Xhosa language
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| Xhosa (isiXhosa) | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | South Africa |
| Region: | Eastern Cape Province |
| Total speakers: | 7.9 million |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Niger-Congo
Atlantic-Congo |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | South Africa |
| Regulated by: | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | xh |
| ISO 639-2 | xho |
| SIL | XOS |
| See also: Language – List of languages | |
Xhosa, or isiXhosa, is one of the official languages of South Africa. It is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, about 18% of the South African population. Click consonants feature prominently in the sounds of this language. Even the name, "Xhosa", begins with a click. In IPA, the name of the language is pronounced approximately [ǁʰosa].
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History
The name Xhosa refers to one of their legendary chieftains. The members of the ethnic group that speaks Xhosa refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and call their language isiXhosa. Almost all languages with clicks are Khoisan languages and the presence of clicks in Xhosa demonstrates the strong historical interaction with its Khoisan neighbors. Even the name Xhosa may be of Khoisan origin.
Geographic distribution
The language represents the most southwestern branch of the Nguni subfamily of the Bantu languages. As mentioned, Xhosa is natively spoken in South Africa, mostly in the Eastern Cape Province, but increasingly also in the Western Cape, including Cape Town.
Dialects
In addition to being mostly mutually intelligible with Zulu and closely related Bantu languages, Xhosa has several dialects. There is debate among scholars as to what exactly the divisions between the dialects are. One such grouping is: (original) Xhosa, Ngqika, Gcaleka, Mfengu, Thembu, Bomvana, and Mpondomise.
Sounds
Xhosa has a relatively simple set of vowels, but it is rich in uncommon consonants. Besides normal pulmonic egressive sounds, it has three basic clicks in addition to ejectives and implosives. The first is the dental click, which is made with the tongue on the back of the teeth, and is the sound represented in English by "tut-tut" or "tsk-tsk" used to reprimand someone. The second is the lateral alveolar click, which is made by the tongue at the sides of the mouth, and is similar to the sound used to call horses. The third is the postalveolar click, which is made with the body of the tongue on the roof of the mouth. Each click occurs in six varieties. Xhosa is also a tone language with two inherent tones, low and high.
Grammar
The grammar of Xhosa is of a type called agglutinative: suffixes and prefixes are attached to root words and stems to convey grammatical information. Xhosa also has the characteristic noun class, or "gender" system, which is common to all Bantu languages. There are many more classes than the masculine, feminine, and neuter genders of familiar Indo-European languages. The nouns in each class are roughly related in meaning. For example, there are classes for people, relatives, animals, plants, objects, abstract concepts, etc.
Writing system
Xhosa is written using the Latin alphabet. Clicks are written using 'c' for the dental click, 'x' for the lateral click, and 'q' for the postalveolar click. The q, c and x letters were chosen to convey the hint that non-native speakers can replace the click with the 'k' sound with little loss in meaning. An example of the written language is a section of the national anthem of South Africa.
- Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;
- Malupakam'upondo lwayo;
- Yiva imithandazo yethu
- Usisikelele.
- Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;
Another example is Qongqothwane, a song traditionally sung when a young girl is married and well known as performed by Miriam Makeba. It is known in English as "The Click Song".
- Igqira lendlela nguqongqothwane
- Igqira lendlela kuthwa nguqongqothwane
- Sebeqabele gqithapha bathi nguqongqothwane
- Sebeqabele gqithapha bathi nguqongqothwane.
- Igqira lendlela nguqongqothwane
External links
- UCLA Language Materials Xhosa Language Profile (http://www.lmp.ucla.edu/profiles/profx01.htm)
- Ethnologue report for Xhosa (http://www.ethnologue.org/show_language.asp?code=xho)
- Xhosa - English Dictionary (http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/Xhosa-english/)af:Xhosa
de:IsiXhosa eo:Kosa lingvo fr:Xhosa nl:Xhosa (taal) pt:Língua xhosa fi:Xhosan kieli