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
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