ISO 639 2
ISO 639 2/T
sna
xho
ISO 639 2/B
sna
xho
ISO 639 3
sna
xho
ISO 639 6
sna
xho
Glottocode
core1255
xhos1239
Linguasphere
99-AUT-a
99-AUT-fa
Types of Language
Language Type
Living
Living
Language Linguistic Typology
-
Subject-Verb-Object
Language Morphological Typology
-
-