Sesotho.web.za Introduction to Sesotho Sesotho.web.za Introduction to Sesotho J.A.K. Olivier http://www.sesotho.web.za/ Copyright 2005 J.A.K. Olivier All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Published 2005 – J.A.K. Olivier Sasolburg, South Africa http://www.sesotho.web.za/ Printed by CafePress.com in the United States of America ISBN 0-958-49561-0 Dedicated to Louise Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the following people for their valuable contributions (especially with the Sotho names) and suggestions to the Sesotho.web.za site and ultimately this publication: Rethabile Masilo, Tebello Thejane, Thabo Seseane, Tebello Mosese and Thabo Manong. Thank you for the inspiration of mme Philna Kloppers and ntate Piet Sevenster for teaching me the basics. Thank you Prof. Thapelo Selepe for being an inspiration and for everything you have done for the language. Thank you for introducing me to this language: Oupanyana Mofokeng (1976-1993), Thabo Mofokeng, Abram Mofokeng and Phuzile Ntsumayelo. Louise for all the love and for being there when you are needed. Ke a leboha! Jako Olivier Table of contents 1. Introduction 1 2. Basotho people 3 2.1 Lesotho 3 2.2 South Africa 7 3. Sesotho language variants 9 4. Sound Structure 12 5. Basic language 15 5.1 Forms of greeting 15 5.2 Basic phrases 16 6. Grammar 19 6.1 Sentence construction 19 6.2 Nouns and noun classes 22 6.3 Pronouns 25 6.4 Adjectives 29 6.5 Verbs 31 6.6 Adverbs 33 6.7 Locatives 34 6.8 Tenses 36 6.9 Moods 40 7. Literature 42 7.1 Oral literature 42 7.2 Folk stories 42 8. Reference 46 8.1 General 46 8.2 Proverbs, idioms and riddles 47 8.3 Computer and Internet terminology 52 8.4 Sesotho names 58 Bibliography 63 Index 65 Introduction to Sesotho 1. Introduction Sesotho, or Southern Sotho, is part of the Sotho language subgroup within the South - Eastern group of the Ntu (Bantu) language family. Other languages in the Sotho subgroup include Setswana (also known as Tswana or Western Sotho) and Sesotho sa Leboa (also known as Northern Sotho or by the dialect name Sepedi). Main concentration of Sotho languages in Southern Africa (LES. = Lesotho) The language is spoken in the Kingdom of Lesotho as well as throughout the Republic of South Africa. Yet in South Africa the language is concentrated in the Free State province, the northern part of the Eastern Cape province and the south of the Gauteng province. It is also spoken in the vicinity of Pretoria and Brits. Very small language communities also exist in Namibia and Zambia. Language varieties of this language include: Sekgolokwe, Sekwena, Serotse (Selozi) and Setlokwa. Also see chapter 3 on the different language variants and the difference between the South African and Lesotho orthography. Sesotho is used by 3 555 186 speakers as a home language in South Africa (2001 census) which is 7.9% of the whole population. According to the 1996 census this number was 3 104 197. 1