Xhosa | |
---|---|
isiXhosa | |
Pronunciation | [kǁʰóːsa] |
Native to | South Africa Lesotho |
Region | eastern Eastern Cape; scattered communities elsewhere |
Ethnicity | AmaXhosa |
Native speakers | 8 million (2013)[1] 11 million L2 speakers (2002)[2] |
Latin (Xhosa alphabet) Xhosa Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko | |
Signed Xhosa[3] | |
Official status | |
Official language in | ![]() ![]() |
Recognised minority language in | |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-1 | xh |
ISO 639-2 | xho |
ISO 639-3 | xho |
Glottolog | xhos1239 |
S.41 [4] | |
Linguasphere | 99-AUT-fa incl. varieties 99-AUT-faa to 99-AUT-faj + 99-AUT-fb (isiHlubi) |
![]() Proportion of the South African population that speaks Xhosa at home
0–20%
20–40%
40–60%
60–80%
80–100% | |
Xhosa (/ˈkɔːsə/ KAW-sə, /ˈkoʊsə/ KOH-sə;[5][6][7] Xhosa pronunciation: [kǁʰóːsa]), formerly spelled Xosa and also known by its local name isiXhosa, is a Nguni language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe.[8] Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 10 million people and as a second language by another 10 million, mostly in South Africa, particularly in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng, and also in parts of Zimbabwe and Lesotho.[9] It has perhaps the heaviest functional load of click consonants in a Bantu language (approximately tied with Yeyi), with one count finding that 10% of basic vocabulary items contained a click.[10]
The following languages, namely Chewa, Chibarwe, English, Kalanga, Koisan, Nambya, Ndau, Ndebele, Shangani, Shona, sign language,Venda,Tonga are the officially recognised languages of Zimbabwe.
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