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31-463: The main dialect is called Shirwanga. A slight majority of Botswana Yeyi are monolingual in the national language, Tswana , and the majority of the rest are bilingual. Yeyi appears to be a divergent lineage of Bantu. It is usually classified as a member of the R Zone Bantu languages. The language has been phonetically influenced by the Ju languages , though it is no longer in contact with them. Vowel length

62-467: A form that is closely linked to Setswana . The areas Soshanguve , Mamelodi and Atteridgeville are dominated by Sepedi speakers and speak a form that is closely linked to Sepedi , hence the use of words such as Bolela or Nyaka instead of Bua or Batla in Tswana . SoShaNguVe remains the most diverse as the name suggests SOtho (both Setwana and Sepedi) SHAngan ( Tsonga ) Nguni and Venda . People in

93-438: A reported uvular affricated click appears to actually be velar, with the affrication a variant of aspiration, and so has been included under ᵏǂʰ . There is similar velar affrication with the dental ejective click among some speakers. The ejective clicks are apparently uvular. Miller (2011), in a comparative study with other languages, interprets their results as follows, The contrast between ejective and glottalized nasal clicks

124-407: A secondary stress in the first part of the word. The syllable on which the stress falls is lengthened. Thus, mosadi (woman) is realised as [mʊ̀ˈsáːdì] . Tswana has two tones , high and low, but the latter has a much wider distribution in words than the former. Tones are not marked orthographically , which may lead to ambiguity. An important feature of the tones is the so-called spreading of

155-524: A separate set of words to use when talking about money. The people of the Pretoria-Tshwane area use words such as nyoko , zaka , lechankura and maphepha to refer to money. An example of a sepitori passage would be: References to monetary figures In Sepitori then English : A common expression in Pretoria is "dilo di nametse RunX" which means that things are going good. Sepitori

186-412: A short note regarding the common characteristics of most nouns within their respective classes. Some nouns may be found in several classes. For instance, many class 1 nouns are also found in class 1a, class 3, class 4, and class 5. Pretoria Sotho Pretoria Taal , or Pretoria Sotho (affectionately called Sepitori/S'pitori by its speakers), is the urban lingua franca of Pretoria and

217-407: Is also distinctive. Other palatalized consonant sounds that can occur are /bʲ ⁿdʲ lʲ/ . Lateral sounds only rarely occur. Yeyi may have up to four click types, dental ǀ , alveolar ǃ , palatal ǂ , and lateral ǁ . However, the actual number of clicks is disputed, as researchers disagree on how many series of manner and phonation the language contrasts. Sommer & Voßen (1992) listed

248-553: Is fast becoming a first language. It is not known how many people speak it, as it is mixed, informal language with Sepedi and Setswana. If it is understood to be a language of its own, it would be the most spoken language in the northern parts of Gauteng and the eastern parts of the North-West Province , particularly Brits area because of its proximity to Pretoria. Among young people in the City of Tshwane , it has become

279-429: Is full of Afrikaans because of its influence during segregation ( apartheid era), were white people (Afrikaans speakers) were placed in the well developed areas of Pretoria, these areas were considered upper class, since all the new and latest city developments were done in these Pretorian areas. Then the well dressed township dwellers ( kleva ) started having a combination of afrikaans words in their speech, resulting in

310-448: Is mutually intelligible with SeTswana and Northern Sotho. It is a very dynamic and fluid language that changes over time. Words such as stelle , stocko and wadijaja are new concepts used and did not exist a decade ago. Another interesting feature is that different parts of the city of Tshwane have different variations of the language. The Garankuwa , Mabopane and Hammanskraal regions, which are dominated by Tswana -speakers, speak

341-427: Is new. In the Pretoria area, this became the language of di kleva ( well-dressed township-dwellers who were trendy and up to speed with cultural developments). The high social status that came with being recognized as a kleva resulted in a growing number of people speaking that way. Tsotsitaal thus went from being a cult-like secret code to being a medium of communication in the urban areas around Gauteng. Sepitori

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372-530: 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. The consonant /ŋ/ can exist at the end of a word without being followed by a vowel (as in Jwaneng and Barolong Seboni ). Stress is fixed in Tswana and thus always falls on the penult of a word, although some compounds may receive

403-552: 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 in Zimbabwe (unknown number) and Namibia (about 10,000 people). The first European to describe the language was the German traveller Hinrich Lichtenstein , who lived among

434-470: Is the principal unique language of the city of Pretoria . The three South African provinces with the most speakers are Gauteng (circa 11%), Northern Cape , and North West (over 70%). Until 1994, South African Tswana people were notionally citizens of Bophuthatswana , one of the bantustans of the apartheid regime. The Setswana language in the Northwest Province has variations in which it

465-471: Is unusual, but also occurs in Gǀwi . Unfortunately, the speakers interviewed were not from the core Yeyi-speaking area, and they often disagreed on which clicks to use. Although the six dental clicks ( ǀ etc. ) were nearly universal, only one of the lateral clicks was (the voiced click ᶢǁ ). The alveolar clicks ( ǃ etc. ) were universal apart from the ejective, which was only attested from one speaker, but two of

496-459: The Garankuwa and Mabopane areas would say 'Keya ko nna' for 'I am going home'. Residents of Mamelodi and Atteridgeville for example would say, 'Ke ya jarateng' they also might use 'keya ko nna' as well. While residents of Soshanguve for example would say 'keya jointeng or keya dladleng' There is a strong relationship between it and Afrikaans and Tsotsitaal . Afrikaans is a fusion of

527-588: The Lozi language . Setswana is an official language of Botswana , South Africa , and Zimbabwe . It is a lingua franca in Botswana and parts of South Africa, particularly North West Province . Tswana speaking ethnic groups are found in more than two provinces of South Africa, primarily in the North West , where about four million people speak the language. An urbanised variety is known as Pretoria Sotho , and

558-759: The Tshwane metropolitan area in South Africa. It is a combination of Sepedi-Tswana and influences from Tsotsitaal , Afrikaans and other Bantu languages of the region. It is spoken by most black residents of all ages and levels of education in Tshwane . Though it is most commonly used in informal situations, it is also used in schools and at political events in which people have different language backgrounds. Standard Setswana and Northern Sotho (represented by Sepedi) are not commonly used in schools except in SeTswana and Northern Sotho lessons. Pretoria Taal (or Sepitori)

589-709: The Tswana people Batlhaping in 1806 although his work was not published until 1930. He mistakenly regarded Tswana as a dialect of the Xhosa , and the name that he used for the language "Beetjuana" may also have covered the Northern and Southern Sotho languages . The first major work on Tswana was carried out by the British missionary Robert Moffat , who had also lived among the Batlhaping , and published Bechuana Spelling Book and A Bechuana Catechism in 1826. In

620-612: The close-mid vowels /e/ and /o/ . 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. The consonant inventory of Tswana can be seen below. The consonant /d/ is merely an allophone of /l/ , when the latter is followed by the vowels /i/ or /u/ . Two more sounds, v /v/ and z /z/ , exist only in loanwords. Tswana also has three click consonants , but these are only used in interjections or ideophones , and tend only to be used by

651-471: The 24 possible permutations were attested in the sample vocabulary by at least one speaker, the exception being the ejective lateral click *ǁʼ . This research needs to be repeated in an area where the language is still vibrant. Seidel (2008) says that Yeyi has three click types, dental ǀ , alveolar ǃ , and, in two words only, lateral ǁ . There are three basic series, tenuis, aspirated, and voiced, any of which may be prenasalized: A Yeyi Talking Dictionary

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682-479: The Dutch language and local Khoisan and Cape Malay variations. Tsotsitaal is a form of Afrikaans which is used in urban South Africa, originally by thugs trying to disguise their language. It was soon associated with being cool and with the times, and broader society began to use it. Many criminals in urban areas were former mine workers, construction workers and farmers. In revolt against the industrial oppression and

713-469: The apartheid regime in general, gangs began participating in criminal activities and would plot and scheme in crowded township environments. The people of Mamelodi like to incorporate the variations of other Pretorian townships. So most of the words used in other places are either considered obsolete or are adopted into the ever changing language. So you could say "Sepetori se metsi" which has multiple means depending on context in this it would mean that Sepetori

744-444: The following manners, shown as the palatal series: The uvular ejective series was uncertain due to infrequency. Fulop et al. (2002) studied the clicks of a limited vocabulary sample with 13 Yeyi speakers who were not from the core speaking area. The series they found are: There are in addition prenasalized clicks such as /ŋᶢǂ/ and /ᵑǂˀ/ , but Fulop et al. analyze these as consonant clusters , not single sounds. In addition,

775-547: The following years, he published several other books of the Bible , and in 1857, he was able to publish a complete translation of the Bible. 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)

806-655: The high tone. If a syllable bears a high tone, the following two syllables will have high tones unless they are at the end of the word. Tswana orthography is based on the Latin alphabet. 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. Nouns in Tswana are grouped into nine noun classes and one subclass, each having different prefixes . The nine classes and their respective prefixes can be seen below, along with

837-458: The language having terms such as Dae Man , Ek Se , Daarso , Is waar , Nou die laas and Jy Verstaan , which are used on a daily basis. When greeting, people in the Pretorian area use the native Setswana greeting of Dumelang / Ashe and the colloquial "Ek Se". The latter is preferred by the youth, while the former is generally used by elders and in official community events. Sepitori has

868-404: The older generation, and are therefore falling out of use. The three click consonants are the dental click /ǀ/ , orthographically ⟨c⟩ ; the lateral click /ǁ/ , orthographically ⟨x⟩ ; and the alveolar click /ǃ/ , orthographically ⟨q⟩ . There are some minor dialectal variations among the consonants between speakers of Tswana. For instance, /χ/

899-437: The palatal clicks were only used by half the speakers, at least in the sample vocabulary. The missing palatal and lateral clicks were substituted with alveolar or sometimes dental clicks (palatals only), and the missing ejective alveolar was substituted with a glottalized alveolar. Both of these patterns are consistent with studies of click loss , though it is possible that these speakers maintain these clicks in other words. 23 of

930-594: Was produced by Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages . Tswana language Tswana , also known by its native name Setswana , and previously spelled Sechuana in English, is a Bantu language spoken in and indigenous to Southern Africa by about 8.2 million people. It is closely related to the Northern Sotho and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi language and

961-504: 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. Solomon Plaatje , a South African intellectual and linguist , was one of the first writers to extensively write in and about the Tswana language. The vowel inventory of Tswana can be seen below. Some dialects have two additional vowels,

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