Tsotsitaal

Tsotsitaals are a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province (such as Soweto), but also in other agglomerations all over South Africa. Tsotsi is a Sesotho slang word for a "thug" or "robber" (possibly from the verb "ho tsotsa" "to sharpen" — whose meaning has been modified in modern times to include "to con"; or from the tsetse fly, as the language was first known as Flytaal, although flaai also means "cool" or "street smart"). The word taal in Afrikaans means "language".

A tsotsitaal is built over the grammar of one or several languages, in which terms from other languages or specific terms created by the community of speakers are added. It is a permanent work of language-mix, language-switch, and terms-coining.

The tsotsitaal phenomenon originates with one variety known as Flaaitaal or Flytaal, and then Tsotsitaal, which became popular under this latter name in the freehold township of Sophiatown, west of Johannesburg, in the 1940s and 1950s. Tsotsitaal, the original variety, is based on Afrikaans, in which were originally added Tswana terms, and later terms from Zulu and other South African languages. Tsotsitaal spread first as a criminal language, as it had the power of insuring secrecy in the speech: only criminals at first could understand it.

Later, as a prestigious sign of rebellion against the state and its police, and as gangsters were admired by youths who would see in them examples of success, Tsotsitaal became a youth and street language. At the time, it would exceptionally be heard in households, as tradition did not allow a gangster language to be used in the house. But it quickly became a symbol of the ethnically, culturally, and linguistically mixed culture of Sophiatown. Tsotsitaal is now a moribund variety in the black townships, as its speakers are mainly above the age of 70. However, it has maintained in slightly different forms as a prison language and among the black communities who are Afrikaans-speaking.

From the original Tsotsitaal, the noun tsotsitaal came to refer to any gang or street language in South Africa. However, the specific variety behind the term would depend on the languages actually present in the specific urban environment were one tsotsitaal appears. The most important tsotsitaal nowadays in South Africa is the one from the township of Soweto, the largest township and the place which shows the most diverse linguistic setting in the country.