Sesotho is one of the official languages of both Lesotho and South Africa and is spoken by around 5 million people across several countries. SeSotho (usually categorization also includes seTswana) is one of the twelve official languages spoken in South Africa.
The most recent census statistics in 2022 show that it is predominantly spoken as a first language by 8% of the South African speakers in the country. SeSotho speakers are mostly found in the Gauteng, Free State and Limpopo (See map). Most of the South African indigenous languages can be categorized into two main groups namely Nguni and Sotho group. The seSotho language falls in the same group as sePedi and seTswana. The languages in this group are generally mutually intelligible.
Similar to other indigenous African languages, seSotho exhibits both agglutinative and Concordia properties. In agglutinative languages, words are often formed by stringing together multiple morphemes (prefixes, infixes, suffixes), each carrying a specific grammatical function. Concordial agreement refers to the requirement that elements in a sentence (verbs, adjectives, pronouns, etc.) agree with the noun class of the subject or object.
Interesting Facts About seSotho Speech and Language Development
- seSotho has some really unique sounds like ejective consonants (think of a sharp “p’” or “t’”), clicks made with your tongue (like “kǃ”), and even a rare uvular trill, a kind of growling “r” sound from the back of the throat. It also plays with something called vowel-height harmony, which helps keep vowel sounds in balance.
- seSotho is one of the first African languages to be put into writing. Before books, the BaSotho kept their history alive through powerful oral traditions like praise songs, storytelling, and family odes. These spoken stories continue to pass on wisdom and identity from one generation to the next.
- Similar to other indigenous African languages seSotho is characterized by numerous respect terms such as words when addressing older people e.g. Ntate (father ) or Mme (mother) even when the adults are not the direct parents of the person addressing them
- The Basotho blanket is a significant symbol of Sotho culture, often worn with traditional attire. It’s an iconic part of Sotho culture.
- Lesotho is one of three countries in the world that is completely surrounded by another country, South Africa.
seSotho Speech and Language Development
SeSotho Consonants in Comparison to English
| SeSotho Consonants Not Shared with English | /!/ / ɓ/ /ǀ/ /ǁ/ /x/ /pʼ/ /tʼ/ /kʼ/ /tsʼ/ /tʃʼ/ /kxʼ/ |
| Consonants Shared With English | /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /p/ /t/ /k/ /tʃ/ /b/ /d/ /g/ /dʒ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/ /f/ /v/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/ /tʃ/ /dʒ/ /h/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /j/ /l/ /r/ /w/ |
| English Consonants Not Shared with SeSotho | /ð/ /θ/ |
seSetho Vowels in Comparison to English
| seSotho Vowels Not Shared with English | |
| Vowels Shared With English | /a/ /i/ /o/ /u/ /ɛ/ /e/ /ɔ/ |
| English Vowels Not Shared with seSotho | /ɚ/ /ʌ/ /ʊ/ /I/ /æ/ /ə/ |
The Use of Phonotactic Constraints in seSotho Speakers
There are several specific speech patterns that are common form seSotho speakers who are speaking English.
- seSotho is a predominantly CVCV structure so consonant clusters are not common.
- seSotho also has nasalization in front of plosives word initially e.g. mpho /mpʰo/ “gift.”
- seSotho is a tonal language so difference in tone changes the meaning.
- Stress is usually penultimate in a word in seSotho.
- The root can be combined with several prefixes and thus create other words e.g -ntja :ntja ( dog) lintja (dogs) joalo ka ntja ( like a dog) in seSotho.
Language Specific Differences Between English and seSotho
seSotho and English exhibit several differences due to their distinct linguistic origins. Differences are detailed in the seSotho and English contrastive analysis chart below.
| Feature | seSotho | English |
|---|---|---|
| Sentence Word Order | Subject-verb-object but changes to SOV when prepositions are used | Strict Subject-Verb Object order |
| Adjectives/Noun modifiers | Noun -adjective e.g. ke batla bona I want them | Adjective-Noun order |
| Possessives | Possessive articles Depending on noun class e.g. bana ba ka kids mine | Marked with morpheme “‘s” |
| Possessive Pronouns | Mine, yours, his, hers | |
| Verb inflection | Complex, morphological Ke ja ( I eat) u ja (you eat) No he/she distinction E ja ( it eats) Se ja (we eat) Ba ja (they eat) | 2 present tense forms: I eat You eat He/She/It eats We eat They eat |
| Pronouns | Exist We – Rona, You – Wena, You (pl) -Lona, He/she – Yena, Them – Bona, It – yona | Exist |
| Pronoun Gender | No gender pronouns | He, She, It |
| Subject of Sentence | Subject prefix corresponds to the subjective case of the English personal pronoun with subject concord e.g. seeta se senyane (the shoe it is small) | Subject stated specifically or with pronouns in each sentence. |
| Regular Past Tense | Morphological. Replace ‘a’ with ‘e’ or ‘ile’ E,g, pheha (cook)-phehile (cooked) | One form (-ed) |
| Irregular Past Tense | No irregular past tense but regular and irregular verbs | Exist |
| Negatives | Morphological. Change related to verb ending: baja (they eat) habaji ( they don’t eat) | “not” follows the copula, precedes any other verb |
| Double negatives | Does not have | Not allowed |
| Question formation | Morphological, linked to noun class -mang =Who -eng =What Kp kae/ kae=where -neng =When e.g. u ea kae you are going where | Word order inversion or addition of “do” |
| Definite Articles | No distinction between definite and indefinite | the |
| Indefinite Articles | Articles are morphological No distinction between definite and indefinite e.g. ntja e kgolo a/the dog is big | a, an |
| Prepositions | Morphological. Can be with single words e.g. above/on top=holimo or locative suffix e.g. tafuleng =at/by the table | Use prepositions (occur before their object) |
| Present Progressive Verb Form | Exists e.g. e ja (it eats) e a ja ( it is eating) -a=ing in Eng | Exists |
| Modal Verbs | Exist | Exist (I may be late). |
| Copula/”To Be” Verb | Exists but used differently and varies e.g Ke MoSoTho I am Sotho | Used with nouns and adjectives (I am a boy. I am hungry.) |
| Auxiliary Verbs | Exist | Exist |
| Passive Voice | Exists morphological | Object precedes the verb and stating the subject is optional (His hair was cut by the woman) |
| Direct Object Pronouns | Exists morphological. e.g. Batla ho ja (they will eat it) | |
| Conjunctions | Exist, may be morphological e.g mme le ntate (mom and dad) or not e.g. mme kapa ntate (mom or dad) | Conjoins ideas with a conjunction word (and, but, or) |
| Plurals | Change prefix e.g. motho-batho (human-humans | Add “s” and some irregular plurals (children) |
| Subject-Verb Agreement | There is always Subj- Verb agreement Linked to noun class | Required |
| Grammatical Case and Gender | No gender distinction | Nouns do not have a case system. Personal pronouns have 3 cases: nominative (subject pronouns), accusative (direct object pronouns) and genitive (possessive pronouns). Gender is only specified in personal pronouns and in some natural gender nouns (i.e. mother is feminine) and some noun suffixes (i.e. chairman, waitress) Verbs, adjectives and adverbs do not carry gender information |
| Negation | Add ‘a’ and a change in verb prefix and suffix e.g. O a tsmaya ( he/she is going) Ha a tsamayi He/she is not going | “Not” follows the copula, precedes any other verb “Not” comes before an auxiliary verb Contractions (i.e. isn’t, aren’t, hasn’t, don’t, haven’t) |
| Verb Tense, Aspect and Mood | Exists Morphological e.g. O a ja ( he/she eats) O tla ja He/she will eat | 2 tenses: Present, 2 inflections (add –s to 3rd person singular only) Past, 1 inflection (suffix –ed and irregular verbs) Future tense is expressed through modal verbs (i.e. will, shall) 4 aspects: simple, progressive (copula to be + present/past participle), perfect (copula to have + present/past participle), perfect progressive (to have + to be + present/past participle) Present participles add suffix –ing Past participles add suffix –ed (i.e. studied), -en (i.e. taken), or use stem change (i.e. begun) |
| Habitual/Continuative State | Expressed through adverbs (i.e. the laughing boy) and inflected forms of the verb to be (i.e. The boy is laughing.) | |
| Verb Voice | Exists. Morphologically e.g Active; e a ja It eats E a jewa It is being eaten | 2 voices: active and passive In passive the voice object precedes the verb and stating the subject is optional (i.e. His hair was cut by the woman.) Different forms are used for active and passive meanings |
| Adverbs | Exist e.g Sebetsa hantle (work well) | Adverbs occur in various positions according to rules |
| Comparative and Superlative | Exist | Uses –er with comparative and –est with superlative More (comparative) and most (superlative) are used with adjectives of more than two syllables Irregular forms (i.e. worst, furthest) |
seSotho Phonological Processes
Prenasalisation occurs whenever a consonant is preceded by a homorganic nasal, either lexically or as a consequence of prefixation. The most notable case of the latter is the class 9 noun prefix in-, which ends in a homorganic nasal. Prenasalisation triggers several changes in the following consonant, some of which are phonemic and others allophonic. The changes can be summed as follows:
| Normal | Prenasalised | Rule |
|---|---|---|
| /pʰ/, /tʰ/, /kʰ/ | /mp/, /nt/, /ŋk/ | Aspiration is lost on obstruents. |
| /ǀʰ/, /ǁʰ/, /ǃʰ/ | /ᵑǀ/, /ᵑǁ/, /ᵑǃ/ | Aspiration is replaced by nasalisation of clicks. |
| /ǀ/, /ǁ/, /ǃ/ | /ᵑǀʱ/, /ᵑǁʱ/, /ᵑǃʱ/ | Plain clicks become breathy nasal. |
| /ɓ/ | /mb/ | Implosive becomes breathy. |
| /f/, /s/, /ʃ/, /ɬ/ /v/, /z/, /ɮ/ | [ɱp̪fʼ], [ntsʼ], /ntʃ/, [ntɬʼ] [ɱb̪vʱ], [ndzʱ], [ndɮʱ] | Fricatives become affricates. Only phonemic, and thus reflected orthographically, for /ntʃ/. |
| /h/, /ɦ/, /w/, /wʱ/ | [ŋx], [ŋɡʱ], [ŋɡw], [ŋɡwʱ] | Approximants are fortified. This change is allophonic, and not reflected in the orthography. |
| /j/ | /ɲ/ | Palatal approximant becomes palatal nasal. |
| /l/ | /l/ or rarely /nd/ | The outcome /nd/ is a fossilised outcome from the time when /d/ and /l/ were still one phoneme. See Proto-Bantu language. |
| /m/, /n/, /ɲ/ | /m/, /n/, /ɲ/ | No change when the following consonant is itself a nasal. |
seSotho Heterorganic (having a different place of articulation) Compounds
| Place of articulation | IPA | Notes | Orthography | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bilabial-palatal | /pʃʼ/ | alternative tj | pj | [hʊpʃʼɑt͡ɬʼɑ] ho pjatla (‘to cook well;) |
| /pʃʰ/ | aspirated version of the above; alternative tjh | pjh | [m̩pʃʰe] mpjhe (‘ostrich’) | |
| /bʒ/ | alternative j | bj | [hʊbʒɑʀɑnɑ] ho bjarana (‘to break apart’) | |
| labiodental-palatal | /fʃ/ | only found in short passives of verbs ending with [fɑ] fa; alternative sh | fj | [hʊbɔfʃʷɑ] ho bofjwa (‘to be tied’) |
Phonological Processes: Setswana/Sotho
| Phonological Process | Description | Example | Age of Elimination |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prepalatal fronting | A prepalatal consonant phoneme is substituted with an alveolar consonant. | /ntʃʼa/ (dog) → /ntsʼa/ | 3;6 – 3;11 years |
| Specific phoneme substitution: /r/ → /l/ /d/ → /l/ | In Setswana, alveolar trill /r/ is substituted with /l/. Substitution of voiced alveolar plosive /d/ with /l/ also sometimes occurs in the speech of younger children. | /rɔbala/ (sleep) → /lɔbala/ /dikʼʊbɔ/ (blankets) → /likʼʊbɔ/ | 4;6 – 4;11 years |
| Stopping | A fricative or affricate consonant is substituted with a stop/plosive consonant phoneme | /tɬʰatsʷʼa/ (wash) → /tʼatsʷʼa/ | 4;0 – 4;5 years |
| Simplification of round consonants (/Cʷ/) | Consonants with a rounding feature (i.e., Cʷ) are produced unrounded (i.e., C). | /kʷʼɛna/ (crocodile) → /kʼɛna/ | 4;0 – 4;5 years |
Sources:
Consonant Development isiXhosa
Doke: 1961 https://mylanguages.org/zulu
Doke, C.M. (1961) Textbook of Zulu Grammar ( Ed.6) Maskew Miller
isiXhosa Phonological Processes
Wikipedia – Zulu Language – Consonants
Contributing Researchers:
Enormous thanks to Thandeka Mdlalo for her research and creation of this page. Check out her book: Diversity: My call to Action or connect with her: LinkedIn: @thandekamdlalo Website:http://thediversitycentre.com.
