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This book is an application of the comparative method of linguistic reconstruction on corresponding phoneme sets in 4 main Nguni languages. The languages used here are Zulu, Xhosa, Swati and Ndebele. These are sister languages spoken in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Swaziland. Postulations are employed using theories of sound change, which are also explained in the book. The Swadesh list of core voccabulary was used to collect data from the three languages. English glosses are used as the standard of getting the exact meaning of concepts. This book is very usefull in the study of Bantu and Nguni languages in particular. Efforts of harmonising Nguni languages are affected by differences in phonology, which are reduced to non variation in this book. The book is a handy tool for students and lecturers in the fields of, African linguistics, comparative linguistics, Nguni dialects, harmonisation and language policy studies.

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Sambulo Ndlovu was born in 1981at a small Zimbabwean town called Nkayi. He is a holder of a B.A Honours and a Masters in African languages and literature.He is a Ndebele language lecturer at the Great Zimbabwe University, and chairman of the department of African languages and literature.

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