Ronga language

For the village in Bangladesh, see Ronga, Bangladesh.

Ronga
Native to	Mozambique, South Africa
Region	South of Maputo
Native speakers	720,000 (2006)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo 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

Ronga (XiRonga; sometimes ShiRonga or GiRonga) is a south-eastern Bantu language in the Tswa–Ronga family 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.

Writing

Its alphabet is based on 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 often consider 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).