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Sesotho (Sotho, Southern Sotho, or Southern Sesotho[1]) is a Bantu language spoken primarily in South Africa, where it is one the 11 official languages, and in Lesotho, where it is the national language. The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa South Africa has 11 Official languages South Africa also recognises eight non-official languages as " National languages quot Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South A national language is a Language (or language variant, ie Dialect) which has some connection - de facto or de jure - with It is an agglutinative language which uses numerous affixes and derivational and inflexional rules to build complete words. An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together An affix is a Morpheme that is attached to a stem to form a word Note
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Notes:
- The orthography used in this and related articles is that of South Africa, not Lesotho. 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 For a discussion of the differences between the two see the notes on Sesotho orthography. The Orthography of the Sesotho language is fairly recent and is based on the Latin alphabet, but like most languages written
- Hovering the mouse cursor over most italic Sesotho text should reveal an IPA pronunciation key (excluding tones).
Classification
Sesotho is a (narrow) Bantu language, belonging to the Niger-Congo language family. The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo 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 It is most closely related to three other major languages in the Sotho-Tswana language group: Setswana, the Northern Sotho languages (Sesotho sa Leboa), and Silozi. The Sotho-Tswana language group is a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa including Tswana ( Setswana) Northern Sotho Tswana ( Setswana) is a Bantu language written in the Latin Alphabet. 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 Lozi, also known as Silozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language (of the Niger-Congo language family that is spoken by the Lozi people Sesotho is, and has always been, the name of the language in the language itself, and this term has come into wider use in English since the 1980s, especially in South African English and in Lesotho. South African English ( SAE, en-ZA) is a Dialect of English spoken in South Africa and in neighbouring countries with a large number It is also sometimes referred to as Southern Sotho, principally to distinguish it from Northern Sotho.
The Sotho-Tswana languages are in turn closely related to other Southern Bantu language groups, including the Tshivenḓa, Xitsonga, Inhambane, and Nguni languages, and possibly also the Makua languages of Tanzania and Mozambique. 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. Nguni languages are mostly spoken by Nguni people, which are group of clans and nations living in south-east Africa In the classification of African languages, Makua is a branch of the Central Bantu subfamily of the Niger-Congo phylum Tanzania ˌtænzəˈniːə officially the United Republic of Tanzania (Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Moçambique or República de Moçambique, ʁɛ'publikɐ d musɐ̃'bik is a country in southeastern Africa
Dialects
Standard Sesotho is remarkable in having little to no distinctive dialectal variation. Except for faint lexical variation within Lesotho, and except for marked lexical variation between the Lesotho/Free State variety, and that of the large urban townships to the north (e. History See also Orange Free State Geography The Free State is situated on flat boundless plains in the heart of South Africa g. Soweto) due to heavy borrowing from neighbouring languages, there is no discernible dialect variation in this language. Soweto is an urban area in the City of Johannesburg, in Gauteng, South Africa.
However, one point which seems to often confuse authors who attempt to study the dialectology of Sesotho is the term "Basotho" which can variously mean "Sotho-Tswana speakers," "Sesotho and Northern Sotho speakers," "Sesotho speakers," and "residents of Lesotho. The Basotho people have lived in Southern Africa since around the fifteenth century. " Thus, when considering speech varieties, all minor ethnic groups living in Lesotho may be considered to be Sesotho speakers, and this has resulted in the Nguni language isiPhuthi (which has been heavily influenced by Sesotho, and whose speakers have strong Sotho-Tswana ancestry) sometimes being treated as a dialect of Sesotho named "Sephuthi. Phuthi ( Síphùthì)is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border "
Additionally, due to being derived from a language or dialect very closely related to modern Sesotho,[2] the Zambian Sotho-Tswana language Silozi is also sometimes cited as a modern dialect of Sesotho named "Serotse" or "Sekololo. The Republic of Zambia (ˈzæmbɪə is a Landlocked country in Southern Africa. Lozi, also known as Silozi and Rozi, is a Bantu language (of the Niger-Congo language family that is spoken by the Lozi people "
The oral history of the Basotho and Northern Sotho peoples (as contained in their diboko) states that Mathulare, a daughter of the chief of the Bafokeng nation (an old and respected people), was married to chief Tabane of the (Southern) Bakgatla (a branch of Bahurutse, who are one of the most ancient of the Sotho-Tswana clans), and bore the founders of five clans: Bapedi (by Mopedi), Makgolokwe (by Kgetsi), Baphuthing (by Mophuthing, and later the Mzizi of Dlamini, connected with the present-day amaNdebele), Batlokwa (by Kgwadi), and Basia (by Mosia). Diboko, in the Sotho-Tswana languages, is the name of Clan or family 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 Dlamini Dynasty (present day Swazi Royal Family) is the current ruling indigenous African Royal Dynasty of Swaziland of which the Honorable Majesty Mswati III This article relates to the Ndebele people of Zimbabwe For other uses of the term please see Ndebele. These were the first peoples to be called "Basotho", before many of their descendants and other peoples came together to form Moshoeshoe I's nation in the early 19th century. Moshoeshoe moʊˈʃweɪʃweɪ (c1786 - March 11 1870) was born at Menkhoaneng in the Northern part of present-day Lesotho. The situation is even further complicated by various historical factors, such as members of parent clans joining their descendants, or various different clans calling themselves by the same names (because they honour the same legendary ancestor or have the same totem).
An oft-repeated story is that when the modern Basotho nation was established by King Moshoeshoe I, his own "dialect" Sekwena was chosen over two other popular variations Setlokwa and Setaung, and that these two still exist as "dialects" of modern Sesotho. The inclusion of Setlokwa in this scenario is confusing, as the modern language named "Setlokwa" is a Northern Sotho language spoken by descendants of the same Batlokwa whose attack on the young chief Moshoeshoe's settlement during Difaqane (lead by the famous widow Mmanthatisi) caused them to migrate to present day Lesotho. Mfecane ( Zulu name also known as the Difaqane or Lifaqane in Sesotho) is an African expression which means something like "the On the other hand, Doke & Mofokeng claims that the tendency of many Sesotho speakers to say e. g. ke ronngwe instead of ke romilwe when forming the perfect of the passive of verbs ending in -ma (as well as forming their perfects with -mme instead of -mile) is "a relic of the extinct Tlokwa dialect. "
Geographic distribution
According to 2001 census data, there were almost four million first language Sesotho speakers recorded in South Africa — approximately eight per cent of the population. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. Sesotho is also the main language spoken by the people of Lesotho, where, according to 1993 data, it was spoken by about 1 493 000 people, or 85% of the population. Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Year 1993 ( MCMXCIII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1993 Gregorian calendar) The census fails, unfortunately, to record the at least five million further South Africans for whom Sesotho is a second or third language. Such speakers are found in all major residential areas of greater Johannesburg, Soweto and Tshwane, where multilingualism and polylectalism are very high. Johannesburg ( Pronounced /jō-hān'ĭs-bûrg'/ is the largest city in South Africa. Soweto is an urban area in the City of Johannesburg, in Gauteng, South Africa. The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality (also known as the City of Tshwane, ˈtswɑːneɪ (listen) is a metropolitan municipality contained in the
Official status
Sesotho is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, and one of the two official languages of Lesotho. South Africa has 11 Official languages South Africa also recognises eight non-official languages as " National languages quot Lesotho (lɪˈsuːtuː) officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a Landlocked country and Enclave — entirely surrounded by the Republic of South
Derived languages
Sesotho is one of the many languages from which the pseudo-language Tsotsitaal is derived. Tsotsitaal, or isiCamtho, is a variety of languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province in South Africa, such Tsotsitaal is not a proper language, as it is primarily a unique vocabulary and a set of idioms but used with the grammar and inflexion rules of another language (usually Sesotho or isiZulu). 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 It is a part of the youth culture in most Southern Gauteng "townships" and is the primary language used in Kwaito music. Gauteng (xaʊˈtɛŋ Sotho xɑ́útʼèŋ̀ is a province of South Africa. In South Africa, the term Township usually refers to the (often underdeveloped urban living areas that under Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites Kwaito is a Music genre that emerged in Johannesburg, South Africa in the early 1990s
Phonology
The sound system of Sesotho is unusual in many respects. See also Sesotho language It has ejective consonants, click consonants, a uvular trill, a relatively large number of affricate consonants, no prenasalized consonants, and a rare form of vowel-height (alternatively, advanced tongue root) harmony. In Phonetics, ejective consonants are Voiceless Consonants that are pronounced with simultaneous closure of the Glottis. Clicks are speech sounds such as English tsk! tsk! used to express disapproval or the tchick! used to spur on a horse The uvular trill is a type of Consonantal sound used in some spoken Languages The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents Affricate Consonants begin as stops (most often an alveolar, such as or) but release as a fricative (such as or or occasionally into Prenasalized stops or consonants are phonetic sequences of nasal plus plosive that behave phonologically like single consonants In Phonetics, advanced tongue root and retracted tongue root, abbreviated ±ATR are contrasting states of the root of the Tongue during the pronunciation In total, the language contains some 39 consonantal[3] and 9 vowel phonemes. The phoneME project is Sun Microsystems reference implementation of Java virtual machine and associated libraries of Java ME with source licensed under the GNU
It also has a large number of complex sound transformations which often change the phones of words due to the influence of other (sometimes invisible) sounds.
Grammar
The most striking properties of Sesotho grammar, and the most important properties which reveal it as a Bantu language, are its noun gender and concord systems. Note The Bantu languages (technically Narrow Bantu languages) constitute a grouping belonging to the Niger-Congo family Notes Notes The grammatical gender system does not include sex gender, and indeed, Bantu languages generally have no grammatical means of distinguishing between males and females.
Another well-known property of the Bantu languages is their agglutinative morphology. An agglutinative language is a Language that uses Agglutination extensively most Words are formed by joining Morphemes together Additionally, they tend to lack any grammatical case systems, indicating noun roles almost exclusively through word order. In Grammar, the case of a Noun or Pronoun indicates its Grammatical function in a greater Phrase or Clause; such as the
Notes
- ^ or Suto, or Suthu, or Souto, or Sisutho, or Sutu, or Sesutu etc. by various authors and sources during various periods. The language's name has not changed for the last 200 years, though.
- ^ To the extent that it even has several words which resemble Sesotho words with clicks:
- ku kala to begin (Sesotho ho qala)
- ku kabana to quarrel (Sesotho ho qabana)
- ^ 75 if you include the labialized consonants. See also Sesotho language
See also
References
- Batibo, H. The South African Translators' Institute ( SATI) is the largest association in South Africa representing professional academic and amateur translators and The Basotho people have lived in Southern Africa since around the fifteenth century. M. , Moilwa, J. , and Mosaka N. 1997. The historical implications of the linguistic relationship between Makua and Sotho languages. In PULA Journal of African Studies, vol. 11, no. 1
- Doke, C. M., and Mofokeng, S. Clement Martyn Doke ( May 16, 1893 in Bristol, Great Britain – February 24, 1980 in East London, South M. 1974. Textbook of Southern Sotho Grammar. Cape Town: Longman Southern Africa, 3rd. impression. ISBN 0 582 61700 6.
- Ntaoleng, B. S. 2004. Sociolinguistic variation in spoken and written Sesotho: A case study of speech varieties in Qwaqwa. M. A. thesis. University of South Africa.
- Tšiu, W. M. 2001. Basotho family odes (Diboko) and oral tradition. M. A. thesis. University of South Africa
External links
- Sesotho Online A gentle introduction to the Sesotho language and Basotho culture. The Basotho people have lived in Southern Africa since around the fifteenth century.
- Weblog on Sesotho
- Translate.org.za Project translating Free and Open Source Software into South African languages, including Sesotho.
- PanAfrican L10n page on Sesotho Information on the language and localization.
- Sesotho language tutorial A beginner's language text, designed for the US Peace Corps.
Software
- Spell checker for OpenOffice.org and Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox web-browser, and Mozilla Thunderbird email program in Sesotho.
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