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:
“The Twist was a guided missile, launched from the ghetto into the very heart of suburbia. The Twist succeeded, as politics, religion, and law could never do, in writing in the heart and soul what the Supreme Court could only write on the books.”
—Eldridge Cleaver (b. 1935)
“Such is the remorseless progression of human society, shedding lives and souls as it goes on its way. It is an ocean into which men sink who have been cast out by the law and consigned, with help most cruelly withheld, to moral death. The sea is the pitiless social darkness into which the penal system casts those it has condemned, an unfathomable waste of misery. The human soul, lost in those depths, may become a corpse. Who shall revive it?”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)