Ronga language - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Ronga people) Bantu language spoken in southern Africa Not to be confused with the Rongga language of central Flores, Indonesia.

Ronga
Native to	Mozambique, South Africa
Native speakers	720,000 (2006)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Tswa–Ronga Ronga
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`rng`
Glottolog	`rong1268`
Guthrie code	`S.54`
Linguasphere	99-AUT-dd incl. varieties 99-AUT-dda...-dde
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Ronga (XiRonga; sometimes ShiRonga or GiRonga) is a Bantu language of the Tswa–Ronga branch spoken just south of Maputo in Mozambique. It extends a little into South Africa. It has about 650,000 speakers in Mozambique and a further 90,000 in South Africa, with dialects including Konde, Putru and Kalanga.

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

Phonology

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e		o
Open		a

		Labio-(dental)		Alveolar		Lateral		Post-alveolar		Retroflex		Velar/ Glottal
		plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Nasal	voiced	m		n	nʷ			ɲ	ɲʷ				ŋʷ
Nasal	breathy	mʱ		nʱ	nʷʱ
Stop	voiceless	p		t	tʷ							k	kʷ
	aspirated	pʰ		tʰ								kʰ	kʷʰ
	voiced	b		d			dˡʷ					ɡ	ɡʷ
	breathy	bʱ		dʱ								ɡʱ	ɡʷʱ
	non-pulmonic	ɓ		ɗ				ɡǂ
Affricate	voiceless	p̪f	psʷ	ts				tʃ		tʂ	tʂʷ
	aspirated	p̪fʰ	psʷʰ	tsʰ				tʃʰ		tʂʰ
	voiced	b̪v	bzʷ	dz				dʒ		dʐ	dʐʷ
	breathy							dʒʱ
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	sʷ	ɬ	ɬʷ	ʃ	ʃʷ
	voiced	v		z				ʒ		ʐ	ʐʷ
	breathy	vʱ											ɦ
Sonorant	voiced			r		l	lʷ	j					w
Sonorant	breathy												wʱ

Alphabet

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

Methodist alphabet
Letter	A	B	C	D	E	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N	Ṅ	O	P	R	S	Ŝ	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z	Ẑ
Value	a	b~β	tʃ	d	e~ɛ	ɡ	h	i	dʒ	k	l	m	n	ŋ	ɔ~o	p	r	s	ʂ	t	u	v	w	ʃ	j	z	ʐ

1989 alphabet
Letter	A	B	By	Ch	D	E	G	H	Hl	I	J	K	L	Lh	M	N	Nʼ	O	P	Ps	R	S	Sv	Sw	T	U	V	Vh	W	X	Xj	Y	Z	Zv	Zw
Value	a	b~β	b͡ʐ	tʃ	d	e~ɛ	ɡ	h	ɸ	i	dʒ	k	l	ʎ	m	n	ŋ	ɔ~o	p	p͡ʂ	r	s	ʂ	sʷ	t	u	ʋ	v	w	ʃ	ʒ	j	z	ʐ	zʷ

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

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

v t e Languages of Mozambique
Official language	Portuguese
Indigenous languages	Barwe Chewa Chichopi Chitonga Chuwabu Dema Gitonga Kimwani Koti Kunda Lomwe Maindo Makhuwa Makonde Makwe Manyika Nathembo Ndau Ngoni Nsenga Nyungwe Phimbi Ronga Sena Shona Swahili Swati Tawara Tewe Tsonga Tswa Yao
Immigrant languages	English Punjabi Hindi
Sign languages	Mozambican Sign Language

Narrow Bantu languages (Zones N–S) (by Guthrie classification)

Zone N

N10	N11 Manda N12 Ngoni N13 Matengo N14 Mpoto N15 Tonga [N101 Ndendeule N102 Nindi N121 Ngoni of Malawi
N20	N21 Tumbuka [N201 Mwera of Mbamba Bay
N30	N31a Nyanja N31b Cewa N31c Manganja
N40	N41 Nsenga N42 Kunda N43 Nyungwe N44 Sena N45 Rue N46 Podzo [N441 Sena-Malawi

Zone P

P10	P11 Ndengereko P12 Ruihi P13 Matumbi P14 Ngindo P15 Mbunga
P20	P21 Yao P22 Mwera P23 Makonde P24 Ndonde P25 Mabiha
P30	P31 Makua P32 Lomwe P33 Ngulu P34 Cuabo [P311 Koti P312 Sakati P331 Lomwe of Malawi P341 Moniga

Zone R

R10	R11 Umbundu R12 Ndombe R13 Nyaneka R14 Khumbi [R101 Kuvale R102 Kwisi R103 Mbali
R20	R21 Kwanyama R22 Ndonga R23 Kwambi R24 Ngandyera [R211 Kafima R212 Evale R213 Mbandja R214 Mbalanhu R215 Ndongwena R216 Kwankwa R217 Dombondola R218 Esinga R241 Kwaluudhi R242 Kolonkadhi-Eunda
R30	R31 Herero [R311 North-West Herero R312 Botswana Herero
R40	R41 Yei

Zone S

S10	S11 Korekore S12 Zezuru S13a Manyika S13b Tebe S14 Karanga S15 Ndau S16 Kalanga
S20	S21 Venda
S30	S31a Tswana S31b Kgatla S31c Ngwatu S31d Khalaxadi S32a Pedi S32b Lobedu S33 Sotho [S301 Phalaborwa S302 Kutswe S303 Pai S304 Pulana
S40	S41 Xhosa S42 Zulu S43 Swati S44 (Northern) Ndebele [S401 Old Mfengu S402 Bhaca S403 Hlubi S404 Phuthi S405 Nhlangwini S406 Lala S407 South Ndebele S408 Sumayela Ndebele
S50	S51 Tswa S52 Gwamba S53 Tsonga S54 Ronga [S511 Hlengwe
S60	S61 Copi S62 Tonga [S611 Lenge

Italics indicate extinct languages.
Languages between parentheses are varieties of the language on their left.

The Guthrie classification is geographic and its groupings do not imply a relationship between the languages within them.

Narrow Bantu languages by Guthrie classification zone templates: Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones A–B); Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones C–D); Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones E–H); Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones J–M); Template:Narrow Bantu languages (Zones N–S)

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