Tswana language

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Setswana
Setswana
Native toBotswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia
EthnicityBatswana
Native speakers
(4.1 million in South Africa (2011)
1.1 million in Botswana cited 1993)[1]
unknown number in Zimbabwe
7.7 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2002)[2]
Latin (Tswana alphabet)
Tswana Braille
Official status
Official language in
 Botswana
 South Africa
 Zimbabwe
Language codes
ISO 639-1tn
ISO 639-2tsn
ISO 639-3tsn
Glottologtswa1253
Linguasphere99-

The Tswana language (or Setswana) is a language spoken in southern Africa. About five million people speak it. It is a Bantu language. It belongs to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages. It is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages.

Tswana is an official language of Botswana. Most Tswana speakers are in South Africa, where four million people speak the language.

References[change | change source]

  1. Setswana at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development." Impact: Studies in language and society, 14:78