Lesotho, a

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

, is home to several languages, including

Phuthi Phuthi (''Síphùthì'') is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border. The closest substantial living relative of Phuthi is Swati (or ''Siswati''), spoken in Eswatini and the Mp ...

Sesotho Sotho () or Sesotho () or Southern Sotho is a Southern Bantu language of the Sotho–Tswana ("S.30") group, spoken primarily by the Basotho in Lesotho, where it is the national and official language; South Africa (particularly the Free ...

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

, Zulu and

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, — all, except for English, belong to the Niger–Congo

language family A language family is a group of languages related through descent from a common ''ancestral language'' or ''parental language'', called the proto-language of that family. The term "family" reflects the tree model of language origination in h ...

National and official languages

(or Southern Sesotho), a

Southern Bantu The Southern Bantu languages are a large group of Bantu languages, largely validated in Janson (1991/92).Tore Janson (1991-92) "Southern Bantu and Makua", ''Sprache und Geschichte in Afrika'' (''SUGIA'') Vol. 12/13: 63-106, Rüdiger Köppe Verl ...

language, is the

national language A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the te ...

of Lesotho,The name "Lesotho" translates roughly as "the land of the people who speak Sesotho", Sesotho meaning "the Sesotho language"; see . and is spoken by most

Basotho The Sotho () people, also known as the Basuto or Basotho (), are a Bantu nation native to southern Africa. They split into different ethnic groups over time, due to regional conflicts and colonialism, which resulted in the modern Basotho, who ...

.The people of Lesotho are called Basotho (sing. Mosotho), where "ba-" indicates plural; see and . It was recognized as the national language by the National and Official Languages Bill, ratified by the

National Assembly of Lesotho The National Assembly () is the lower chamber of Lesotho's bicameral Parliament. Composition The current National Assembly has a total of 120 members. 80 members are elected in single member constituencies using the simple majority (or First-p ...

on 12 September 1966, which also established Sesotho and English as the country's two

official language An official language is a language given supreme status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically the term "official language" does not refer to the language used by a people or country, but by its government (e.g. judiciary, ...

s. The country's language policy promotes bilingualism, and Chapter 1 of the Constitution of Lesotho states: Sesotho is the

first language A first language, native tongue, native language, mother tongue or L1 is the first language or dialect that a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongu ...

of more than 90 percent of the population and is "used widely as a medium of communication" in day-to-day speech.. English is reserved for official interactions, such as "government and administration",. although the use of Sesotho in politics, religion, and the mass media is growing. Primary education of children takes place in Sesotho for the first four years, but English becomes the

medium of instruction A medium of instruction (plural: media of instruction, or mediums of instruction) is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the offic ...

in the fifth year of

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. Competence in English is "particularly important ... for educational, political, social and economic transactions in the subcontinent". and facilitates obtaining employment within Lesotho and abroad.. Although "efforts are made to ensure that Basotho children" learn to read, speak and write English, many Basotho complete only "basic primary education ndremain monolingual in Sesotho".

Minority and immigrant languages

A minority of Basotho, estimated to number 248,000 , speak Zulu, one of the eleven official languages of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

.
Lesotho
at Ethnologue. Retrieved 3 October 2010.

, a

Nguni language The Nguni languages are a group of closely related Bantu languages spoken in southern Africa by the Nguni peoples. Nguni languages include Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele (sometimes referred to as "Northern Ndebele"), and Swazi. The appellation "Nguni" ...

closely related to

Swazi Swazi may refer to: * Swazi people, a people of southeastern Africa * Swazi language * Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked coun ...

, an official language of South Africa and Eswatini, is spoken by 43,000 Basotho ().

, another Nguni language and official language of South Africa, is spoken by 18,000 people in Lesotho. Speakers of these

minority language A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019) a ...

s typically also speak Sesotho.

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

, spoken mainly in South Africa and

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, is an immigrant language.

Notes

; Footnotes ; Citations

References

* * * * * * * * {{Africa topic, Languages of Languages of Lesotho,

National and official languages

Minority and immigrant languages

See also

Notes

References