Xhosa (S41) is a Nguni language of the Zunda branch, closely related to Zulu and mutually intelligible with it to some extent.
- Name used by speakers: isiXhosa [isikǁʰɔ́ːsa]
- Number of speakers: According to the South African 2022 census there were about 9.8 million speakers of Xhosa at home. There are perhaps another 10 million second-language speakers.
- Usage: Mainly spoken in South Africa, especially in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, with substantial numbers of speakers elsewhere in the country. Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa and is used in education, government, broadcasting, literature, newspapers, music, television and other media.
- Varieties: Major varieties commonly identified include Gcaleka, Ngqika (Gaika), Thembu, Mpondo, Mpondomise, Bomvana, Xesibe and Hlubi. Standard Xhosa is based principally on Ngqika and Gcaleka, especially Ngqika.
- First written: in 1799–1800, Johannes van der Kemp compiled a vocabulary of about 600 words and recorded some Xhosa sentences. The first printed work in Xhosa was published in 1823.
- Contact: Xhosa's click consonants were borrowed from the Khoekhoe languages as a result of long and extensive interaction between the Xhosa and Khoekhoe peoples. More recent contact with Afrikaans and English has resulted in extensive lexical borrowing.
Sources for SBED entries
- Pahl, H.W. et al. (vol 3 in 1989), B.M. Mini et al. (vol. 2 in 2003), Tshabe and F. Shoba (vol 1. in 2006). The Greater Dictionary of Xhosa. Alice: University of Fort Hare. —— the GDX is now online. High (´) and falling (ˆ) tones are marked; low tones are unmarked.
- McLaren, James. 1963. A new concise Xhosa-English dictionary. 3rd edn. Cape Town: Longman. —— small but convenient and reliable. However, it does not record tones.
- Tone in isiXhosa — an overview of tonal profiles of all word categories, and a discussion of problems.
- Louw, Johan A. 1977. The linguistic prehistory of the Xhosa. In Möhlig, Wilhelm J. G. and Franz Rottland and Bernd Heine (eds.), Zur Sprachgeschichte und Ethnohistorie in Afrika: Neue Beiträge afrikanistischer Forschungen, 127-151. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer. —— particularly reviewing the Xhosa material in Guthrie (or not included by him).
Orthography (from Omniglot, with fuller phonology at Wikipedia)
a [a]
b [ɓ]
bh [b̥ʱ]
d [d̠̥ʱ]
dl [ɮ̈]
dy [d̠̥ʲʱ]
dz [d̥zʱ]
e [ɛ~e]
f [f]
g [g̊ʱ]
gr [ɣ̤̈]
h [h]
hh [ɦ]
hl [ɬ]
i [i]
j [d̥ʒʱ]
k [k’]
kh [kʰ]
kr [kx’]
l [l]
lh [l̤]
m [m]
mh [m̤]
n [n]
ng [ŋ]
ngh [ŋ̈]
nh [n̤]
ny [nʲ]
nyh [n̤ʲ]
o [ɔ~o]
p [p’]
ph [pʰ]
r [r/r̤]
rh [x]
s [s]
sh [ʃ]
t [t’]
th [tʰ]
ths [tsʰ]
thsh [tʃ’]
ts [ts’]
tsh [tʃʰ]
ty [t̠ʲ’]
tyh [t̠ʲʰ]
u [u]
v [v̤]
w [w]
wh [w̤]
y [j]
yh [j̈]
z [z̤]
zh [ʒ̈]
Click consonants
a [a]
b [ɓ]
bh [b̥ʱ]
d [d̠̥ʱ]
dl [ɮ̈]
dy [d̠̥ʲʱ]
dz [d̥zʱ]
e [ɛ~e]
f [f]
g [g̊ʱ]
gr [ɣ̤̈]
h [h]
hh [ɦ]
hl [ɬ]
i [i]
j [d̥ʒʱ]
k [k’]
kh [kʰ]
kr [kx’]
l [l]
lh [l̤]
m [m]
mh [m̤]
n [n]
ng [ŋ]
ngh [ŋ̈]
nh [n̤]
ny [nʲ]
nyh [n̤ʲ]
o [ɔ~o]
p [p’]
ph [pʰ]
r [r/r̤]
rh [x]
s [s]
sh [ʃ]
t [t’]
th [tʰ]
ths [tsʰ]
thsh [tʃ’]
ts [ts’]
tsh [tʃʰ]
ty [t̠ʲ’]
tyh [t̠ʲʰ]
u [u]
v [v̤]
w [w]
wh [w̤]
y [j]
yh [j̈]
z [z̤]
zh [ʒ̈]
Click consonants
c [kǀ]
ch [kǀʰ]
gc [g̊ǀʱ]
nx [ŋǀ]
ngc [ŋǀɦ]
nkc [ŋǀʔ]
q [kǃ]
qh [kǃʰ]
gq [g̊ǃʱ]
nq [ŋǃ]
ngq [ŋǃɦ]
nkq [ŋǃʔ]
x [kǁ]
xh [kǁʰ]
gx [g̊‖ʱ]
nx [ŋǁ]
ngx [ŋǁʱ]
nkx [ŋǁʔ]
ch [kǀʰ]
gc [g̊ǀʱ]
nx [ŋǀ]
ngc [ŋǀɦ]
nkc [ŋǀʔ]
q [kǃ]
qh [kǃʰ]
gq [g̊ǃʱ]
nq [ŋǃ]
ngq [ŋǃɦ]
nkq [ŋǃʔ]
x [kǁ]
xh [kǁʰ]
gx [g̊‖ʱ]
nx [ŋǁ]
ngx [ŋǁʱ]
nkx [ŋǁʔ]