Zulu language

Zulu
Zulu
isiZulu
Pronunciation	[isízṳːlu]
Native to	South Africa, Lesotho
Region	KwaZulu-Natal and southern Mpumalanga; scattered communities elsewhere;
Ethnicity	Zulu people
Native speakers	12 million (2011 census); L2 speakers: 16 million (2002)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni-Tsonga Nguni Zunda Zulu; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Dialects	KwaZulu Natal Zulu; Transvaal Zulu; Qwabe; Cele;
Writing system	Latin (Zulu alphabet); Zulu Braille; Ditema tsa Dinoko
Signed forms	Signed Zulu
Official status
Official language in	South Africa
Regulated by	Pan South African Language Board
Language codes
ISO 639-1	zu
ISO 639-2	zul
ISO 639-3	zul
Glottolog	zulu1248
Guthrie code	S.42
Linguasphere	99-AUT-fg incl.; varieties 99-AUT-fga to 99-AUT-fge
	Proportion of the South African population that speaks Zulu at home 0–20% 20–40% 40–60% 60–80% 80–100%

Zulu (/ˈzuːluː/ ZOO-loo), or isiZulu as an endonym, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in Southern Africa. It is the language of the Zulu people, with about 12 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population. It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994.

According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili. Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet.

In South African English, the language is often referred to in its native form, isiZulu.

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