Phuthi Síphùthì
Spoken in:	Lesotho, South Africa
Region:	Southern Africa
Total speakers:	around 20,000
Language family:	Niger-Congo  Atlantic-Congo   Volta-Congo    Benue-Congo     Bantoid      Southern Bantoid       Narrow Bantu        Central         S          S40 (Nguni)           Phuthi
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	none
ISO 639-2:	bnt
ISO 639-3:	unassigned
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa List of language familiesA language family is a group of Languages related by descent from a common ancestor called the Proto-language of that family 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 In the classification of African languages, Atlantic-Congo constitutes the core of the Niger-Congo family, with the Noun class systems stereotypical In the classification of African languages Volta-Congo is a hypothetical major branch of the Niger-Congo family. The Benue-Congo group of languages constitutes the largest branch of the Niger-Congo language family both in terms of sheer number of languages of which 880 are known (per Ethnologue In the classification of African languages, Bantoid is a branch of the Benue-Congo subfamily of the Niger-Congo phylum In the classification of African languages, Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid is one of the two branches of the Bantoid subfamily of the Niger-Congo In the classification of African languages, Narrow Bantu is a term commonly used to designate the branch of Niger-Congo containing the numerous Bantu languages ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family ISO 639-2 is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages ISO 639 -3 (ISO 639-32007 is an international standard for Language codes The standard describes three‐letter codes for identifying languages In Computing, Unicode is an Industry standard allowing Computers to consistently represent and manipulate text expressed in most of the world's

Phuthi (Síphùthì)^[1]is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border^[2]. The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The closest substantial living relative of Phuthi is Swati (or Siswati), spoken in Swaziland and the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and The Kingdom of Swaziland is a country located in Southern Africa centred at approximately 26o49'S 31o38'E Mpumalanga, (umˈpuːməlɑŋɡə – name changed from Eastern Transvaal on 24 August 1995) is a province of South Africa Although there is no contemporary sociocultural or political contact, Phuthi is linguistically part of a historic dialect continuum with Swati. A dialect continuum is a range of Dialects spoken across a large geographical area differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close and gradually decreasing Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and Phuthi is heavily influenced by the surrounding Sotho and Xhosa languages, but retains a distinct core of lexicon and grammar not found in either Xhosa or Sotho, and found only partly in Swati to the north. The Sotho-Tswana language group is a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa including Tswana ( Setswana) Northern Sotho Xhosa (ˈkǁʰoːsa ( isiXhosa) is one of the Official languages of South Africa.

The documentary origins of Phuthi can be traced to Bourquin (1927), but in other oblique references nearly 200 years from the present (Ellenberger 1912). Until recently, the language has been very poorly documented with respect to its linguistic properties. The only significant earlier study (but with very uneven data, and limited coherent linguistic assumptions) is Mzamane (1949).

Contents 1 Geography and demography 2 Political history 3 Classification 4 Phonology and morphology 4.1 Click consonants 4.2 Vowel harmony 4.3 Vowel imbrication 4.4 Labialisation 4.5 Tone 4.6 Depressed consonants 4.7 Tone/voice interaction 4.8 Morphological use of vowel height 4.9 Morphological use of breathy voice/depression 5 Phrases 6 Alphabet 7 Bibliography 8 Notes 9 External links

Geography and demography

It has been estimated that around 20 000 people in South Africa and Lesotho use Phuthi as their home language, but the actual figures could be much higher. The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South No census data on Phuthi-speakers is available from either South Africa or Lesotho.

Phuthi is spoken in dozens (perhaps many dozens) of scattered communities in the border areas between where the far northern Eastern Cape meets Lesotho: from Herschel northwards and eastwards, and in the Matatiele area of the northeastern Transkei; and throughout southern Lesotho, from Quthing in the southwest, through regions south and east of Mount Moorosi, to mountain villages west and north of Qacha (Qacha's Nek). The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho. Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Matatiele is a mid-sized town serving the farming and trading communities of East Griqualand in the foothills of the western Drakensberg, Eastern Cape The Transkei —which means "the area beyond the Kei River"—is a region situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Quthing is the capital city or camptown of Quthing District in Lesotho. Qacha's Nek is since 1888 the capital city or camptown of Qacha's Nek District in Lesotho, only two kilometers from the South African border at 1980

Within Phuthi, there are at least two dialect areas, based on linguistic criteria: Mpapa/Daliwe vs. all other areas. This taxonomy is based on a single (but very salient) phonological criterion (presence/absence of secondary labialisation). Mpapa and Daliwe (Sotho Taleoe [taliwe]) are villages in southern Lesotho, southeast of Mount Moorosi, on the dust road leading to Tosing, then on to Mafura (itself a Phuthi-speaking village), and finally Mpapa/Daliwe. 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 Other Phuthi-speaking areas (all given in Lesotho Sotho orthography) include Makoloane [makolwani] and Mosuoe [musuwe], near Quthing, in south-western Lesotho; Seqoto [siǃɔtɔ] (Xhosa Zingxondo, Phuthi Sigxodo [sigǁɔdɔ]); Makoae [makwai] (Phuthi Magwayi) further to the east; and a number of villages north and west of Qacha's Nek. Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South 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 Quthing is the capital city or camptown of Quthing District in Lesotho. Xhosa (ˈkǁʰoːsa ( isiXhosa) is one of the Official languages of South Africa. Qacha's Nek is since 1888 the capital city or camptown of Qacha's Nek District in Lesotho, only two kilometers from the South African border at 1980 (Qacha is the main southeastern town in Lesotho, in the Qacha's Nek District). Qacha's Nek is a district of Lesotho. It has an area of 2349 km² and a population of approximately 110000 (2004 Phuthi-speaking diaspora (that is, heritage) areas include the far northern Transkei villages of Gcina [gǀina] (on the road to the Tele Bridge border post) and Mfingci [mfiŋǀi] (across the Tele River, opposite Sigxodo, approximately). The Transkei —which means "the area beyond the Kei River"—is a region situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

Political history

The most famous Phuthi leader in the historical record was the powerful Chief Moorosi (born in 1795), who died in unclear circumstances on Mount Moorosi (Sotho Thaba Moorosi) in 1879, after a protracted nine-month siege by the British, 'Boers' (i. Year 1795 ( MDCCXCV) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a 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 Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common The British Empire was the largest empire in history and for over a century was the foremost global power. Boer (ˈbuːr in Dutch ˈbʊɚ/ /boʊɚ or /ˈbɔr/ in English is the Dutch word for Farmer which came to denote the descendants of the proto Afrikaans e. Afrikaner) and Basotho forces (including the military participation of the Cape Mounted Riflemen). The Basotho people have lived in Southern Africa since around the fifteenth century. The Cape Mounted Riflemen were South African military units There were two separate regiments of that name which may be confusing This siege is often referred to as "Moorosi's Rebellion". The issue that triggered the siege was alleged livestock theft in the Herschel area. In the aftermath of the siege, Phuthi people dispersed widely over what is contemporary southern Lesotho and the northern Transkei region, in order to escape capture by the colonial powers. The Transkei —which means "the area beyond the Kei River"—is a region situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. It is for this reason, it has been hypothesised, that Phuthi villages (including Mpapa, Daliwe, Hlaela, Mosifa and Mafura -- all to the east of Mount Moorosi, in Lesotho) are typically found in such topographically mountainous regions, accessible only with great difficulty to outsiders). Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South

After the siege of "Moorosi's rebellion", many Phuthi people were captured, and forced into building the bridge (now, the old bridge) at Aliwal North that crosses the Senqu (Orange River). Aliwal North is a town in central South Africa on the Orange River, Eastern Cape Province The Orange River ( Afrikaans / Dutch: Oranjerivier) Gariep River, Groote River or Senqu River is the longest river in Prior to 1879, Moorosi had been regarded as a very threatening competitor to commonly acknowledged father of the Lesotho nation, Chief Moshoeshoe I. Year 1879 ( MDCCCLXXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common Moshoeshoe moʊˈʃweɪʃweɪ (c1786 - March 11 1870) was born at Menkhoaneng in the Northern part of present-day Lesotho. Even though currently represented to some extent in the Lesotho government in Maseru, subsequent to the 1879 uprising, the Phuthi people essentially fade from modern Lesotho and Eastern Cape history. Maseru (mɑseʀu is the Capital of Lesotho. It is also the capital or camptown of the Maseru District.

Classification

Phuthi is a Bantu language, clearly within the southeastern Zone S (cf. The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family Guthrie 1967-1971). But within southern Africa Phuthi is viewed ambivalently as being either a Nguni or a Sotho-Tswana language, given the very high level of hybridity displayed at all subsystems of the grammar (lexicon, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax). The Sotho-Tswana language group is a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa including Tswana ( Setswana) Northern Sotho

But Phuthi is genetically—along with Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swati—certainly a Nguni language. 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 Xhosa (ˈkǁʰoːsa ( isiXhosa) is one of the Official languages of South Africa. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and Thus, it should be numbered in the S. 40 group within Zone S, following Guthrie's classification. Malcolm Guthrie ( February 10, 1903 &ndash November 22, 1972) professor of Bantu languages is known primarily for his classification Further, given the range of lexical, phonological and even low-level phonetic effects that appear to be shared almost exclusively with Swati, Phuthi can be classified uncontroversially as a Tekela Nguni language, that is, in the subset of Nguni that includes Swati, some versions of Southern Ndebele, and the Eastern Cape remnant languages, Bhaca and Hlubi. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and Xhosa language.Sort/separate infos about Ndebele language and Ndebele people until it can be

The standard claim (e. g. Mzamane 1949) that Phuthi displays very heavy contact and (anti-Nguni) levelling affects from its long cohabitation with Sotho (for a period perhaps in excess of three centuries) is confirmed in the contemporary lexicon and morphology. There is, for example, a very high level of 'lexical doublets' for many items, for many speakers. There are also regional effects: the Mpapa Phuthi dialect (the only one to retain labialised coronal stops) leans much more heavily towards Sotho lexicon and morphology (and even phonology), whereas the Sigxodo dialect leans more towards Xhosa lexicon and morphology (and even phonology).

Phonology and morphology

Sustained field work in 1994/1995 among speech communities in Sigxodo and Mpapa (southern Lesotho) resulted in the discovery of a surprisingly wide range of phonological and morphological phenomena (including the nine that follow here), aspects of which are unique to Phuthi (within all of the southern Bantu region). Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South

Click consonants

Phuthi has a system of click consonants, typical for nearly all Nguni, at the three common articulation points: dental, alveolar and alveolateral. Clicks are speech sounds such as English tsk! tsk! used to express disapproval or the tchick! used to spur on a horse But the range of click release types, or 'accompaniments' is relatively impoverished, with only four: plain, aspirated, voiced, nasalised). Swati, by comparison, has essentially only one click type (dental [|]), but five (or even six) release types. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and The reduced click range in Phuthi is partly related to the complete phonological absence of prenasalised consonant NC sequences.

Vowel harmony

Two vowel harmony patterns propagate in opposite directions: perseverative superclose vowel height harmony (left-to-right); and anticipatory ATR/RTR tenseness harmony, invoking mid vowels [e o ɛ ɔ] (right-to-left). Vowel harmony is a type of long-distance ( see below) assimilatory phonological process involving Vowels in some languages A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract In Phonetics, advanced tongue root and retracted tongue root, abbreviated ±ATR are contrasting states of the root of the Tongue during the pronunciation A mid vowel is a Vowel sound used in some spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a mid vowel is that the tongue is positioned mid-way between an In the first, 'supercloseness'—also a Sotho vocalic property—in root-final position triggers suffix vowels of the same supercloseness value. A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as 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 In the second, all mid vowels uninterruptedly adjacent to the right edge of a phonological word are lax ([RTR]); all other mid vowels are tense ([ATR]).

Vowel imbrication

Vowel imbrication is the vowel harmony-like morphophonological phenomenon found in many Bantu languages. Vowel imbrication in two-syllable verb roots is effectively fully productive in Phuthi, that is, -CaC-a verb stems become -CeC-e in the perfective aspect (or 'perfect tense').

Labialisation

Labialised coronal consonants [tf tfw dv dvw], that is, consonants with distinct heterorganic (fricated) secondary articulation, generally found to be exceedingly rare in Bantu languages). "Lip rounding" redirects here See Roundedness for the lip rounding of vowels The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family

Tone

Either of two surface tone distinctions, H (high) or L (low), is possible for each syllable (and in certain limited cases rising (LH) and falling (HL) tones are possible too). Tone is the use of pitch in Language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is to distinguish or inflect words There is a subtype within the L tone category: when a syllable is 'depressed' (that is, from a depressor consonant in the onset position, or a morphologically or lexically imposed depression feature in the syllabic nucleus), the syllable is produced phonetically at a lower pitch. In Phonetics and Phonology, a syllable onset is the part of a Syllable that precedes the Syllable nucleus. This system of tone depression is phonologically regular (that is, the product of a small number of phonological parameters), but is highly complex, interacting extensively with the morphology (and to some extent with the lexicon). Phonologically, Phuthi is argued to display a three-way High/Low/toneless distinction. Like all Nguni languages, Phuthi displays phonetically rising and falling syllables, always related to the position of a depressed syllabic nucleus.

Depressed consonants

In line with a number of southern Bantu languages (including all Nguni, Venda, Tsonga and Shona), and also all Khoisan languages of southwestern Africa), a significant subset of the consonants in Phuthi are 'depressors' (or 'breathy voiced'). Venda, also known as Tshivenḓa, or Luvenḓa, is a Bantu language The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people also known as the Shangaan. Shona (or chiShona is a Bantu language, native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia; the term is also used to identify peoples Khoisan (increasingly commonly spelled Khoesan or Khoe-San) is the name for two major Ethnic groups of Southern Africa. Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, soughing, or susurration) is a Phonation in which the Vocal cords vibrate as they do in These consonants are so named because they have a consistent depression effect on the pitch of an immediately successive H (high) tone. In addition, these consonants produce complex non-local phonological tone-depression effects. Swati and Phuthi have similar properties in this respect, except that the parameters of the Phuthi depression effects are significantly more complex than those documented thus far for Swati. Swati ( siSwati in the language itself isiSwazi in Zulu is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and

Tone/voice interaction

Significantly complex tone/voice interactions have been identified in Phuthi. Tone is the use of pitch in Language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning—that is to distinguish or inflect words Voice or voicing is a term used in Phonetics and Phonology to characterize speech sounds, with sounds described as either voiceless This phenomenon results in what is analysed at one level as massive and sustained violations of locality requirements on a H tone domain arising from a single H tone source, e. g. surface configurations of the type HLH (in fact H L* H) are possible where all H syllables emanate from a single underlying H source, given at least one L syllable being depressed. Such tone/voice configurations lead to grave problems for any theoretical phonology that seeks to be maximally constrained in its architecture and operations.

The last two phenomena are non-tonal suprasegmental properties which each take on an additional morphological function in Phuthi:

Morphological use of vowel height

See also: Vowel height

The 'supercloseness' property also active in the first vowel harmony type (above) is active in at least one paradigm of the Phuthi morphological system (the axiomatic negative polarity of the copula: "There is no. In Linguistics, prosody (from Greek προσωδία) is the Rhythm, stress, and intonation of speech In Phonetics, a vowel is a Sound in spoken Language, such as English ah! or oh!, pronounced with an open Vocal tract A close vowel is a type of Vowel sound used in many spoken Languages The defining characteristic of a close vowel is that the tongue is positioned as close as Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words . . "). A morphological use for a vocalic property (here: supercloseness) does not appear to be recorded elsewhere for a Bantu language.

Morphological use of breathy voice/depression

The vocalic property breathy voice/depression is separated from the set of consonants that typically induces it, and is used grammatically in the morphological copulative — similar to the Swati copula — and elsewhere in the grammar too (e. Breathy voice (also called murmured voice, soughing, or susurration) is a Phonation in which the Vocal cords vibrate as they do in g. in associative prefixes formed from 'weak' class noun prefixes 1,3,4,6,9).

Phrases

Ngivisisa siKguwa kanci tejhe - I understand a little English

Ngiyakutshadza - I love you

Ngiyalitshadza likhaya lakho lelitjha - I love your new home

Ngiyatitshadza tijha takho letitjha - I like your new dogs

Ngiyatitshadza titfoga takho letitjha - I like your new sticks

Alphabet

The Phuthi alphabet:

vowels

• a e i o u

consonants

• b bh d dl dlh dv dz f g h hl j jh k kg kh l m n p ph s t tf th tj tjh ts tsh v w y z

clicks and click combinations

• plain: c q x
• aspirated: ch qh xh
• voiced: gc gq gx
• nasalized: nc nq nx

Bibliography

• Bourquin, Walther (1927) 'Die Sprache der Phuthi'. Festschrift Meinhof: Sprachwissenschaftliche und andere Studien, 279-287. Hamburg: Kommissionsverlag von L. Friederichsen & Co.
• Donnelly, Simon (1997) 'Aspects of Tone and Voice in Phuthi'. (MS. ) U. Illinois PhD dissertation.
• Donnelly, Simon (1999) 'Southern Tekela is alive: reintroducing the Phuthi language'. In K. McKormick & R. Mesthrie (eds. ), International Journal of the Sociology of Language 136: 97-120.
• Ellenberger, David-Frédéric. (1912) History of the Basuto, Ancient and Modern. Transl. into English by J. C. Macgregor. (1992 reprint of 1912 ed. ). Morija, Lesotho: Morija Museum & Archives.
• Guthrie, Malcolm. (1967-1971) Comparative Bantu: An Introduction to the Comparative Linguistics and Prehistory of the Bantu Languages. (Volumes 1-4). Farnborough: Gregg International.
• Msimang, Christian T. (1989) 'Some Phonological Aspects of the Tekela Nguni Languages'. Doctoral dissertation, University of South Africa, Pretoria.
• Mzamane, Godfrey I. M. (1949) 'A concise treatment on Phuthi with special reference to its relationship with Nguni and Sotho'. Fort Hare Papers 1. 4: 120-249. Fort Hare: The Fort Hare University Press.

Notes

External links

• http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ssw

Note: the Ethnologue entry is currently inaccurate. Phuthi is no longer coherently in any obvious sort of heteronomous dialect relationship to Swati (several hundred kilometres separate the two language territories; Phuthi-speakers have no conscious awareness of any relationship to Swati). Nevertheless, there are very significant linguistic elements at all levels of the grammar, not least the lexicon, that tie Phuthi closely to Swati historically, in fact, as the closest living relative of Swati.

---

© 2009 citizendia.org; parts available under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License, from http://en.wikipedia.org
Dapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic