Tswana language
Tswana | |
---|---|
Setswana | |
Native to | |
Ethnicity | L2 speakers in South Africa (2002)[2] |
?
| |
Dialects |
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Tswana Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko | |
Official status | |
Official language in | |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | tn |
ISO 639-2 | tsn |
ISO 639-3 | tsn |
Glottolog | tswa1253 |
Linguasphere | 99-AUT-eg |
Tswana | |
---|---|
Person | Motswana |
People | Batswana |
Language | Setswana |
Country | Botswana |
Tswana, also known by its
Setswana is an official language of
History
The first European to describe the language was the
The first major work on Tswana was carried out by the British
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) 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.[5]
Phonology
Vowels
The vowel inventory of Tswana can be seen below.[6]
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
Close | i ⟨i⟩ | u ⟨u⟩ |
Near-close | ɪ ⟨e⟩ | ʊ ⟨o⟩ |
Open-mid | ɛ ⟨ê⟩ | ɔ ⟨ô⟩ |
Open | a ⟨a⟩ |
Some dialects have two additional vowels, the close-mid vowels /e/ and /o/.[7] 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.[8]
Consonants
The consonant inventory of Tswana can be seen below.[9]
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
plain | sibilant | lateral | |||||||
Nasal | m ⟨m⟩ | n ⟨n⟩
|
ɲ ⟨ny⟩ | ŋ ⟨ng⟩ | |||||
Plosive/ Affricate |
voiceless | p ⟨p⟩ | t ⟨t⟩
|
ts ⟨ts⟩ | tɬ ⟨tl⟩ | tʃ ⟨tš⟩ | k ⟨k⟩ | ||
voiced | b ⟨b⟩ | d ⟨d⟩
|
dʒ ⟨j⟩ | ||||||
aspirated | pʰ ⟨ph⟩ | tʰ ⟨th⟩ | tsʰ ⟨tsh⟩ | tɬʰ ⟨tlh⟩ | tʃʰ ⟨tšh⟩ | kʰ ⟨kh⟩ | kχʰ ⟨kg⟩ | ||
Fricative | f ⟨f⟩ | s ⟨s⟩ | ʃ ⟨š⟩ | χ ⟨g⟩ | h ⟨h⟩ | ||||
Liquid | r ⟨r⟩
|
l ⟨l⟩
|
|||||||
Semivowel | w ⟨w⟩ | j ⟨y⟩ |
The consonant /d/ is merely an allophone of /l/, when the latter is followed by the vowels /i/ or /u/.[10] Two more sounds, v /v/ and z /z/, exist only in loanwords.
Tswana also has three
There are some minor dialectal variations among the consonants between speakers of Tswana. For instance, /χ/ 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.[12]
The consonant /ŋ/ can exist at the end of a word without being followed by a vowel (as in Jwaneng and Barolong Seboni).
Stress
Stress is fixed in Tswana and thus always falls on the penult of a word, although some compounds may receive 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].[13]
Tone
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.[14]
- go bua /χʊ búa/ "to speak"
- go bua /χʊ bua/ "to skin an animal"
- o bua Setswana /ʊ́búa setswána/ "He speaks Setswana"
- o bua Setswana /ʊbúa setswána/ "You speak Setswana"
An important feature of the tones is the so-called spreading of 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.[15]
- simolola /símʊlʊla/ > /símʊ́lʊ́la/ "to begin"
- simologêla /símʊlʊχɛla/ > /símʊ́lʊ́χɛla/ "to begin for/at"
Orthography
Tswana orthography is based on the Latin alphabet.
Letter(s) | a | b | ch | d | e | ê | f | g | h | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | ô | p | ph | q | r | s | š | t | th | tl | tlh | tsh | u | v | w | x | y | z |
---|
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.[16][17]
Grammar
Nouns
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 a short note regarding the common characteristics of most nouns within their respective classes.[18]
Class | Singular | Plural | Characteristics |
---|---|---|---|
1. | mo- | ba- | Persons |
1a. | – | bô- | Names, kinship, animals |
2. | mo- | me- ma- |
Miscellaneous (including bodyparts, tools, instruments, animals, trees, plants) |
3. | le- | ma- | |
4. | se- | di- | |
5. | n- m- ny- ng- |
din- dim- diny- ding- |
Animals (but also miscellaneous) |
6. | lo- | Miscellaneous (including a number of collective nouns) | |
7. | bo- | ma- | Abstract nouns |
8. | go- | Infinitive forms of verbs | |
9. | fa- go- mo- |
Adverbs |
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.[19]
Further reading
- Bennett, Wm. G.; Diemer, Maxine; Kerford, Justine; Probert, Tracy; Wesi, Tsholofelo (2016). "Setswana (South African)". Illustrations of the IPA. Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 46 (2): 235–246. , with supplementary sound recordings.
References
Notes
- ^ a b c Tswana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ISBN 978-90-272-9763-1.
- S2CID 143275863.
- ^ a b Janson & Tsonope 1991, pp. 36–37
- ^ Janson & Tsonope 1991, pp. 38–39
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, p. 16
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, p. 19
- S2CID 63584935.
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, p. 10
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, p. 3
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, pp. 11–12
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, pp. 14–15
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, p. 32
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, pp. 31–32
- ^ University of Botswana 2001, p. 34
- ^ Lekgogo, Olemme; Winskel, Heather (December 2008). "Learning to read Setswana and English: Cross-language transference of letter knowledge, phonological awareness and word reading skills". Perspectives in Education. 26 (4).
- ^ "Тсвана-русская практическая транскрипция". iling-ran.ru. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
- ^ Cole 1955, pp. 68–69
- ^ Cole 1955, p. 70
General
- Cole, Desmond (1955), An Introduction to Tswana Grammar, Cape Town: Longmans, Green and Co.
- ISBN 0-435-91620-3
- ISBN 99912-71-21-X
External links
- Peace Corps Botswana: An Introduction to the Setswana Language
- Setswana: Grammar Handbook. Peace Corps Language Handbook Series
- "E-books for children with narration in Setswana". Unite for Literacy library. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- "The languages of South Africa". Archived from the original on 4 March 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- About Setswana