Sotho-Tswana
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| unknown; roughly 15–16 million? | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 South Africa
|
c. 13.585 million? |
 Lesotho
|
c. 2.130 million? (mostly Sotho) |
 Botswana
|
c. 2.160 million? (mostly Tswana) |
| Languages | |
| Sesotho sa Borwa, Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, Silozi, SheKgalagari | |
| Religion | |
| African traditional, Christian | |
The Sotho-Tswana languages form a subgroup of Southern Bantu. It is sometimes also called "Sotho", but it is more common now to reserve "Sotho" for Sesotho or "Southern Sotho", the group of dialects spoken by the Sotho people (Basotho). The "Western Sotho" branch or "Tswanaic" branch includes the Tswana language, spoken by the Tswana people (Batswana). In addition, Northern Sotho is a geographical grouping for dialects that are neither part of the Southern nor the Western group.
The Sotho-Tswana speaking groups would have diversified into their current arrangement the course of the 2nd millennium, but they retain a number of linguistic and cultural characteristics that distinguish them from other Bantu-speakers of southern Africa. These are features such as totemism, a pre-emptive right of men to marry their maternal cousins, and an architectural style characterized by a round hut with a conical thatch roof supported by wooden pillars on the outside. Other major distinguishing features included their dress of skin cloaks and a preference for dense and close settlements, as well as a tradition of large-scale building in stone. The area now settled by the various Sotho-Tswana groups was reached by the Bantu expansion by about AD 500. The standard theory asserts that the Sotho-Tswana are descended from a group that moved southward from the Great Lakes in a separate movement from the other Southern Bantu groups, proceeding along the western part of present-day Zimbabwe.
The term Tswana can be used to refer to one of the following
The term Basotho can be used to refer to the following
According to Jules Ellenberger (1912:34), the Basotho name was derived from the name "Abashuntu" a derivate of the Nguni saying "uku Shunta" meaning "to make a knot". The then Batlokwa, who were the very first people to be called "Abashuntu", used to wear a breech cloth with three ends, one of which passed between the legs and joined the other two knot behind, this mode of dress is called the tshega/tshea. This designation, through bestowed in derision, was adopted with pride by the Batlokwa, and later by other Sotho-Tswana clans similarly clothed and is thought to be the origin of the term "Basotho".
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Wikipedia