Tshimbedzi variety: a link between the Venda language and the Kalanga dialect cluster?

Abstract

Tshimbedzi is one of seven known regional varieties of Venda and is spoken in the eastern and north-eastern areas of Ṱhohoyanḓou. The original speakers of this variety are from Malungudzi in Zimbabwe. At present the speakers of this variety continue to make regular contact with the people north of the Limpopo, among them the Pfumbi or Mbedzi, Lembethu and Kalanga. As a result, Tshimbedzi is characterized by certain speech sounds, phonological changes, grammatical features and lexical items which are typical of the Pfumbi or Mbedzi variety spoken in Zimbabwe. In turn, these must have had a far-reaching influence on Venda vocabulary as it is spoken today.