Tsonga language

The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.

Classification

Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo languages. The language of the Tsonga people is wrongly called Xichangana (or "Shangaan" by outsiders) because some of the people were under the leadership of Soshangana "Manukusa" (wrongly classified as Zulu but actually Ndwandwe(Nguni/Ngoni), thus Xichangana is a hybrid of Xitsonga and the language of the Ndwandwe(Nguni/Ngoni)). Tsonga has different variants, some of which are considered different languages by some linguists ^[1]: e.g. Tsonga, Ndawu, Ronga and Tswa.

Geographic distribution

Tsonga is spoken by about 1,972,000 ^[2] people in South Africa's Limpopo province as well as Gauteng Province and Mpumalanga Province, as well as 1.5 million people in Mozambique, and 19,000 people in Swaziland. There are also 100,000 speakers in Zimbabwe.

In South Africa most of Vatsonga were concentrated in places like e.g. Nkowankowa, Giyani, Malamulele, N'wamitwa, Muhlava, Elim (Axipilongo, ka Jiwawa) in Limpopo and Bushbuckridge(ka Mpisana) and others in Mpumalanga. There are also large numbers in the Northwest, KwaZulu-Natal(Tembe) and Gauteng provinces. Basically they can be found anywhere in the old Transvaal.

Official status

Tsonga is an official language in South Africa.

Dialects

Various dialects of Tsonga are spoken as far north as the Save River in Zimbabwe and as far south as KwaZulu/Natal. While most dialects are mutually intelligible, they do have distinct differences that are geographical as well as based on influence of the colonial era. Tsonga also has two very close relatives: Xironga, which is spoken in and about Maputo, Mozambique, and Xitswa, which is spoken around Inhambane and has a Chihlengwe dialect extending into Zimbabwe.

These dialects and relatives differ in pronunciation. For example, in South African Tsonga the use of the prefix "xi" is pronounced "shi" in Xikwembu (God). In Zimbabwe this prefix is pronounced "chi", as in "Chikwembu" (God). South African Tsonga also uses consonant combinations like "nk", "mp", "ns" as in nkhensa (thank), nyimpi (war), and nsiha (vein). In Zimbabwe the equivalents are khesa, nyipi, and siha.

All dialects have been influenced to different degrees by Zulu and, in Zimbabwe, by Ndebele, and so Tsonga now contains click consonants. These words are not indigenous to the language but are understood when used. Unlike the case in Zulu and Ndebele, where there are distinct clicks, in Tsonga one need only make a clicking sound for any click word adopted. Examples of imported click words are: ngqondo (mind), gqoka (wear/dress),guqa (kneel), riqingo (phone), qiqi (earing), qamba (compose) Mugqivela (Saturday).

Tsonga has been characterized by some linguists as a "whistling language" similar to Shona in that it contains certain sounds such as "sw/sv", tsw/tsv", "dzw/dzv", sounds which occur throughout the language.

Phonology

Tsonga has a distinction between modal and breathy voiced consonants: /bʱ, bvʱ, vʱ, dʱ, ɖʐʱ, dʒʱ, ɡʱ/ vs /b, bv, v, d, ɖʐ, dʒ, ɡ/ among the obstruents (the one exception being /ɮ/), and /m̤, n̤, ŋ̈, r̤, ȷ̈, w̤/ vs /m, n, ŋ, r, j, w/ among the sonorants (the one exception being /ɲ/).

Unlike some of the Nguni languages, Tsonga has very few words with clicks, and these vary in place between dental and postalveolar.

Grammar

The grammar is generally typical of Bantu languages with a subject–object–verb order

Tsonga Tenses 1. Past Tense The present tense is formed by simply using the personal pronoun along with the verb Ndzi lava Mali – i want money, Hi tirha siku hinkwaro – we work all day, Mi(u) lava mani? – Who are you looking for? U kota ku famba – S/He know how to walk.

past Progressive Generally, to indicate ongoing actions in the present one takes the personal pronoun, drops the 'i' and adds 'a' Ndzi nghena (e)ndlwini – I am entering the house, Ha tirha sweswi – We are working right now, Ma hemba – you(pl.) are lying, Wa hemba – you(sing.) are lying, Wa hemba – s/he is lying,

• with the plural 'va'(they) there is no difference. Thus 'va hemba' = they lie AND they are lying.

3.not Perfect This is for in one of three ways, depending on the word. (i) Generally, one drops the 'a' from the verb and adds the prefix '-ile' Ndzi nghenile ndlwini – I entered the house, Hi tirhile siku hinkwaro – We worked all day, U hembile – You lied, U hembile – S/he lied, Va hembile – they lied.

(ii)With verbs that end with -ala, in the past change to -ele or -ale ku rivala – to forget, Ndzi rivale – I Forgot, U rivale – you forgot, Va rivale – they forgot, Ku nyamalala – to disappear, U nyamalele – S/he – disappeared,

• words used to describe a state of being also use the past tense

ku karhala – to be tired, Ndzi karhele – I am tired, U karhele – s/he is tired, Va karhele – They are tired.

(iii) In many cases merely changing the last 'a' in the verb to an 'e' indicates past action Ku fika – to arrive, U fike tolo – S/he arrived yesterday, Ndzi fike tolo – i arrived yesterday, Hi tirhe siku hinkwaro – we worked all day, Ndzi nghene (e)ndlwini – I entered the house.

4. Future This is formed by the adding 'ta' in between the personal pronoun and the verb Ndzi ta nghena e()ndlwini – i will enter the house, Hi ta tirha siku hinkwaro – we will work all day, Va ta tirha siku hinkwaro – they will work all day, Mi ta tirha siku hinkwaro – you(pl.) will work all day.

Noun classes

Tsonga has several classes, much like other Bantu languages, which are learned through memorization mostly. These are:

Personal pronouns

These are very similar to many other Bantu languages with a few variations

E.g. tana haleno – come here

Verbs

All verbs have the prefix "ku" and end with an 'a' in the infinitive, with a couple of exceptions.

The main exception to this is the verb "ku ri" – "to say" It corresponds to "ti" in many other bantu languages. Examples of its usage include; u ri yini? – what do you say?(what are you saying?), ndzi ri ka n'wina – i say to you all.

In many instances the "ri" is often omitted and thus "ku" on its own can also me "say" Va ri ndza penga – they say i'm crazy, Va ri yini? – what do they say?(what are they saying?).

Numerals

Months of the Year

Vocabulary

XiTsonga, like many other African languages, have been influenced by various European colonial languages. XiTsonga includes words borrowed from English, Afrikaans, and Portuguese. Also, because of the influence of other more dominant neighbouring languages, XiTsonga has taken some words, especially click words, from isiZulu actually its (Nguni/ngoni).

Words Borrowed from English

• Thelevhixini – television
• Rhediyo – Radio
• xitulu – Chair(Stool)
• Wachi – watch(to tell time)
• Movha – car(automobil)
• Sokisi – socks
• Gilazi – glass
• tliloko – clock
• mhasipala – municipal
• makhiya – keys

Words Borrowed from Afrikaans

• lekere – sweets(lekkers)
• fasitere – window(venster)
• lepula – spoon(lepel)
• kereke – church(kerk)
• buruku – trousers(broek)
• dhomu – idiot(dom)
• tafula – table(tafel)
• xipuku – ghost(spook)

Words Borrowed from Zulu:

• (ri)nqingo – phone
• kuqonda – to head towards
• ku gcina – to end
• kuzama – to try

Writing system

Tsonga uses the Latin alphabet. However, certain sounds are spelled using a combination of letters, which either do not exist in the European colonial language, or may be meant to distinguish the language somewhat.

An example of this is the letter "x" taken from Portuguese orthography, which is pronounced as the English "sh". Therefore the following words, -shusha, shikolo, shilo, are written in Tsonga as -xuxa, xikolo, and xilo.

Other spelling differences include the letter "c" which equates to the sound of the English "ch". However, where the emphasis of a word is on the following vowel the letter is hardened by adding "h" this the Tsonga word -chava(fear)

A sound equivalent to the Welsh "ll" is written "hl" in Tsonga, e.g. -hlangana(meet), -hlasela(attack), -hleka(laugh)

A whistling sound common in the language is written "sw" or "sv" in Zimbabwean chishona. This sound actually belongs to the "x-sw" class within the language. E.g.:

• xilo(thing) – swilo(things)
• xikolo(school) – swikolo(schools)
• Xikwembu(God) – swikwembu(gods)

Another whistling sound is spelled "dy" but has no English equivalent, the closest being the "dr" sound in the English word "drive"

An important note is that Tsonga has been standardized as a written language. However, due to the fairly recent nature of that standardization there still exist many dialects within the language that may not pronounce words as written. For example, the Tsonga bible uses the word "byela"(tell), pronounced bwe-la, however a large group of speakers would say "dzvela/dyela" instead.

The Lord's Prayer as written in the xiTsonga Bible (Bibele)

References

External links

• Ethnologue on Tsonga

Software & localization

• Spell checker for OpenOffice.org and Mozilla, OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox web-browser, and Mozilla Thunderbird email program in Tsonga
• Translate.org.za Project to translate Free and Open Source Software into all the official languages of South Africa including Tsonga
• PanAfriL10n page on Tsonga