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The south-eastern Bantu languages
The German philologist Dr. W.H.I. Bleek introduced the term "Bantu" in 1857, meaning "human being". The term "Bantu languages" is a linguistic term used internationally to refer to a language family of which the members exhibit certain common characteristics. The languages of this family are distributed over a very wide area in Africa which roughly lies south of an imaginary line which stretches south of the Cameroon area on the West coast to more or less the Lake Victoria and Kenya on the East coast. The similarities between the Bantu languages are so many that it is generally accepted that they all developed from some common proto-language form, known as Ur-Bantu. The commonalities between the languages make it possible to group the Sub-Saharan languages into language zones. All the South African Bantu languages namely the Sotho languages (Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Tswana, Rotse), the Nguni languages (Ndebele, Zimbabwe-Ndebele, Swati, Xhosa, Zulu) as well as Venda and Tsonga belong to the south-eastern language zone.
The Sotho languages
Northern Sotho, Southern Sotho, Tswana and Rotse are classified as Sotho Languages on linguistic grounds due to a variety of linguistic features which they have in common, although they are regarded as separate and autonomous languages. All speakers of the Sotho languages can mutually understand one another. Altogether, the Sotho languages are spoken in four countries: South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, and the Caprivi strip in Namibia. Southern Sotho is the language spoken in Lesotho and also in the South African province of the "Free state". Tswana is spoken in Botswana and in the North-western province of South Africa. Rotse is spoken by a splinter group of the Sotho people who live in the southern Caprivi in Namibia. The biggest group is however Northern Sotho. The language is spoken in the northern, eastern, north-eastern and north-western and central part of South Africa. Northern Sotho is a modern Bantu language and one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Northern Sotho itself comprises a variety of dialects. The language is spoken by approximately 5 million people. The whole Sotho language family in South Africa has however an estimated number of 14 million speakers.
Northern Sotho
Northern Sotho has a long tradition with Germany, and especially with Berlin, since the Berlin missionaries laid the groundwork in transmitting Northern Sotho from an oral language to a written language. The transcription of Northern Sotho was done by using the Latin alphabet. The first Northern Sotho words were documented by missionary Merensky in 1862 in his article "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Bapedi". The first grammar was written by the missionary Karl Endemann, and published in 1876 under the title "Versuch einer Grammatik des Sotho". Northern Sotho is not a single, uniform language, but rather a geographical term which designates the geographical area within which a collection of dialects are spoken. These dialects include Pedi, Tlokwa, Lobedu, Phalaborwa, Hananwa, Pai etc. and are spoken in the northern, eastern, north-eastern and north-western parts of South Africa, especially in the following provinces: Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, and the North-West. Theofficial language, i.e. the language which is endorsed by the Northern Sotho Language Board, and which is used in schools, official documents, the media, etc., is based on one of the Northern Sotho dialects, namely Sepedi, and is often referred to as Standard Northern Sotho. The reason why Sepedi has taken up such a prominent position happened purely due to historical reasons, since this was the dialect in which early German missionaries such as K Endemann and Dr. P.E. Schwellnus first translated the Bible. Later on, the written language of that time was used more widely, with the other dialects also contributing to its development. Presently there is a standardised Northern Sotho, which is still based on Sepedi, but which also reflects influences of other dialects. Since for some years after the new South African constitution appeared, Sepedi was the name used for Northern Sotho. There is thus some confusion as to which name to use. It is the safest to refer to it as Sesotho sa Leboa 'Sotho of the North'.
The grammar of Northern Sotho
Northern Sotho does not employ definite or indefinite articles. That is the reason why there are no equivalents for the German words "der/die/das" or "ein/eine".
Personal pronouns and other words that are used as pronouns are all gender neutral. No distinction is therefore made between "he/she/it" like in German "er/sie/es".
Nouns are grouped into classes and pairs (singular/plural). The noun classes can be identified by their prefixes, and are grouped into 15 different classes. The noun mo-tho (person) with its prefix mo- belongs to noun class 1, while the plural form ba-tho (persons) with its prefix ba- belongs to noun class 2. Le-eba (dove) with its class prefix le- belongs to noun class 5 and its plural form ma-ema (doves) to noun class 6. Northern Sotho has a complex system in which nouns are connected to verbs, adjectives, adverbs and other words by means of agreement morphemes, also called concords. The most salient example of agreement is in the relationship which is established between nouns and verbs through subject and object concords, e.g.
- Leeba le a fofa. (The dove is flying.)
Monna o thunya leeba. (The man shoots the dove).
In Northern Sotho one can add morphemes, also called affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes) to the structure of a word in order to modify its meaning. The word "ntlo" for example means "house". When the suffix /-ng/ is added to the word it becomes a locative noun "ntlong" and the meaning changes to at or in the house
Different suffixes could be applied to verbs, e.g.
- ngwala - to write
ngwalela - to write to somebody
ngwadile - wrote
Northern Sotho is a tonal language, i.e. every syllable carries tone - high '´' or low '`'. Tone refers to pitch variations which affect the meaning and function of words which have exactly the same shape, e.g. nòká (river) and nòkà (to salt). Tone differences are one of the difficult features for learners of Northern Sotho.
Northern Sotho Notation
Using the Latin alphabet, the Berlin missionaries laid the foundation for Northern Sotho as a written language. For those sound which have no counterpart in the Latin alphabet, they initially used special characters from the German alphabet like ä, ö, ü. Their translation of the Bible into the Sepedi dialect in the thirties advanced Northern Sotho as written language. Because of the insufficiency of the Latin alphabet in representing all the sounds of Northern Sotho, an extended orthography has been introduced to capture (pre-palatal) voiceless fricatives like , and (labio-palatal) aspirated plosives like ph. In the case of Northern Sotho è (as in rèma - chop wood) and ô (as in bôna - to see) have been added to the vowels a, e, i, o, u and the letters y (as in ya - to go) and w (as in wa - to fall) are used as semi vowels.The orthography has been revised several times into a new uniform orthography. On the basis of the familiar Latin alphabet it is quite easy to gain access to the orthography of the Sotho languages. In writing one has to note that verbs and other compounds in Northern Sotho are often written as separate unites.
The literature of Northern Sotho
Northern Sotho is known for its rich tradition in oral literature. Sayings, songs, folktales and narrations are still performed today. Epic poems, praises and initiation songs are performed at important occasions and ritual ceremonies. The genre of praise poetry also known as diretho, is considered as the most colourfull and lofty of their literary expressions.
The first literary work in Northern Sotho appeared in 1935. This biographical work by E.M. Ramaila "Ta bophelo bya moruti Abraham Serote" deals with the life of Reverent Abraham Serote. The following years witnessed a tremendous expansion in terms of literary texts. The language has an important corpus of literature, grammar works, text books and lexica. Important genres like novels, dramas, poetry, detective writing, short stories and children's books could be added to the rich literature of South Africa. Well known authors include, Matsepe, E.M. Ramaila, E.R. Dolamo, H.H. Ramokgopa, W.T. Matlala, I.T. Maditsi, J.T. Senoamadi, C.K. Nchabeleng, H.H. Ramokgopa, S.N. Nkadimeng, M.S. Serudu, G.J. Khomo, and L. Bopape). Works by Shakespeare has also been translated into Northern Sotho. Social themes like the influence of labour migration, the transformation of societies, resistance against apartheid, violence, corruption and the fight against aids are all topics addressed presently in the literature.
Northern Sotho in Internet
Sesotho sa Leboa
Northern Sotho - English Dictionary
Noun Class Reference Chart
Thobela FM