Southern Sesotho - South African Language Southern Sesotho | This language is also known as Suto, Souto, Sisutho and Suthu

Southern Sesotho

South Africa

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SOUTH AFRICAN LANGUAGES

SOUTHERN SESOTHO

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South Africa » South Africa Languages » Southern Sesotho
Sesotho Woman with Mohair wall hangings and carpets made by the Sotho peopleSouthern Sesotho: This Bantu language originates from the Bantu-Nguni era and is also known as Suto, Souto, Sisutho as well as Suthu. The dialects originates from Suto, Pedi as well as Tswana but at the same time is considered to be a separate language.

Being one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, Southern Sesotho is spoken by more than five million of the South African population as well as peoples in Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia and Zambia. In Lesotho, Southern Sesotho is one of the two official languages and is spoken by more than 85% of inhabitants. According to scholars, the original written form of this language was based on the dialect from Tlokwa and today it is mostly based on the dialects from the Kwena and Fokeng.

To describe the language is quite a task, as it is regarded to have nine vowels which are collapsed in five letters each. This, when compared to other languages of this nature is quite a large amount. The language consists of 35 consonants, which include two semi-vowels, for non-homogenous doubled eloquent and a tri-click.

Southern Sesotho would generally be classified in the group of the Niger-Congo family. While this complicated language will be a foreign tongue to you, when you do master and understand it when it is spoken, like all foreign languages, you will begin to appreciate the beauty thereof. The words have a flow to the sound when it is spoken by a Sesotho speaking person and one will easily pay attention to the intricacies in tone as well as the nasalization.

In this language, the word for father - ntate and mother - mme, these words are also used to address elders and shows respect for them. Children are encouraged to have good manners, be polite and always have to be willing to know their values. The overall attitude that this culture has toward the growing youth is “Lefura la ngwana ke ho rungwa”, translated means, Children benefit from serving their elders.

Marriages are pre-arranged between families; this so happens that a girl could be married as young as twelve. This has however changed with time and they are now free to pick their partners.

A few phases in Southern Sotho:

Kamore ea ka e kae? - Where is my room?
Bichi e kae? - Where is the beach?
Bara e kae? - Where is the bar?

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Southern Sesotho - South African Language Southern Sesotho | This language is also known as Suto, Souto, Sisutho and Suthu

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