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South Africa has 11 official languages. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa There is no single Culture of South Africa. As South Africa is so ethnically diverse it is not surprising that there are vast cultural differences as well South Africa has an uncommon demographic profile marked by a heterogeneous population base social issues brought on by the legacy of Apartheid, divisions within ethnic groups In the current politics of South Africa, the African National Congress is the ruling party at a national level and in most provinces having received 69 South Africa has 12 million learners 366 000 teachers and around 28 000 schools - including 390 special needs schools and 1 000 registered private schools South Africa has a two-tiered economy one rivaling other developed countries and the other with only the most basic Infrastructure. Art of South Africa is a term used to denote creative output by human beings from South Africa A list of holidays in South Africa: determines that whenever any public holiday falls on a Sunday the Monday following it will be a public holiday South Africa has a wide mix of religions. Many Religions are represented in the ethnic and regional diversity of South Africa's population Many Sports have a passionate following in South Africa, although they remain largely divided on ethnic lines The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory South Africa also recognises eight non-official languages as "national languages". A national language is a Language (or language variant, ie Dialect) which has some connection - de facto or de jure - with Of the official languages, two are Indo-European languages — English and Afrikaans — while the other nine are languages of the Bantu family (within Africa's largest phylum, Niger-Congo). English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family A phylum ( Plural: phyla) is a Taxonomic rank between Kingdom and above Class. The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the world's major language families, and Africa 's largest in terms of geographical area number of speakers and number
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Official languages
The eleven official languages of South Africa are as follows (with the name used for each language, by speakers of that language, in brackets):
- Afrikaans (Afrikaans), English, Ndebele (isiNdebele), Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa), Sotho (Sesotho), Swati (siSwati), Tsonga (Xitsonga), Tswana (Setswana), Venda (Tshivenḓa), Xhosa (isiXhosa), Zulu (isiZulu). Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Northern Sotho ( Sesotho sa Leboa in the language itself is one of the official languages of South Africa, and is spoken by nearly five million—4208980 people History Should include probable history of the language what form of Bantu it is most closely derived from (the coolest forms! dates of movement of major groups Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people also known as the Shangaan. Tswana ( Setswana) is a Bantu language written in the Latin Alphabet. Venda, also known as Tshivenḓa, or Luvenḓa, is a Bantu language Xhosa (ˈkǁʰoːsa ( isiXhosa) is one of the Official languages of South Africa. Zulu (called isiZulu in Zulu is a Language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers the vast majority (over 95% of whom live in South
The most common language spoken at home by South Africans is Zulu (24 percent speak Zulu at home), followed by Xhosa (18 percent), and Afrikaans (13 percent). English is only the sixth-most common home language in the country, but is understood in most urban areas and is the dominant language in government and the media.
The majority of South Africans speak a language from one of the two principal branches of the Bantu languages represented in South Africa: the Sotho-Tswana branch (Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tswana), or the Nguni branch (Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, Ndebele). The Sotho-Tswana language group is a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa including Tswana ( Setswana) Northern Sotho For each of the two groups, the languages within that group are for the most part intelligible to a native speaker of any other language within that group.
As can be seen from the accompanying maps, the nine indigenous African languages of South Africa can be divided into two geographical zones, with Nguni languages being predominant in the south-eastern third of the country (Indian Ocean coast) and Sotho languages being predominant in the northern third of the country located further inland, as also in Botswana and Lesotho. The Republic of Botswana (Lefatshe la Botswana is a Landlocked nation in Southern Africa. Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Gauteng is the most linguistically heterogeneous province, with roughly equal numbers of Nguni, Sotho and Indo-European language speakers. Gauteng (xaʊˈtɛŋ Sotho xɑ́útʼèŋ̀ is a province of South Africa. This has resulted in the spread of an urban argot, Tsotsitaal, in large urban townships in the province. Tsotsitaal, or isiCamtho, is a variety of languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province in South Africa, such
Venda and Tsonga are neither Nguni nor Sotho-Tswana languages.
Afrikaans, a language derived from Dutch, is the most widely spoken language in the western third of the country (Western and Northern Cape). Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname The Western Cape is a province in the south west of South Africa. The Northern Cape is a large sparsely populated province of South Africa, created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up It is spoken not only by a majority of whites but also by about 90 percent of Coloured (multiracial) people in the country. In the South African Namibian Zambian Botswanan and Zimbabwean context the term Coloured (also known as Bruinmense The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from different races. Afrikaans is also spoken widely across the centre and north of the country, as a second (or third or even fourth) language by Black South Africans living in farming areas.
Other significant languages spoken in South Africa
The Constitution also recognises a further nine non-official "national languages":
- Fanagalo, Khoe, Lobedu (Khilobedu), Nama, Northern Ndebele (Sindebele), Phuthi (Siphuthi), San (Khoisan/Khoesan) languages, sign language and Tamil (less spoken). Fanagalo or Fanakalo is a Pidgin (simplified language based on the Zulu, English, and Afrikaans languages Kxoe is a Khoisan Dialect continuum of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, and a few in Zambia, with some Lobedu (also Lovedu or Selobedu) is a Bantu language regarded as a dialect of Northern Sotho. The Northern Ndebele language, or isiNdebele, or Sindebele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken Phuthi ( Síphùthì)is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border The Khoisan languages (also Khoesaan languages) are the indigenous languages of southern and eastern Africa; in southern Africa their speakers are the Khoi Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent.
In reality, the membership of this additional list above is very varied. South African Sign Language is an utterly distinct though incompletely emerged national standard language which also subsumes a cluster of semi-standardised dialects. South African Sign Language (SASL is accepted as the language of instruction in the education of Deaf learners The Constitution mentions "sign language" in the generic sense rather than, as is widely believed, South African Sign Language specifically. Another four can properly be termed languages (Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, Khoe, and Nama). San (Khoesan) is an imprecisely named cluster of languages. Lobedu has been claimed to be a dialect of Northern Sotho, but is perhaps more accurately classed as an autonomous language. Fanagalo is a semi-stable pidgin of uncertain contemporary status.
Significant numbers of immigrants from Europe, elsewhere in Africa, and the Indian subcontinent means that a wide variety of other languages can also be found in parts of South Africa. This article deals with the geophysical region in Asia For geopolitical treatments see South Asia. In the older immigrant communities there are: Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Polish, Portuguese, Tamil, Urdu, Yiddish, and smaller numbers of French and German speakers. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Gujarati (ગુજરાતી Gujǎrātī ? Hindi ( Devanāgarī: hi [[wiktहिन्दी हिन्दी]] or hi [[wiktहिंदी हिंदी]] IAST:, IPA:) is Polish ( język polski, polszczyzna) is the Official language of Poland. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Tamil (ta தமிழ்; t̪əmɨɻ is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. Urdu ( ur '''{{Nastaliq اردو}}''' trans Urdū, historically spelled Ordu) is a Central Indo-Aryan language Urdu is a standardised Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages.
These non-official languages may be used in limited semi-official use where it has been determined that these languages are prevalent. More importantly, these languages have significant local functions in specific communities whose identity is tightly bound around the linguistic and cultural identity that these non-official SA languages signal.
Of the listed non-official languages, the fastest growing are perhaps Portuguese - first spoken by white settlers and black and mestiço settlers and refugees from Angola and Mozambique after they won independence from Portugal and now by more recent immigrants from those countries again - and increasingly French, spoken by immigrants and refugees from Francophone Central Africa. Mestizo is a Spanish term that was coined during the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry in Latin Angola, officially the Republic of Angola (República de Angola Pronounced ʁɛˈpublikɐ dɨ ɐ̃ˈgɔlɐ Repubilika ya Ngola is a country in south-central Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. The adjective francophone (alternately Francophone) means French -speaking typically as primary language whether referring to individuals groups or places Central Africa is a core Region of the African Continent often considered to include Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad Finally, more recently, many thousands of speakers of North, Central and West African languages have arrived in South Africa, mostly in the major cities, especially in Johannesburg and Pretoria, but also Cape Town and Durban. North Africa or Northern Africa is the Northernmost Region of the African Continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan West Africa or Western Africa is the Westernmost Region of the African Continent. Johannesburg ( Pronounced /jō-hān'ĭs-bûrg'/ is the largest city in South Africa. Pretoria is a city located in the northern part of Gauteng Province, South Africa. Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the Durban (eThekwini is the third most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the EThekwini metropolitan municipality.
Extinct languages
Constitutional provisions
Chapter 1 (Founding Provisions), Section 6 (Languages) of the Constitution of South Africa is the basis for government language policy. ǀXam, or ǀXam Kakǃʼe, is an extinct Khoisan language of South Africa, part of the ǃKwi language group Seroa is a dialect of the extinct {{!}}Xam language of the ǃKwi family spoken in South Africa and Lesotho. The current and official Constitution of the Republic of South Africa was adopted on 8 May 1996. Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular Language or set of languages The English text of the constitution signed by president Nelson Mandela on 16 December 1996 curiously contains the names of the languages in the language of the language itself rather than English. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (xolíɬaɬa mandéːla born 18 July 1918 is a former President of South Africa, the first to be elected in fully representative Events 755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion Year 1996 ( MCMXCVI) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar) Controversy surrounds the use of Sepedi as opposed to Sesotho sa Leboa (which was the wording in the 1994 interim constitution) in the text. Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar) The spelling of Venda is also incorrectly rendered as Tshivenda instead of the correct Tshivenḓa:
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Census
The 2001 census recorded the following home language speakers:
| Language | Speakers | % |
|---|---|---|
| Zulu | 10 677 000 | 23. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. A census is the procedure of acquiring information about every member of a given population Zulu (called isiZulu in Zulu is a Language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers the vast majority (over 95% of whom live in South 8% |
| Xhosa | 7 907 000 | 17. Xhosa (ˈkǁʰoːsa ( isiXhosa) is one of the Official languages of South Africa. 6% |
| Afrikaans | 5 983 000 | 13. Afrikaans is an Indo-European language, derived from 17th century Dutch and classified as Low Franconian Germanic, mainly spoken in 3% |
| Northern Sotho | 4 209 000 | 9. Northern Sotho ( Sesotho sa Leboa in the language itself is one of the official languages of South Africa, and is spoken by nearly five million—4208980 people 4% |
| Tswana | 3 677 000 | 8. Tswana ( Setswana) is a Bantu language written in the Latin Alphabet. 2% |
| English | 3 673 000 | 8. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States 2% |
| Sotho | 3 555 000 | 7. History Should include probable history of the language what form of Bantu it is most closely derived from (the coolest forms! dates of movement of major groups 9% |
| Tsonga | 1 992 000 | 4. The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people also known as the Shangaan. 4% |
| Swati | 1 194 000 | 2. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and 7% |
| Venda | 1 022 000 | 2. Venda, also known as Tshivenḓa, or Luvenḓa, is a Bantu language 3% |
| Ndebele | 712 000 | 1. Xhosa language.Sort/separate infos about Ndebele language and Ndebele people until it can be 6% |
| Other languages | 217 000 | 0. 5% |
| Total | 44 820 000 | 100. 0% |
External links
- Introduction to the languages of South Africa
- Ethnologue Listing of South African Languages
- PanAfriL10n page on South Africa
- The Language Museum
- Statistics SA