Writing System
The Venda language uses the Latin alphabet with five additional accented letters—there are four dental consonants with circumflex below the letter (ḓ, ḽ, ṋ, ṱ) and an overdot for velar ṅ. Five vowel letters are used to write seven vowels. The letters C, J and Q are used only in quoting foreign words and names.
| A a | B b | (C c) | D d | Ḓ ḓ | E e | F f | G g | |
| H h | I i | (J j) | K k | L l | Ḽ ḽ | M m | N n | |
| Ṋ ṋ | Ṅ ṅ | O o | P p | (Q q) | R r | S s | T t | |
| Ṱ ṱ | U u | V v | W w | X x | Y y | Z z |
Venda distinguishes dental ṱ, ṱh, ḓ, ṋ, ḽ from alveolar t, th, d, n, l, as well as (like Ewe) labiodental f, v from bilabial fh, vh (the latter are slightly rounded). There are no clicks; x has the sound of ch in loch or Bach. As in other South African languages like Zulu, ph, ṱh, th, kh are aspirated, p, ṱ, t, k ejective.
| pʰ | t̪ʰ | tʰ | kʰ | kʷʰ | ||||
| pʼ | t̪ʼ | tʼ | kʼ | pʷʼ | ||||
| b | d̪ | d | dʲ | ɡ | bʷ | |||
| pfʰ | tsʰ | tsʷʰ | tʃʰ | |||||
| bv | dz | dzʷ | dʒ | |||||
| ɸ | f | s | sʷ | ʃ | x | h | ||
| β | v | z | zʷ | ʒ | ||||
| m | n̪ | n | ɲ | ŋ | ŋʷ | |||
| l̪ | l | |||||||
| r | ||||||||
| j | w |
There is fortition of /ɸ β s ʃ x h l̪ l r w/ after nasal prefixes, likely to .
| letter(s) | value(s) in IPA | notes |
|---|---|---|
| a | , | |
| b | ||
| bv | ||
| bw | or | Varies by dialect |
| d | ||
| dz | ||
| dzh | Similar to English "j" | |
| dzw | ||
| ḓ | ||
| e | , | |
| f | ||
| fh | ||
| g | ||
| h | , | Pronounced before e. |
| hw | ||
| i | ||
| k | ||
| kh | ||
| khw | ||
| l | ||
| ḽ | ||
| m | , | M is syllabic, when the following syllable begins with m. |
| n | , | N is syllabic, when the following syllable begins with n. |
| ng | ||
| ny | ||
| nz | ||
| ṋ | ||
| ṅ | ||
| ṅw | ||
| o | , | |
| p | ||
| ph | ||
| pf | ||
| pfh | ||
| r | ||
| s | ||
| sh | ||
| sw | ||
| t | ||
| th | ||
| ts | ||
| tsh | ||
| tsw | ||
| ty | ||
| ṱ | ||
| ṱh | ||
| u | ||
| v | ||
| vh | ||
| w | ||
| x | Similar to the ch in Scottish 'loch.' | |
| xw | ||
| y | ||
| z | ||
| zh | ||
| zw |
Read more about this topic: Venda Language
Famous quotes containing the words writing and/or system:
“His writing is not about something. It is the thing itself.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“Predatory capitalism created a complex industrial system and an advanced technology; it permitted a considerable extension of democratic practice and fostered certain liberal values, but within limits that are now being pressed and must be overcome. It is not a fit system for the mid- twentieth century.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)