Xitsonga

Xitsonga
Spoken in	Republic of South Africa , Zimbabwe , Mozambique
speaker	4 million
Linguistic classification	Niger Congo Languages Benue Congo languages Bantoid languages Bantu languages Xitsonga
Official status
Official language in	Republic of South Africa , Zimbabwe
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	ts
ISO 639 -2	tso
ISO 639-3	tso

Proportion of Xitsong speakers in South Africa (2011)

Density of Xitsong speakers in South Africa (2011)

Xitsonga (also: Tsonga, Thonga, Shangaan, Shangani) is a Bantu language and is mainly used by the Tsonga ethnic group .

It is spoken by around four million people and is widespread in the South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga and neighboring areas of Zimbabwe, as well as in southern Mozambique .

3.18 percent of the 15-year-old South African population use Xitsonga as their mother tongue (as of 2015).

The language is divided into the main dialects Ronga, Tonga, Tswa and Inhambe. There is no uniform standard language . At the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century, Ronga, Tonga and Tswa were written separately in the Latin alphabet . In 1878 the first religious work appeared in Tsonga.

Xitsonga or Shangani is the official language in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Text example

Our Father in Tsonga:

Tata wa hina long matilweni,

vito ra wena a ri hlawuleke;

a ku te ku fuma ka wena;

ku rhandza ka wena a ku endliwe misaveni,

tanihi loko ku endliwa tilweni.

U hi nyika namuntlha vuswa bya hina bya siku rin'wana ni rin'wana;

u hi rivalela swidyoho swa hina,

tanihi loko na hina hi rivalela lava hi dyohelaka;

u nga hi yisi emiringweni,

kambe u hi ponisa eka lowo biha,

Amen.

Web links

Commons : Xitsonga  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikipedia on Xitsonga

Wiktionary: Xitsonga  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

1. ^ Institute of Race Relations : South Africa Survey 2017 . Johannesburg 2017, p. 74