The second map reveals a couple of things. While the geographical pattern of dominant first languages neatly conforms to the facts of history and urbanisation, the picture of second languages is more complicated, more of a mess. The contrast between first language and second language is shown in the maps at right. If a person did not speak a second language, that too was recorded.
#FARRAGO SOUTH AFRICA PLUS#
Thirteen options were given: South Africa’s 11 official languages, plus Sign Language, and “Other”. Which two languages does (member of household) speak most often in this household? Multilingualism is common among black South Africans.įor this reason, South African censuses ask people which two languages they speak. Similarly, Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa and Setswana are closely related Sotho languages, and Tshivenda something of a standalone in the Sotho-Makua-Venda subfamily.Įnglish- and Afrikaans-speaking people (mostly coloured, Indian and white South Africans) tend not to have much ability in African languages, but are fairly fluent in each other’s language. Within the first group Xitsonga alone falls into the Tswa-Ronga subfamily, while isiZulu, isiXhosa, isNdebele and siSwati are Nguni languages. Sotho-Makua-Venda languages: Sesotho, Sesotho sa Leboa, Setswana, Tshivenda.Nguni-Tsonga languages: isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, siSwati, Xitsonga.The nine African languages can be broadly divided in two: Like all languages in the Niger-Congo family they are tonal languages, in which either a high or low tone gives a word a different meaning. The expansion began in around 3000 BCE and was largely complete by 1000 CE. The languages arrived here during the great expansion of Bantu-speaking people from West Africa eastwards and southwards into the rest of the continent. South Africa’s nine African official languages all fall into the Southern Bantu-Makua subfamily, part of the broad and branching Niger-Congo family of languages. More than half (50.2%) of Afrikaans speakers are coloured, 40% are white, 9% black and just 1% Indian. Over the centuries it has picked up many influences from African languages, as well as from European colonial languages such as English, French and German.
English is widely used as a second language and common language of communication, mainly in the cities.Īfrikaans is a version of Dutch that evolved out of a South Holland dialect brought here in the 1600s. Out of the 4.9-million South Africans who speak English as a first language, a third (33%) are white, a quarter (24%) are black, 22% are Indian and 19% are coloured South Africans. Our other official languages are isiXhosa (spoken by 16%), Afrikaans (13.5%), English (10%), Sesotho sa Leboa (9%), Setswana and Sesotho (both 8%), Xitsonga (4.5%), siSwati and Tshivenda (both 2.5%), and isiNdebele (2%).Įnglish is an urban language of public life, widely used in the media, business and government. IsiZulu is South Africa’s biggest language, spoken by almost a quarter (23%) of the population. Thirty are living languages, and four extinct Khoesan languages. South Africa has about 34 historically established languages. In 1996 South Africa’s new Constitution gave official protection to all major languages. African languages, spoken by at least 80% of the people, were ignored. South Africa’s Constitution recognises 11 official languages: Sepedi (also known as Sesotho sa Leboa), Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.įor centuries South Africa’s official languages were European – Dutch, English, Afrikaans. (Collage images sourced from South African Tourism) South Africa is a diverse nation with a rich language heritage.
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