Ndebele [nbl] is listed in E16/E17/E18/E19/E20/E21/E22/E23/E24/E25/E26/E27/E28 as a separate language of South Africa. In addition to Ndebele [nde] in Zimbabwe, the term Ndebele in South Africa may refer to two different groups. One may be called South Transvaal Ndebele or IsiNdebele and is spoken in Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces ( Skhosana, Philemon Buti 2009 , Jiyane, David Manager 1994 ), and the other can be called North Transvaal Ndebele or Sumayela Ndebele or SiNdebele and is spoken in Limpopo province ( Skhosana, Philemon Buti 2009 , Ziervogel, Dirk 1959 , Isalee Jallow and Maikki Järvi and Niina Väisänen and Mimi Nokuthula Masango and Axel Fleisch 2019 ). South Transvaal Ndebele may be linguistically classified as a Zulu dialect while North Transvaal Ndebele is a more distant separate Nguni language ( Ownby, Carolan Postma 1985 ). The information in the Ndebele [nbl] entry is consistent only with South Transvaal Ndebele. But South Transvaal Ndebele, from a purely linguistic perspective, should be merged with Zulu [zul]. Furthermore, the North Transvaal Ndebele which does merit its own entry, has none, given the conflicting data in Ndebele [nbl]. See also: Zimbabwean Ndebele [nde], Zulu [zul].
Glottolog
