Tswana

The Tswana language, also known as Setswana, is a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa by about 8 million people. It is the national language of Botswana and is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Tswana is closely related to the Setswana spoken in Namibia and the Kgalagadi language spoken in Botswana and South Africa. The Tswana language is part of the Niger-Congo language family and is classified as a Zone A language, which means it is spoken by a majority of the people in its country of origin. Tswana is a tonal language, which means that the meaning of a word can change depending on the pitch of the speaker's voice. Tswana has three dialects: Western Tswana, Central Tswana, and Eastern Tswana. Western Tswana is the dialect spoken in Botswana, while Central and Eastern Tswana are spoken in South Africa. Tswana is written in the Latin alphabet and has 11 vowels and 18 consonants. The Tswana alphabet was created in the early 19th century by a German missionary named Gottlieb Viehe. Tswana is a subject–verb–object language, which means that the verb comes after the subject and object in a sentence. For example, the sentence "I am going to the store" would be "Ke a leboga ka tshwanetša", where "ke" is the subject (I), "a" is the verb (am going), and "leboga" is the object (the store). Tswana has two main pronouns: "ke" (I) and "re" (you). "Ke" is used when the subject is male, while "re" is used when the subject is female. There are also plural forms of these pronouns. Tswana has a rich oral tradition and is known for its folktales, proverbs, and songs. The Tswana people have a strong sense of community and place a high value on family and tradition.