Similarly, the prefix Chi- or Si- indicates the language spoke by that tribe. In the Nguni tongues, the prefix Mu- or Ma- denotes the singular, while Bu- or Ba- signifies the plural – hence Muntu = a man Bantu = men, particularly when applied to tribes, e.g. Like Turkish, Fanagalo is characterized by a certain amount of vowel harmony, wherein a vowel in a prefix is changed according to the subsequent vowel.

It is also known as Isikula, Lololo or Isilololo, Piki or Isipiki, and Silunguboi.Īs the indigenous people from whom Fanagalo originated traditionally had no written language, the orthography of Fanagalo is not standardized for example, the sounds of W and B are very close.

Other spellings of the name include Fanagalo and Fanekolo. The name 'Fanakalo' comes from strung-together Nguni forms fana-ga-lo meaning 'like + of + that' and has the meaning 'do it like this', reflecting its use as a language of instruction. By the time independence came – or in the case of South Africa, universal suffrage – English had become sufficiently widely spoken and understood that it became the lingua franca, enabling different ethnic groups in the same country to communicate with each other, and Fanakalo use declined.

Although it is used as a second language only, the number of speakers was estimated as 'several hundred thousand' in 1975. It is used as a lingua franca, mainly in the gold, diamond, coal and copper mining industries in South Africa and to a lesser extent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Fanagalo, or Fanakalo, is a vernacular or pidgin based primarily on Zulu with input from English and a small amount of Afrikaans input.

English to african pidgin