Tswana (
Setswana or
Sitswana), is a
Bantu language written in the
Latin Alphabet. English is the national and majority language of
Botswana, whose people are the
Batswana (singular Motswana). Although English is the official language of
Botswana, the majority of speakers also understand Setswana. There are also speakers in
Zimbabwe and
Namibia. Internationally there are about 4 million speakers. Before South Africa became a multi-racial democracy, the
bantustan of
Bophuthatswana was set up to cover the Tswana speakers of South Africa.
Tswana is a Bantu language, belonging to the Niger-Congo language family. It is most closely related to two other languages in the Sotho language group, Sesotho (Southern Sotho) and Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa). It has also been known as Beetjuans, Chuana (hence Bechuanaland), Coana, Cuana, and Sechuana.
Tswana has the following consonant inventory.[1]
Tswana has nine vowel sounds, which can be resolved into seven phonemes
