Sesotho, or Southern Sotho,
is part of the Sotho language subgroup within the South - Eastern group
of the Ntu (Bantu) language family. Other languages in the Sotho
subgroup include
Setswana
(also known as Tswana or Western Sotho) and
Sesotho
sa Leboa (also known as Northern Sotho or by the dialect
name Sepedi).
The language is spoken in the Kingdom
of Lesotho
as well as throughout the Republic of South Africa.
Yet in South Africa the language is concentrated in the Free State province, the northern part of the Eastern Cape
province and the south of the Gauteng province. It is also spoken in the vicinity of Pretoria and Brits.
Very small language communities also exist in Namibia and Zambia.
LANGUAGE VARIETY
Language varieties of this language
include Sekwena, Sephuthi,
Setlokwa and Setaung in the central region;
Sekgolokwe in the north eastern region as well as
Serotse (Selozi). (Also see
Language Variety in Sesotho)
Traditionally it was
thought the Sesotho spoken in Qwaqwa (former Basotho homeland in South
Africa) and Lesotho was the purest form of the language. Yet no language
can exist in total isolation and even there influence from other
languages as well as language change has taken place. It has therefore
happened that loan words and influences have been taken from
neighbouring Nguni languages such as isiZulu and isiXhosa as well as
European languages such as English and Afrikaans (a Germanic language
that developed in Southern Africa from seventeenth century Dutch).
NUMBER OF SPEAKERS
Sesotho is used by 3 555 186 speakers as a home language in South Africa
(2001 census) which is 7.9% of the whole population. According to the
1996 census this number was 3 104 197.
The division of
Sesotho speakers per province in South Africa
(according to the 2001 census) is as follows:
Province |
Number
of speakers |
Province
percentage |
Eastern Cape |
152 340 |
2,4% |
Free State |
1 742 939 |
64,4% |
Gauteng |
1 159 589 |
13,1% |
KwaZulu-Natal |
66 925 |
0,7% |
Limpopo |
69 370 |
1,3% |
Mpumalanga |
114 169 |
3,7% |
Northern Cape |
9 101 |
1,1% |
Northwest |
209 315 |
5,7% |
Western Cape |
31 438 |
0,7% |
WRITTEN FORM
The language was first reduced to writing by, Eugene Casalis, a French
missionary of the Paris Evangelical Mission who arrived at Thaba
Bosiu (in Lesotho) in 1833. Also notable was the work done by Arbousset.
Casalis also compiled the first Sotho grammar book, Etudes sur la
Langue Sechuana, in 1841.
Yet the first list of Sesotho words was compiled in
written form by Rev. A. Mabille.
Mabille married the daughter of Eugene Casalis - she initially taught
Sesotho to Mabille before his arrival in Southern Africa from Europe.
Rev. Mabille was also responsbile for establishing the printing press at
Morija in Lesotho - it still exists today.
The Kwena dialect used
by Moshoeshoe, regarded as the father of the Basotho people, was used in
the first translation of the Bible by missionaries and became the
standard for written Sesotho.
One of the main differences in the way of writing between Sesotho and
other languages from the Ntu group in South Africa is the fact that
Sesotho is written disjunctively and not conjunctively. Hence one would
say "ngiyabonga" to say thank you in isiZulu and "ke a leboha" in
Sesotho ("kea leboha" in Lesotho Sesotho). In the middle of the
twentieth century linguists such as Doke and Ziervogel advocated the use
of the conjunctive method in contrast to the disjunctive method of
writing established by the missionaries. In addition E.B. van Wyk
proposed a semi-conjunctive approach. In the end the more traditional
disjunctive method of writing was accepted. Some still regard that as a
Ntu language Sesotho should adhere to the rules used by similar
languages. But language being a dynamic entity it is always shaped by
the speakers and it seems that linguists nor language politics will
alter the independent nature of the Sesotho language.
|
Main concentration of the Sotho
languages in Southern Africa. |