Zulu

Zulu, or isiZulu, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken primarily by the Zulu people in South Africa. It is most widely used as a home language in KwaZulu-Natal and is also spoken in other provinces and by communities across the borders in Eswatini and Mozambique. Zulu is one of South Africa’s 11 official languages and is used in education, media, and government alongside English and other languages.

Linguistically, Zulu features a noun class system that marks grammatical gender and number with prefixes on nouns and concords on verbs. Verbs carry subject and object markers that agree with the noun classes of their arguments, producing rich morphology. The language includes click consonants, written with letters c, q, and x, borrowed from Khoisan languages. Zulu is tonal, using pitch to distinguish meaning on syllables. The basic sentence order is typically subject–verb–object, but verb forms convey much information through agreement and affixes. The standard orthography uses the Latin alphabet.

In modern life, Zulu is taught in schools and used in radio, television, literature, and online media. The standard form is largely based on the dialects of KwaZulu-Natal and surrounding regions. The language has a long literary and oral tradition, including poetry, stories, and music. Historically, the Zulu Kingdom and its leaders, especially during the 19th century under Shaka, influenced regional history. Today Zulu culture remains influential in South Africa, evident in beadwork, dance, and music, and the language continues to play a central role in community identity.