(4.1 million in South Africa (2011) 1.1 million in Botswana cited 1993)[1] unknown numbers in Namibia and Zimbabwe 2.7 millionL2 speakers in South Africa (2002)[2]
Distribution of Tswana (in yellow) in BotswanaGeographical distribution of Tswana in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks Tswana at home.
0–20%
20–40%
40–60%
60–80%
80–100%
Geographical distribution of Setswana in South Africa: density of Setswana home-language speakers.
Tswana is an official language ofSouth Africa andZimbabwe. It is alingua franca in Botswana and parts of South Africa, particularlyNorth West Province. Tswana speaking ethnic groups are found in more than two provinces of South Africa, primarily in theNorth West, where about four million people speak the language. An urbanised variety is known asPretoria Sotho, and is the principal unique language of the city ofPretoria. The three South African provinces with the most speakers areGauteng (circa 11%),Northern Cape, and North West (over 70%). Until 1994, South AfricanTswana people were notionally citizens ofBophuthatswana, one of thebantustans of theapartheid regime. The Tswana language in the Northwest Province has variations in which it is spoken according to the ethnic groups found in the Tswana culture (Bakgatla, Barolong, Bakwena, Batlhaping, Bahurutshe, Bafokeng, Batlokwa, Bataung, and Batswapong, among others); the written language remains the same. A small number of speakers are also found inZimbabwe (unknown number) andNamibia (about 10,000 people).[1]
The first major work on Tswana was carried out by the BritishmissionaryRobert Moffat, who had also lived among theBatlhaping, and publishedBechuana Spelling Book andA Bechuana Catechism in 1826. In the following years, he published several otherbooks of the Bible, and in 1857, he was able to publish a complete translation of the Bible.[4]
The first grammar of Tswana was published in 1833 by the missionary James Archbell although it was modelled on a Xhosa grammar. The first grammar of Tswana which regarded it as a separate language from Xhosa (but still not as a separate language from the Northern and Southern Sotho languages) was published by the French missionary, E. Casalis in 1841. He changed his mind later, and in a publication from 1882, he noted that the Northern and Southern Sotho languages were distinct from Tswana.[5]
Solomon Plaatje, a South African intellectual andlinguist, was one of the first writers to extensively write in and about the Tswana language.[4]
Some dialects have two additional vowels, theclose-mid vowels/e/ and/o/.[7] The circumflex on e and o in general Setswana writing is only encouraged at elementary levels of education and not at upper primary or higher; usually these are written without the circumflex.[8]
Theconsonant[d] is merely anallophone of/l/, when the latter is followed by thevowels/i/ or/u/.[10] Two more sounds,v/v/ andz/z/, exist only in loanwords.
Tswana also has threeclick consonants, but these are only used ininterjections orideophones, and tend only to be used by the older generation, and are therefore falling out of use. The three click consonants are thedental click/ǀ/, orthographically⟨c⟩; thelateral click/ǁ/, orthographically⟨x⟩; and thealveolar click/ǃ/, orthographically⟨q⟩.[11]
There are some minordialectal variations among the consonants between speakers of Tswana. For instance,/χ/ is realised as either/x/ or/h/ by many speakers;/f/ is realised as/h/ in most dialects; and/tɬ/ and/tɬʰ/ are realised as/t/ and/tʰ/ in northern dialects.[12]
The consonant/ŋ/ can exist at the end of a word without being followed by a vowel (as inJwaneng andBarolong Seboni).
Stress is fixed in Tswana and thus always falls on thepenult of a word, although somecompounds may receive a secondary stress in the first part of the word. Thesyllable on which the stress falls is lengthened. Thus,mosadi (woman) is realised as[mʊ̀ˈsáːdì].[13]
Tswana has twotones, high and low, but the latter has a much wider distribution in words than the former. Tones are not markedorthographically, which may lead to ambiguity.[14]
go bua/χʊbúa/"to speak"
go bua/χʊbua/"to skin an animal"
o bua Setswana/ʊ́búasetswána/"He speaks Setswana"
o bua Setswana/ʊbúasetswána/"You speak Setswana"
An important feature of the tones is the so-called spreading of the high tone. If asyllable bears a high tone, the following two syllables will have high tones unless they are at the end of the word.[15]
simolola/símʊlʊla/ >/símʊ́lʊ́la/"to begin"
simologêla/símʊlʊχɛla/ >/símʊ́lʊ́χɛla/"to begin for/at"
Tswana orthography is based on the Latin alphabet.
Letter(s)
a
b
ch
d
e
ê
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
ô
p
ph
q
r
s
š
t
th
tl
tlh
tsh
u
v
w
x
y
z
The letter š was introduced in 1937, but the corresponding sound is still sometimes written as ⟨sh⟩. The letters ⟨ê⟩ and ⟨ô⟩ are used in textbooks and language reference books, but not so much in daily standard writing.[16][17]
Nouns in Tswana are grouped into ninenoun classes and one subclass, each having differentprefixes. The nine classes and their respective prefixes can be seen below, along with a short note regarding the common characteristics of most nouns within their respective classes.[18]
Bennett, Wm. G.; Diemer, Maxine; Kerford, Justine; Probert, Tracy; Wesi, Tsholofelo (2016)."Setswana (South African)". Illustrations of the IPA.Journal of the International Phonetic Association.46 (2):235–246.doi:10.1017/S0025100316000050, with supplementary sound recordings.
^Webb, Victor N. (2002).Language in South Africa: The Role of Language in National Transformation, Reconstruction and Development. Philadelphia: John Benjamins. p. 78.ISBN978-90-272-9763-1.
^Makalela, Leketi (2009). "Harmonizing South African Sotho Language Varieties: Lessons From Reading Proficiency Assessment".International Multilingual Research Journal.3 (2):120–133.doi:10.1080/19313150903073489.S2CID143275863.
^Lekgogo, Olemme; Winskel, Heather (December 2008). "Learning to read Setswana and English: Cross-language transference of letter knowledge, phonological awareness and word reading skills".Perspectives in Education.26 (4).
.svg)
