Swati language

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swati siSwati
Spoken in:	Swaziland, South Africa, Lesotho, Mozambique
Total speakers:	1,706,924 (Ethnologue)
Language family:	Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo Volta-Congo Benue-Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Narrow Bantu Central S group Nguni (S.40) Swati
Official status
Official language of:	Swaziland, South Africa
Regulated by:	no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1:	`ss`
ISO 639-2:	`ssw`
ISO 639-3:	`ssw`

Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. The number of speakers is estimated to be in the region of 1.5 million. The language is taught in Swaziland and some South African schools. Swati is an official language of Swaziland, (along with English), and is also one of the eleven official languages of South Africa.

Although often referred to as Swazi, this is the form of the noun stem indicating the language or its speakers taken from Zulu, which many Swati-speakers also speak. Swati is most closely related to Phuthi (the other larger 'Tekela' Nguni language), spoken in southern Lesotho and the northern Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Swati is also closely related to the 'Zunda' Nguni languages: Zulu (immediately adjacent to the south and east), Ndebele (immediately adjacent to the west, and further north in Zimbabwe), and Xhosa (spoken to the south of Lesotho in the Eastern and Western Cape provinces of South Africa).

[edit] Dialects

Swati spoken in Swaziland can be divided into four dialects corresponding to the four administrative regions of the country: Hhohho, Lubambo, Manzini, and Shiselweni.

Swati has at least two varieties: the standard, prestige variety spoken mainly in the north, centre and southwest of the country, and a less prestigious variety spoken elsewhere.

In the far south, especially in towns such as Nhlangano and Hlathikhulu, the variety of the language spoken is significantly influenced by Zulu. Many Swazis, including those in the south who speak this variety, do not regard it as 'proper' Swati. This is what may be referred to as the second dialect in the country. The sizeable number of Swati-speakers in South Africa (mainly in the Mpumalanga province, and in Soweto) are considered by Swaziland Swati-speakers to speak a non-standard form of the language.

Unlike the variant in the south of Swaziland, the Mpumalanga variety appears to be less influenced by Zulu, and is thus considered closer to standard Swati. However, this Mpumalanga variety is distinguishable by distinct intonation, and perhaps distinct tone patterns. Intonation patterns (and informal perceptions of 'stress') in Mpumalanga Swati are often considered discordant to the Swati ear. This South African variety of Swati is considered to exhibit influence from other South African languages spoken in close proximity to Swati.

A feature of the standard prestige variety of Swati (spoken in the north and centre of Swaziland) is the royal style of slow, heavily stressed enunciation, which is anecdotally claimed to have a 'mellifluous' feel to its hearers.