Sotho-Tswana languages
| Sotho-Tswana | |
|---|---|
| Geographic distribution: |
South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana |
| Linguistic classification: | Niger–Congo
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| Glottolog: | soth1248[1] |
The Sotho-Tswana languages are a group of closely related Southern Bantu languages spoken in Southern Africa. The Sotho-Tswana group corresponds to the S.30 label in Guthrie's (1967–1971) classification[2] of languages in the Bantu family.
The group is divided into two branches, Tswana (or Tswanaic) and Sotho, as follows:
- Tswanaic (also Western Sotho)
- Sotho
- Sesotho-Lozi
- Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa)
- Birwa
- Sepedic: includes Pedi and Tswapong:
- Pedi: Gananwa, Kgaga, Khutswe, Kone, Kopa, Lobedu, Masemola, Matlala-Moletši, Pai, Phalaborwa, Pulana, Tlokwa, Tšhwene
- Tswapong
- South Ndebele
The various dialects of Tswana (Western Sotho), Southern Sotho and Northern Sotho are mutually intelligible.[citation needed][clarification needed] On more than one occasion, proposals have been put forward to create a unified Sotho-Tswana language.[3][4]
Northern Sotho, which appears largely to be a taxonomic holding category for what is Sotho-Tswana but neither identifiably Southern Sotho nor Tswana,[5] subsumes highly varied dialects including Pedi (Sepedi), Tswapo (Setswapo), Lovedu (Khilobedu), Pai and Pulana. Maho (2002) leaves the "East Sotho" varieties of Kutswe, Pai, and Pulana unclassified within Sotho-Tswana.
Lozi is spoken in Zambia and northeastern Namibia (in the Caprivi). It is distinct from the other Sotho-Tswana languages due to heavy linguistic influences from Luyaana, and possibly other Zambian and Caprivi languages. In the Guthrie work—as is now widely acknowledged[6]—Lozi was misclassified as K.21.
Writing System
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The sintu writing system, Ditema tsa Dinoko (also known in Zulu as Isibheqe Sohlamvu), for Southern Bantu languages, is used to represent all Sotho-Tswana languages consistently under one orthography.[7] This includes those marginal languages that have never been standardised in the Latin alphabet, such as the "East Sotho" varieties (Pulana, Khutswe and Pai). For example, it contains a specific grapheme indicating retroflex or "cerebral" consonants, such as the retroflex ejective affricate occurring here in Pai:
| English | place | |
|---|---|---|
| Pai | itzau |
Notes
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<references />, or <references group="..." />| Official |
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| Recognised unofficial languages mentioned in the 1996 constitution |
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| Other |
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Guthrie, Malcolm (1967-1971). Comparative Bantu: An Introduction to the Comparative Linguistics and Prehistory of the Bantu Languages. (Volumes 1-4). Farnborough: Gregg International, cf. the CBOLD Guthrie name list
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ See Doke, Clement M. (1954). The Southern Bantu Languages. Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ↑ Gowlett, Derek. (2003). Zone S. In D. Nurse & G. Philippson (eds.), The Bantu Languages, 609-638. London: Curzon/Routledge
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
