Tsonga language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tsonga | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe. | |
| Region: | Limpopo, Mpumalanga | |
| Total speakers: | 1,646,000 | |
| Language family: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo Benue-Congo Bantoid Southern Narrow Bantu Tsonga |
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| Official status | ||
| Official language of: | South Africa | |
| Regulated by: | no official regulation | |
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | ts | |
| ISO 639-2: | tso | |
| ISO/FDIS 639-3: | tso | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.
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[edit] Classification
Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo languages. Some people call them Shangaans, which according to them (Tsongas) is wrong because Shangaans are those who live in Mozambigue. Most of the Tsongas now live in Giyani, a place in Limpopo province in South Africa.
[edit] Geographic distribution
Tsonga is spoken by about 1,646,000 people in South Africa's Limpopo province, as well as 1.5 million people in Mozambique, and 19,000 people in Swaziland. There are also 100 000 speakers in Zimbabwe.
[edit] Official status
Tsonga is an official language in South Africa.
[edit] External links
Tsonga language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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