Tswana language

Setswana, or Tswana, is a Bantu language native to Southern Africa. Around 8.2 million people speak it. It is closely related to Sepedi and Sesotho, as well as Sekgaladi and likely Silozi. In Botswana, Setswana serves as a lingua franca, and it holds official status in both Zimbabwe and South Africa. While the spoken language varies among Botswana’s ethnic groups—such as the Bakgatla, Barolong, Bakwena, Batlhaping, Bahurutshe, Bafokeng, Batlokwa, Bataung, Batswapong, Balete, Bangwato, and Babirwa—the written form remains consistent. Most speakers live in South Africa, with smaller communities in Zimbabwe (exact number unknown) and Namibia (about 10,000 people).

The first European to describe Setswana was German traveler Hinrich Lichtenstein, who lived among the Batlhaping in 1806, though his work wasn’t published until 1930. He mistakenly classified it as a dialect of isiXhosa, and his term “Beetjuana” may have also reflected its closeness to Sepedi and Sesotho. British missionary Robert Moffat, also living among the Batlhaping, produced the first major works on Setswana: *Bechuana Spelling Book* and *A Bechuana Catechism* in 1826. He later published several Bible books and a complete translation in 1857. The first Setswana grammar, by missionary James Archbell in 1833, was modeled on isiXhosa grammar. French missionary E. Casalis published the first grammar treating Setswana as separate from isiXhosa (though still grouped with Sepedi and Sesotho) in 1841; by 1882, he had changed his view, noting Setswana’s distinctness from those languages. South African intellectual Solomon Plaatje was among the first to write extensively in and about Setswana.

Setswana’s vowel inventory includes some dialects with additional close-mid vowels /e/ and /o/. In general writing, the circumflex on these vowels is taught only at elementary levels, not beyond; they are usually written without it. The consonant [d] is an allophone of /l/ before /i/ or /u/. Sounds /v/ and /z/ appear only in loanwords. Three click consonants—dental /ǀ/ (written ⟨c⟩), lateral /ǁ/ (⟨x⟩), and alveolar /ǃ/ (⟨q⟩)—occur only in interjections or ideophones, mainly used by older generations and fading from use. Examples include *qô-qô* (announcing arrival, now often *ko-ko*), *x-x* (annoyance), and *c-c-c*. All nasal and liquid phonemes can become syllabic consonants, often in geminate sequences, appearing word-initially or medially; only /ŋ/ also occurs word-finally (as in *Jwaneng* and *Barolong Seboni*). Dialectal consonant variations include /χ/ realized as /x/ or /h/, /f/ as /h/ in most dialects, and /tɬ/ and /tɬʰ/ as /t/ and /tʰ/ in northern dialects.

Stress always falls on the penultimate syllable, with some compounds having secondary stress on the first part. The stressed syllable is lengthened—for example, *mosadi* (woman) becomes [mʊ̀ˈsáːdì]. Tswana has two tones, high and low, with low more common. Tones are not marked in writing, which can cause ambiguity. For instance, *go bua* can mean “to speak” (with high tone on *bua*) or “to skin an animal” (with low tone). High tone spreads: if a syllable bears a high tone, the next two syllables also get high tones unless they end the word. So *simolola* (“to begin”) becomes /símʊ́lʊ́la/.

The orthography uses the Latin alphabet. The letter ⟨š⟩ was introduced in 1937, though the sound is still sometimes written as ⟨sh⟩. Letters ⟨ê⟩ and ⟨ô⟩ appear in textbooks and reference works but not in everyday writing.

Nouns are grouped into nine classes and one subclass, each with distinct prefixes. Some nouns appear in multiple classes—for example, many class 1 nouns also occur in classes 1a, 3, 4, and 5.