Sotho language
| Sotho | |
|---|---|
| Sesotho | |
| Pronunciation | [sɪ̀sʊ́tʰʊ̀] |
| Native to | Lesotho, South Africa |
| Ethnicity | Basotho |
|
Native speakers
|
5.6 million (2001–2011) 7.9 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2002) |
|
Latin (Sotho alphabet) Sotho Braille |
|
| Signed Sotho | |
| Official status | |
|
Official language in
|
Lesotho South Africa Zimbabwe |
| Regulated by | Pan South African Language Board |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | st |
| ISO 639-2 | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | sout2807 |
S.33 |
|
| Linguasphere | 99-AUT-ee incl. varieties 99-AUT-eea to 99-AUT-eee |
| The Sesotho Language | |
|---|---|
| Person | Mosotho |
| People | Basotho |
| Language | Sesotho |
| Country | Lesotho |
The Sotho language, Sesotho (/ˈsuːtuː/;, also known as Southern Sotho, or Southern Sesotho) is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho-Tswana (S.30) group, spoken primarily in South Africa, where it is one of the 11 official languages, and in Lesotho, where it is the national language.
Like all Bantu languages, Sesotho is an agglutinative language, which uses numerous affixes and derivational and inflexional rules to build complete words.
Sesotho is a Southern Bantu language, belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho-Tswana branch of Zone S (S.30).
"Sotho" is also the name given to the entire Sotho-Tswana group, in which case Sesotho proper is called "Southern Sotho". Within the Sotho-Tswana group, Sesotho proper is most closely related to Lozi (Silozi), with which it forms the Sesotho-Lozi group within Sotho-Tswana.
The Northern Sotho group is geographical, and includes a number of dialects also closely related to Sesotho-Lozi. Northern Sotho language. Tswana is also known as "Western Sesotho".
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