Sotho Tswana languages
The Sotho Tswana languages belong to the Guthrie S region of the Bantu languages .
They are spoken by over 14 million people in southern Africa . The individual languages are:
- Kgalagadi , about 40,000 speakers in Botswana
- Setswana (also: Tswana), about four million speakers, mainly in Botswana (official language there alongside English) and the Republic of South Africa (especially in the former Transvaal Province ).
- Lozi , also known as Silozi or Rotse, has around 600,000 speakers, mainly in Zambia , 70,000 in Zimbabwe and around 15,000 in Botswana and Namibia
- Tswapong , about 2000 speakers in Botswana
- Sotho languages:
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- North Sotho:
- North Sotho , about five million speakers in the Republic of South Africa north of Pretoria , including dialects such as Sepedi , which is considered the standard dialect ; North Sotho is often wrongly equated with Sepedi
- South Ndebele , about 600,000 speakers near Pretoria in the Republic of South Africa. The assignment is controversial, some consider it to be a Nguni language strongly influenced by the Sotho Tswana languages
- South Sotho:
- Sesotho , also known as South Sotho, has around four million speakers in Lesotho (the official language alongside English, there around two million speakers) and the Republic of South Africa
- North and South Sotho are closely related linguistically, but have been given different spellings. The Sesotho spellings in Lesotho and South Africa also differ slightly.
See also
Web links
- Sotho Tswana Languages in Ethnologue (English)
- Revised Guthrie classification of the Bantu languages (English; PDF)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Description at ethnologue.com (English), accessed on September 13, 2015
- ↑ Description at salanguages.com (English), accessed on September 13, 2015
- ↑ amaNbedele. Ed. House of World Cultures. Wasmuth, Tübingen 1991, p. 14.
- ↑ Description at everyculture.com (English), accessed on September 13, 2015