Northern Sotho

This article is about the northeastern South African language. For the Lesotho and central South African language, see Sotho language.

Northern Sotho
Sesotho sa Leboa
Native to	South Africa
Region	Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga
Ethnicity	Pedi Lobedu Tlôkwa
Native speakers	6.2 million (2022 Census) 9.1 million L2 speakers (2002)
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Sotho–Tswana Northern Sotho
Early forms	Tswaniac Hurutshe Kgatla
Standard forms	Pedi
Writing system	Latin (Northern Sotho alphabet) Sotho Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko
Signed forms	Signed Northern Sotho
Official status
Official language in	South Africa
Regulated by	Pan South African Language Board
Language codes
ISO 639-2	nso
ISO 639-3	Variously: nso – Pedi, Northern Sotho, Sepedi brl – Birwa two – Tswapong
Glottolog	nort3233
Guthrie code	S.32,301–304
Linguasphere	99-AUT-ed
Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks a form of Northern Sotho at home.   0–20%   20–40%   40–60%   60–80%   80–100%
Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: density of Northern Sotho home-language speakers   <1 /km²   1–3 /km²   3–10 /km²   10–30 /km²   30–100 /km²   100–300 /km²   300–1000 /km²   1000–3000 /km²   >3000 /km²

Pedi
Person	Mopedi
People	Bapedi
Language	Sepedi

A speaker of the Northern Sotho language

Northern Sotho is one of South Africa's twelve official languages and belongs to the Bantu language family, specifically the Sotho-Tswana group. The language is spoken mainly in Limpopo Province, and to a lesser extent in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and North West.

Sepedi refers to the dialect spoken by the Pedi people. Northern Sotho is the umbrella term for a group of related dialects. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but technically Sepedi is one dialect of Northern Sotho.

As of the 2022 South African Census, approximately 6.2 million people, or 10.0% of the national population, speak Sepedi as their first language. Sepedi ranks as the fifth most spoken first language.

Official language status

Sepedi vs Northern Sotho

According to Chapter 1, Section 6 of the South African Constitution, Sepedi is one of South Africa's 12 official languages. There has been significant debate about whether Northern Sotho should be used instead of Pedi. The English version of the South African Constitution lists Sepedi as an official language, while the Sepedi or Northern Sotho version of the Constitution of South Africa lists Sesotho sa Leboa as an official South African language.

South Africa's official language policy

South Africa's official language policy refers to the twelve official languages of South Africa (i.e., Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, English, and South African Sign Language (SASL)), as specified in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.

Name

The written standard of Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa) was historically based primarily on the Sepedi dialect, which was extensively documented by missionaries of the Berlin Missionary Society during the nineteenth century. Scholars generally acknowledge the contributions of missionaries such as Alexander Merensky, Carl Knothe, Grützner, and Gerlachshoop in developing an orthography and written tradition for the language. The resulting standardized writing system was later applied to numerous related Sotho-Tswana varieties spoken across the former Transvaal region. However, contemporary linguistic research emphasizes that Sepedi is only one of several dialects within the broader Northern Sotho language cluster. This has led to ongoing debate regarding the use of "Sepedi" as a label for the entire language, with speakers of other varieties, including Khelobedu (Lobedu), arguing that the broader designation "Northern Sotho" or "Sesotho sa Leboa" more accurately reflects the linguistic diversity of the language community. Recent studies have highlighted the sociolinguistic and identity-related implications of this naming controversy in post-apartheid South Africa.

Other varieties of Northern Sotho

Northern Sotho can be subdivided into Highveld-Sotho, which consists of comparatively recent immigrants mostly from the west and southwest parts of South Africa, and Lowveld-Sotho, which consists of a combination of immigrants from the north of South Africa and Sotho inhabitants of longer standing. Like other Sotho-Tswana people, their languages are named after totemic animals and, sometimes, by alternating or combining these with the names of famous chiefs.

The Highveld-Sotho

The group consists of the following dialects:

• Bapedi
  • Bapedi Marota (in the narrower sense)
  • Marota Mamone
  • Marota Mohlaletsi
  • Batau Bapedi (Matlebjane, Masemola, Marishane, Batau ba Manganeng - Nkadimeng, Kgaphola, Diphofa, Nchabeleng, Mogashoa, Phaahla, Sloane, Mashegoana, Mphanama, Batau ba Malata a Manyane)
• Phokwane
• Bakone
  • Kone (Ga-Matlala)
  • Dikgale
• Baphuthi
• Baroka
• Bakgaga (Mphahlele, Maake, and Mothapo)
• Chuene
• Mathabatha
• Maserumule
• Tlou (Ga-Molepo)
• Thobejane (Ga-Mafefe)
• Batlokwa
  • Batlokwa Ba Lethebe
• Makgoba
• Batlou
• Bahananwa (Ga-Mmalebogo)
• Moremi
• Motlhatlhana
• Babirwa
• Batswapong
• Mmamabolo
• Bamongatane
• Bakwena ba Moletjie (Moloto)
• Batlhaloga
• Bahwaduba, BaGaMagale, and many others

The Lowveld-Sotho

The group consists of Lobedu, Narene, Phalaborwa (Malatji), Mogoboya, Kone, Kgaga, Ramafalo and Mohale.

Classification

Northern Sotho is one of the Sotho languages of the Bantu family. Although Northern Sotho shares the name Sotho with Southern Sotho, the two groups also have a great deal in common with their sister language Setswana. Northern Sotho is also closely related to Setswana, sheKgalagari and siLozi. It is a standardized variety, amalgamating several distinct varieties or dialects. Northern Sotho is also spoken by the Mohlala people and Malata People.

Most Khelobedu speakers only learn to speak Sepedi at school, such that Sepedi is only their second or third language. Khelobedu is a written language. Lobedu is spoken by a majority of people in the Greater Tzaneen, Greater Letaba, and BaPhalaborwa municipalities, and a minority in Greater Giyani municipality, as well as in the Limpopo Province and Tembisa township in Gauteng. Its speakers are known as the Balobedu.

Writing system

Sepedi is written in the Latin alphabet. The letter š is used to represent the sound [ʃ] ("sh" is used in the trigraph "tsh" to represent an aspirated ts sound). The circumflex accent can be added to the letters e and o to distinguish their different sounds, but it is mostly used in language reference books. Some word prefixes, especially in verbs, are written separately from the stem.

Phonology

Vowels

Northern Sotho vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Close-mid	e	o
Open-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a

Consonants

Northern Sotho consonants

		Labial	Alveolar		Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	lateral
Nasal		m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tˡʼ			kʼ
	aspirated	pʰ	tʰ	tˡʰ			kʰ
Affricate	ejective		tsʼ		tʃʼ
	aspirated		tsʰ		tʃʰ		kxʰ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ɬ	ʃ			h~ɦ
	voiced	β			ʒ		ɣ
Rhotic			r	ɺ
Approximant		w		l		j

Other consonant sounds include fricative-combinations /pʃʼ pʃʰ fʃ βʒ/ and /psʼ psʰ fs/.

Within nasal consonant compounds, the first nasal consonant sound is recognized as syllabic. Words such as nthuše "help me", are pronounced as [n̩tʰuʃe]. /n/ can also be pronounced as /ŋ/ following a velar consonant.

Urban varieties of Northern Sotho, such as Pretoria Sotho (actually a derivative of Tswana), have acquired clicks in an ongoing process of such sounds spreading from Nguni languages.

Tones

Like most other Niger–Congo languages, Sesotho is a tonal language, spoken with two basic tones, high (H) and low (L).

Vocabulary

Some examples of Northern Sotho words and phrases:

English	Northern Sotho
Welcome	Kamogelo (noun) / Amogela (verb)
Good day	Dumela (singular) / Dumelang (plural) / Thobela and Re a lotšha (to elders)
How are you?	O kae? (singular) Le kae? (plural, also used for elders)
I am fine	Ke gona. Ke tsogile(singular). Re tsogile(plural).
I am fine too, thank you	Le nna ke gona, ke a leboga.
Thank you	Ke a leboga (I thank you) / Re a leboga (we thank you)
Good luck	Mahlatse
Have a safe journey	O be le leeto le le bolokegilego
Good bye!	Šala gabotse (singular)/ Šalang gabotse (plural, also used for elders)(keep well) / Sepela gabotse(singular)/Sepelang gabotse (plural, also used for elders)(go well)
I am looking for a job	Ke nyaka mošomô
No smoking	Ga go kgogwe (/folwe)
No entrance	Ga go tsenwe
Beware of the steps!	Hlokomela disetepese!/ditepisi
Beware!	Hlokomela!
Congratulations on your birthday	Mahlatse letšatšing la gago la matswalo
Seasons greetings	Ditumedišo tša Sehla sa Maikhutšo
Merry Christmas	Mahlogonolo a Keresemose
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year	Mahlogonolo a Keresemose le ngwaga wo moswa wo monate
Expression	Gontsha sa mafahleng
yes	ee/eya/eye
no	aowa
please	hle
thank you	ke a leboga
help	thušang/thušo
danger/accident	kotsi
emergency	tšhoganetšo
excuse me	ntshwarele
I am sorry	Ke maswabi
I love you	Ke a go rata
Questions / sentences	Dipotšišo / mafoko
Do you accept (money/credit cards/traveler's cheques)?	O amogela (singular) / Le amogela ( tshelete/.../...)?
How much is this?	Ke bokae e?
I want ...	Ke nyaka...
What are you doing?	O dira eng?
What is the time?	Ke nako mang?
Where are you going?	O ya kae?
Numbers	Dinomoro
1	tee
2	pedi
3	tharo
4	nne
5	hlano
6	tshela
7	šupa
8	seswai
9	senyane
10	lesome
11	lesometee
12	lesomepedi
13	lesometharo
14	lesomenne
15	lesomehlano
20	masomepedi
21	masomepedi-tee
22	masomepedi-pedi
50	masomehlano
100	lekgolo
1000	sekete
Days of the week	Matšatši a beke
Sunday	Lamorena
Monday	Mošupologo
Tuesday	Labobedi
Wednesday	Laboraro
Thursday	Labone
Friday	Labohlano
Saturday	Mokibelo
Months of the year	Dikgwedi tša ngwaga
January	Pherekgong
February	Dibokwane
March	Hlakola
April	Moranang
May	Mopitlo
June	Ngwatobošego / Phupu
July	Mosegamanye
August	Phato
September	Lewedi
October	Diphalane
November	Dibatsela
December	Manthole
Computers and Internet terms	Didirishwa tsa khomphutha le Inthanete
computer	sebaledi / khomphutara
e-mail	imeile
e-mail address	aterese ya imeile
Internet	Inthanete
Internet café	khefi ya Inthanete
Website	weposaete
Website address	aterese ya weposaete
Rain	Pula
To understand	Go kwešiša
Reed pipes	Dinaka
Drums	Meropa
Horn	Lenaka
Colours	Mebala
Red/orange	Hubedu/Khubedu
Brown	Sotho
Green	Talamorogo
Blue	Talalerata
Black	Ntsho
White	šweu
Yellow	Serolwana
Gold	Gauta
Grey	Pududu
Pale	Sehla or Tshehla
Silver	Silifere

Sample text

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Temana 1
Batho ka moka ba belegwe ba lokologile le gona ba na le seriti sa go lekana le ditokelo. Ba filwe monagano le letswalo mme ba swanetše go swarana ka moya wa bana ba mpa.
 
Temana 2
Mang le mang o swanetše ke ditokelo le ditokologo ka moka tše go boletšwego ka tšona ka mo Boikanong bjo, ntle le kgethollo ya mohuta wo mongwe le wo mongwe bjalo ka morafe, mmala, bong, polelo, bodumedi, dipolitiki goba ka kgopolo, botšo go ya ka setšhaba goba maemo, diphahlo, matswalo goba maemo a mangwe le a mangwe.
 
Go feta fao, ga go kgethollo yeo e swanetšego go dirwa go ya ka maemo a dipolitiki, tokelo ya boahlodi, goba maemo a ditšhabatšhaba goba lefelo leo motho a dulago go lona, goba ke naga ye e ipušago, trasete, naga ya go se ipuše goba se sengwe le se sengwe seo se ka fokotšago maemo a go ikemela ga naga ya gabo.

See also

• Pedi people
• Lebowa
• Sekhukhuneland

External links

• Dryer, Matthew S.; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Northern Sotho". World Atlas of Language Structures Online. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Northern Sotho
• Online Northern Sotho – English dictionary
• Online Northern Sotho explanatory dictionary
• Pan South African Language Board
• Audio files in Pedi at Wikimedia Commons

Software

• Spell checker for OpenOffice.org and Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox web-browser, and Mozilla Thunderbird email program in Northern Sotho
• Translate.org.za Project to translate Free and Open Source Software into all the official languages of South Africa including Northern Sotho
• Keyboard with extra Northern Sotho characters