Northern Sotho

Northern Sotho, also known as Sepedi, is a language of the Bantu family within Niger-Congo. It is spoken primarily in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga in northeastern South Africa, as well as in Gauteng.

It is one of the official languages of South Africa as designated by the Constitution. It is closely related to Southern Sotho (Sesotho) and Setswana; these three languages are considered part of a 'Sotho-Tswana' group, whose varieties are mutually intelligible to some degree.

Name and dialect classification

The name 'Sepedi' originally referred to the dialect of the Bapedi people. It is commonly used as a general term for the written language as a whole, but some scholars and speakers argue that 'Sesotho sa Leboa' (Northern Sotho) is more accurate, since it encompasses many dialects beyond Bapedi. This naming question appears in legal and educational texts.

Linguistic features

Like other Bantu languages, it has a noun class system marked by prefixes, with agreement based on these classes. It is a tonal language, in which tone can alter word meaning and verb forms. It is written in the Latin script.

Use and education

It is used in primary education, state radio and television broadcasting, and court proceedings when requested. There are dictionaries, school textbooks, and written literature, most of which originated from missionary work in the nineteenth century.