Bantu language of the Tsonga people of Southern Africa
Not to be confused with Dzongkha language.
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Tsonga
Xitsonga
Native to
Eswatini
Mozambique
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Region
Gauteng
Limpopo
Mpumalanga
Gaza Province
Maputo Province
Maputo City
Chiredzi District
Mwenenzi District
Ethnicity
Tsonga
Native speakers
3.7million (2006–2011)[1] 3.4 million L2 speakers in South Africa (2002)[2]
Language family
Niger–Congo?
Atlantic–Congo
Volta-Congo
Benue–Congo
Bantoid
Southern Bantoid
Bantu
Southern Bantu
Tswa–Ronga
Tsonga
Writing system
Latin (Tsonga alphabet) Tsonga Braille
Signed forms
Signed Tsonga
Official status
Official language in
South Africa
Zimbabwe (as 'Shangani')
Recognised minority language in
Mozambique
Language codes
ISO 639-1
ts
ISO 639-2
tso
ISO 639-3
tso
Glottolog
tson1249
Guthrie code
S.53 (S.52)[3]
Linguasphere
99-AUT-dc incl. varieties 99-AUT-dca... -dcg
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Geographical description of Tsonga in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks a form of Tsonga at home.
Tsonga
Person
Mutsonga
People
Vatsonga
Language
Xitsonga
Tsonga (/ˈ(t)sɒŋɡə/ⓘ(T)SONG-gə) or, natively, Xitsonga, as an endonym, is a Bantu language spoken by the Tsonga people of South Africa. It is mutually intelligible with Tswa and Ronga and the name "Tsonga" is often used as a cover term for all three, also sometimes referred to as Tswa-Ronga. The Xitsonga language has been standardised for both academic and home use. Tsonga is an official language of South Africa, and under the name "Shangani" it is recognised as an official language in the Constitution of Zimbabwe. All Tswa-Ronga languages are recognised in Mozambique. It is not official in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).
^Tsonga at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
^Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development". Impact: Studies in language and society, 14:78
^Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
Tsonga (/ˈ(t)sɒŋɡə/ (T)SONG-gə) or, natively, Xitsonga, as an endonym, is a Bantu language spoken by the Tsonga people of South Africa. It is mutually...
Xitsonga, a Southern Bantu language. A very small number of Tsonga people are also found in Zimbabwe and Northern Eswatini. The Tsonga people of South Africa...
Look up tsonga in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Tsonga may refer to: Tsongalanguage, a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa Tsonga people, a large...
(1941–1997), American politician Tsongas Center Tsonga (disambiguation) Tsongalanguage This page lists people with the surname Tsongas. If an internal link intending...
official languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, English, Pedi, Tswana, Southern Sotho, Tsonga, Swazi, Venda, and Southern Ndebele (in order of first language speakers)...
inhabitants spoke TshiVenda as their mother language, while 400,000 spoke Xitsonga as their home language. However, the Tsonga people form the majority south of...
the Cyrillic letter representing the voiceless alveolar affricate Tsongalanguage (ISO 639 code: ts), of southern Africa Tensile strength, in materials...
languages include Tsonga, Makhuwa, Sena, Chichewa, and Swahili. Glottolog lists 46 languages spoken in the country, of which one is a signed language...
Borwa (Tswana) Mopresident wa Afrika Borwa (Sotho) Puresidente wa Afrika-Dzonga (Tsonga) uMengameli weleNingizimu Afrika (Swazi) Muphuresidennde wa Afrika Tshipembe (Venda)...
birthplace of the written Tsongalanguage in South Africa. When Soshangane invaded the Tsonga country, large numbers of Tsonga people fled and settled at...
speak one of the Northeast Caucasian, or Turkic, languages; however, Russian is the primary language and the lingua franca in the republic. The word Dagestan...
Mpondo and Tsonga, had a tradition of young men (inkotshane in Zulu, boukonchana in Sesotho, tinkonkana in Mpondo, and nkhonsthana in Tsonga; called "boy-wives"...
Broadcasting Cooperation) radio station broadcasting in Tsongalanguage in South Africa. In Tsonga, "Munghana Lonene" means "a true friend." Munghana Lonene...
are in the Limpopo province of South Africa and predominantly occupied by Tsonga people. Malamulele town has one provincial road and one regional road; the...
South-Eastern Bantu language in Southern Mozambique. Its closest relatives are Ronga and Tsonga, the three forming the Tswa–Ronga family of languages. Tswa is mainly...
Seboka sa Naha (Sotho) Ntlokokoano Bosetšhaba (Tswana) Huvo ya Rixaka (Tsonga) Buthano ḽa Lushaka (Venda) 27th Parliament (members) Type Type Lower house...
largest ethnic groups in the country, and the Tswana language is one of eleven official languages in South Africa. There were over 4 million Tswana speakers...
in 1984. This series had only one language variant for each denomination of note. Afrikaans was the first language on the 2, 10, and 50 rand, while English...
first language. The Tsonga women perform the xibelani dance'and called the dance Xigaza, while the men enjoy mpuluto and makhwaya. The Tsonga people...
prepare large quantities of food. Wooden spoons called kombe in the Tsongalanguage are used for mixing and stirring. This tradition persisted over the...
variation of the Tsongalanguage. The album established Penny Penny as a pop star and also helped improve opinion on Xitsonga music among Tsonga people, as...
important in Central Africa. Important South African languages are Sotho, Tswana, Pedi, Venda, Tsonga, Swazi, Southern Ndebele, Zulu, Xhosa and Afrikaans...
consonants interrupt the flow of the whistle. A similar language is the Tsonga whistle language used in the highlands in the Southern parts of Mozambique...
Mpondo and Tsonga people, had a tradition of young men (inkotshane in Zulu, boukonchana in Sesotho, tinkonkana in Mpondo, and nkhonsthana in Tsonga, also known...
The National Assembly of Zimbabwe, previously the House of Assembly until 2013, is the lower house of the Parliament of Zimbabwe. It was established upon...
Global Information
Mozambique
