Sotho language
Southern Sotho (Sesotho in Southern Sotho) is an African language mainly spoken by people living in Lesotho and the Free State Province of South Africa.
| Southern Sotho | |
|---|---|
| Sesotho | |
| Native to | Lesotho South Africa |
| Region | Southern Africa |
| Native speakers | 6 024 000[1] (date missing) |
| Language family | Niger–Congo
|
| Writing system | Latin |
| Official status | |
| Official language in |  Lesotho South Africa |
| Regulated by | Pan South African Language Board |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | st |
| ISO 639-2 | sot |
| ISO 639-3 | sot |
Southern Sotho is one of the two official languages of Lesotho and one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. It is spoken by almost 6,024,000 people, or 7% of South Africans at home (2011 census). Southern Sotho is part of the Sotho language family.
Southern Sotho contains many loanwords from Zulu.
Sotho Language Media
A Mosotho woman holding up a sign protesting violence against women, written in her native Sesotho language, at a National Women's Day protest at the National University of Lesotho. The sign translates: "If you do not listen to women, we will lose patience with you." (2008)
Geographical distribution of Sotho in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks Sotho at home.*Template:Legend-col*
References
- ↑ "Sotho, Southern". Ethnologue. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
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This language has its own Wikipedia project. See the Sotho language edition. |
