All examples marked with ‡ are included in the audio samples. If a table caption is marked then all Sesotho examples in that table are included in the audio samples.
The orthography used in this and related articles is that of South Africa, not Lesotho. For a discussion of the differences between the two see the notes on Sesotho orthography.
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
The phonology of Sesotho and those of the other Sotho–Tswana languages are radically different from those of "older" or more "stereotypical" Bantu languages. Modern Sesotho in particular has very mixed origins (due to the influence of Difaqane refugees) inheriting many words and idioms from non-Sotho–Tswana languages.
There are in total 39 consonantal phonemes[1] (plus 2 allophones) and 9 vowel phonemes (plus two close raised allophones). The consonants include a rich set of affricates and palatal and postalveolar consonants, as well as three click consonants.
^Other authors may choose to include the labialized consonants as contrastive phonemes, potentially increasing the number by 26 to 75. Labialization does create minimal pairs, as is exemplified by the short passive suffix, but different authors seem to be divided on whether or not these should be counted as authentic phonemes (especially since Sotho–Tswana-type labialization caused by vowel "absorption" is a fairly strange and rare process).
Besides the passives, there are still numerous minimal pairs differing only in the labialization of a single consonant (note that each of the following pairs has similar tonal patterns):
[ʀɑlɑ]-rala ('design'), versus [ʀʷɑlɑ]-rwala ('carry on the head')
[lɑlɑ]-lala ('lie down' [old fashioned or poetic]), versus [lʷɑlɑ]-lwala ('be sick' [old fashioned])
[mʊʀɑ]mora ('son'), versus [mʊʀʷɑ]morwa ('a Khoisan person')
[hɑmɑ]-hama ('milk an animal'), versus [hʷɑmɑ]-hwama ('[of fat] congeal')
[t͡sʰɑsɑ]-tshasa ('smear'), versus [t͡sʰʷɑsɑ]-tshwasa ('capture prey')
[mʊɬɑ]mohla ('day'), versus [mʊɬʷɑ]mohlwa ('termite')
Normal consonants and their labialised forms do not contrast before back vowels (that is, a labialized consonant will lose its labialization before a back vowel).
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