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| Contents | ||
| Xhosa | |
|---|---|
| Spoken in: | South Africa |
| Region: | Eastern Cape Province |
| Total speakers: | 7.9 million |
| Ranking: | Not in top 100 |
| Genetic classification: | Niger-Congo Atlantic-Congo |
| Official status | |
| Official language of: | South Africa |
| Regulated by: | Xhosa Language Boards of Ciskei and Transkei |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | xh |
| ISO 639-2 | xho |
| SIL | XOS |
The name Xhosa refers to one of their legendary chieftains of old. The ethnic group that speaks Xhosa refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and their language is known as isiXhosa. Almost all languages with clicks are Khoisan languages, and the presence of clicks in Xhosa betray the strong historical interaction with its Khoisan neighbors. Even the name Xhosa may be of Khoisan origin.
The language represents the most South Western branch of the Nguni subfamily of the Bantu languages. Most native Xhosa speakers are located in the Eastern Cape Province, but increasingly also in the Western Cape, including Cape TownCape Town ( Afrikaans: Kaapstad , is one of South Africa's three capital cities serving as the legislative capital ( Pretoria being the executive capital and Bloemfontein the judicial capital). It is also the capital of the Western Cape province. It is mo.
In addition to being mostly mutually intelligible with ZuluZulu also known as isiZulu is a language of the Zulu people with about 9 million speakers, the vast majority (over 95%) of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most spoken language in South Africa and became one of South Africa's 11 official languages a and closely related Bantu languages, Xhosa has several dialects. There is debate among scholars as to what exactly the divisions between the dialects are. One such grouping is: (original) Xhosa, Ngqika, Gcaleka, Mfengu, Thembu, Bomvana, and Mpondomise.
Xhosa has a relatively simple set of vowels, but it is rich in unusual consonants. Besides normal pulmonic egressive sounds, it has 3 basic clicks in addition to ejectives and implosives. The first is the dental click, which is made with the tongue on the back of the teeth, and is the sound represented in English by "tut-tut" or "tsk-tsk" used to reprimand someone. The second is the lateral click, which is made by the tongue at the sides of the mouth, and is similar to the sound used to call horses. The third is the postalveolar click, which is made with the body of the tongue on the roof of the mouth. Each click occurs in 6 varieties. Xhosa is also a tone language with two inherent tones, low and high.