Phuthi (Síphùthì)^[1]is a Nguni Bantu language spoken in southern Lesotho and areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border^[2]. The closest substantial living relative of Phuthi is Swati (or Siswati), spoken in Swaziland and the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. Although there is no contemporary sociocultural or political contact, Phuthi is linguistically part of a historic dialect continuum with Swati. Phuthi is heavily influenced by the surrounding Sotho and Xhosa languages, but retains a distinct core of lexicon and grammar not found in either Xhosa or Sotho, and found only partly in Swati to the north. Current distribution of Human Language Families Most languages are known to belong to language families. ... Map showing the distribution of Niger-Congo languages The Niger-Congo languages constitute one of the worlds major language families, and Africas largest in terms of geographical area, number of speakers, and number of distinct languages. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... In the classification of African languages, Volta-Congo is the major branch (in terms of number of languages) of the Niger-Congo phylum. ... The Benue-Congo group of languages constitutes the largest branch of the Niger-Congo language family, both in terms of sheer number of languages, of which 938 are known (not counting mere dialects), and in terms of speakers, numbering perhaps 550 million. ... In the classification of African languages, Bantoid is a branch of the Benue-Congo subfamily of the Niger-Congo phylum. ... In the classification of African languages, Southern Bantoid (or South Bantoid) is one of the two branches of the Bantoid subfamily of the Niger-Congo phylum. ... In the classification of African languages, Narrow Bantu is a term commonly used to designate the branch of Niger-Congo containing the numerous Bantu languages as recognized by Guthrie (1948) in his seminal classification of the Bantu languages. ... ISO 639-1 is the first part of the ISO 639 international-standard language-code family. ... ISO 639-2:1998 Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code Twenty-two of the languages have two three-letter codes: a code for bibliographic use (ISO 639-2/B) a code for terminological use (ISO 639-2/T). ... ISO 639-3 is in process of development as an international standard for language codes. ... For information on how to read IPA transcriptions of English words see here. ... Phonetics (from the Greek word φωνή, phone meaning sound, voice) is the study of sounds and the human voice. ... Unicode is an industry standard designed to allow text and symbols from all of the writing systems of the world to be consistently represented and manipulated by computers. ... This chart shows concisely the most common way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is applied to represent the English language. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... For the cattle breed see Nguni cattle. ... Bantu is a language family that belongs to the Niger-Congo group. ... Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. ... Mpumalanga, (name changed from Eastern Transvaal on 24 August 1995), is a province in South Africa. ... A dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. ... Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. ... The Sotho language group is a group of three closely related languages spoken in Southern Africa including Setswana, Sesotho, and Sesotho sa Leboa. ... Xhosa (IPA: ) is one of the official languages of South Africa. ...

The documentary origins of Phuthi can be traced to Bourquin (1927), but in other oblique references nearly 200 years from the present (Ellenberger 1912). Until recently, the language has been very poorly documented with respect to its linguistic properties. The only significant earlier study (but with very uneven data, and limited coherent linguistic assumptions) is Mzamane (1949).

Geography and demography

It has been estimated that around 20 000 people in South Africa and Lesotho use Phuthi as their home language, but the actual figures could be much higher. No census data on Phuthi-speakers is available from either South Africa or Lesotho.

Phuthi is spoken in dozens (perhaps many dozens) of scattered communities in the border areas between where the far northern Eastern Cape meets Lesotho: from Herschel northwards and eastwards, and in the Matatiele area of the northeastern Transkei; and throughout southern Lesotho, from Quthing in the southwest, through regions south and east of Mount Moorosi, to mountain villages west and north of Qacha (Qacha's Nek). The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. ... Matatiele is a small town serving the farming and trading communities of East Griqualand in the foothills of western Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. ... Flag of Transkei bantustan Political Map of South Africa prior to 1994 Transkei, as of 1978 The Transkei — which means the area beyond the Kei River — is a region situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. ... Quthing is the capital city of Quthing District in Lesotho. ... Qachas Nek is the capital city of Qachas Nek District in Lesotho. ...

Within Phuthi, there are at least two dialect areas, based on linguistic criteria: Mpapa/Daliwe vs. all other areas. This taxonomy is based on a single (but very salient) phonological criterion (presence/absence of secondary labialisation). Mpapa and Daliwe (Sotho Taleoe [taliwe]) are villages in southern Lesotho, southeast of Mount Moorosi, on the dust road leading to Tosing, then on to Mafura (itself a Phuthi-speaking village), and finally Mpapa/Daliwe. Other Phuthi-speaking areas (all given in Lesotho Sotho orthography) include Makoloane [makolwani] and Mosuoe [musuwe], near Quthing, in south-western Lesotho; Seqoto [siǃɔtɔ] (Xhosa Zingxondo, Phuthi Sigxodo [sigǁɔdɔ]); Makoae [makwai] (Phuthi Magwayi) further to the east; and a number of villages north and west of Qacha's Nek. (Qacha is the main southeastern town in Lesotho, in the Qacha's Nek District). Phuthi-speaking diaspora (that is, heritage) areas include the far northern Transkei villages of Gcina [gǀina] (on the road to the Tele Bridge border post) and Mfingci [mfiŋǀi] (across the Tele River, opposite Sigxodo, approximately). Sesotho is a language spoken in southern Africa. ... Sesotho is a language spoken in southern Africa. ... Quthing is the capital city of Quthing District in Lesotho. ... Xhosa (IPA: ) is one of the official languages of South Africa. ... Qachas Nek is the capital city of Qachas Nek District in Lesotho. ... Qachas Nek is a district of Lesotho. ... Flag of Transkei bantustan Political Map of South Africa prior to 1994 Transkei, as of 1978 The Transkei — which means the area beyond the Kei River — is a region situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. ...

Political history

The most famous Phuthi leader in the historical record was the powerful Chief Moorosi (born in 1795), who died in unclear circumstances on Mount Moorosi (Sotho Thaba Moorosi) in 1879, after a protracted nine-month siege by the British, 'Boers' (i.e. Afrikaner) and Basotho forces (including the military participation of the Cape Mounted Riflemen). This siege is often referred to as "Moorosi's Rebellion". The issue that triggered the siege was alleged livestock theft in the Herschel area. In the aftermath of the siege, Phuthi people dispersed widely over what is contemporary southern Lesotho and the northern Transkei region, in order to escape capture by the colonial powers. It is for this reason, it has been hypothesised, that Phuthi villages (including Mpapa, Daliwe, Hlaela, Mosifa and Mafura -- all to the east of Mount Moorosi, in Lesotho) are typically found in such topographically mountainous regions, accessible only with great difficulty to outsiders). 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Sesotho is a language spoken in southern Africa. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Afrikaners are white South Africans of predominantly Calvinist Dutch, German, French Huguenot, Friesian and Walloon descent who speak Afrikaans. ... Flag of Transkei bantustan Political Map of South Africa prior to 1994 Transkei, as of 1978 The Transkei — which means the area beyond the Kei River — is a region situated in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. ...

After the siege of "Moorosi's rebellion", many Phuthi people were captured, and forced into building the bridge (now, the old bridge) at Aliwal North that crosses the Senqu (Orange River). Prior to 1879, Moorosi had been regarded as a very threatening competitor to commonly acknowledged father of the Lesotho nation, Chief Moshoeshoe I. Even though currently represented to some extent in the Lesotho government in Maseru, subsequent to the 1879 uprising, the Phuthi people essentially fade from modern Lesotho and Eastern Cape history. Aliwal North is a town on the Orange River, in central South Africa. ... The Orange River is the major river in South Africa. ... 1879 (MDCCCLXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... King Moshoeshoe I Moshoeshoe (1786?-1870) was born at Menkhoaneng in the Northern part of present-day Lesotho. ... Maseru (also Masero) is the capital of Lesotho. ...

Classification

Phuthi is a Bantu language, clearly within the southeastern Zone S (cf. Guthrie 1967-1971). But within southern Africa Phuthi is viewed ambivalently as being either a Nguni or a Sotho-Tswana language, given the very high level of hybridity displayed at all subsystems of the grammar (lexicon, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax). Bantu is a language family that belongs to the Niger-Congo group. ... For the cattle breed see Nguni cattle. ... The Sotho language group is a group of three closely related languages spoken in Southern Africa including Setswana, Sesotho, and Sesotho sa Leboa. ...

But Phuthi is genetically—along with Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swati—certainly a Nguni language. Thus, it should be numbered in the S.40 group within Zone S, following Guthrie's classification. Further, given the range of lexical, phonological and even low-level phonetic effects that appear to be shared almost exclusively with Swati, Phuthi can be classified uncontroversially as a Tekela Nguni language, that is, in the subset of Nguni that includes Swati, some versions of Southern Ndebele, and the Eastern Cape remnant languages, Bhaca and Hlubi. Zulu (isiZulu in Zulu), is a language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority (over 95%) of whom live in South Africa. ... Xhosa (IPA: ) is one of the official languages of South Africa. ... The Ndebele language, or isiNdebele, or Sindebele, is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the AmaNdebele (the Ndebele people). ... Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. ... For the cattle breed see Nguni cattle. ... Malcolm Guthrie (1903-1972), professor of Bantu languages, is known primarily for his classification of Bantu languages (Guthrie 1971). ... Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. ... For the cattle breed see Nguni cattle. ... Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. ... The Southern Ndebele language (isiNdebele or Nrebele in Southern Ndebele) is an African language belonging to the Nguni group of Bantu languages, and spoken by the amaNdebele (the Ndebele people of South Africa). ...

The standard claim (e.g. Mzamane 1949) that Phuthi displays very heavy contact and (anti-Nguni) levelling affects from its long cohabitation with Sotho (for a period perhaps in excess of three centuries) is confirmed in the contemporary lexicon and morphology. There is, for example, a very high level of 'lexical doublets' for many items, for many speakers. There are also regional effects: the Mpapa Phuthi dialect (the only one to retain labialised coronal stops) leans much more heavily towards Sotho lexicon and morphology (and even phonology), whereas the Sigxodo dialect leans more towards Xhosa lexicon and morphology (and even phonology).

Phonology and Morphology

Sustained field work in 1994/1995 among speech communities in Sigxodo and Mpapa (southern Lesotho) resulted in the discovery of a surprisingly wide range of phonological and morphological phenomena (including the nine that follow here), aspects of which are unique to Phuthi (within all of the southern Bantu region).

Click consonants

Phuthi has a system of click consonants, typical for nearly all Nguni, at the three common articulation points: dental, alveolar and alveolateral. But the range of click release types, or 'accompaniments' is relatively impoverished, with only four: plain, aspirated, voiced, nasalised). Swati, by comparison, has essentially only one click type (dental [|]), but five (or even six) release types. The reduced click range in Phuthi is partly related to the complete phonological absence of prenasalised consonant NC sequences.

Clicks are stops produced with two articulatory closures in the oral cavity. ... Clicks are stops produced with two articulatory closures in the oral cavity. ... For the cattle breed see Nguni cattle. ... Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. ...

Vowel harmony

Two harmony patterns propagate in opposite directions: perseverative superclose vowel height harmony (left-to-right); and anticipatory ATR/RTR tenseness harmony, invoking mid vowels [e o ɛ ɔ] (right-to-left). In the first, 'supercloseness'—also a Sotho vocalic property—in root-final position triggers suffix vowels of the same supercloseness value. In the second, all mid vowels uninterruptedly adjacent to the right edge of a phonological word are lax ([RTR]); all other mid vowels are tense ([ATR]).

Vowel harmony (also metaphony) is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... In phonetics, vowel height refers to the position of the tongue relative to the roof of the mouth in a vowel sound. ... In phonetics, advanced tongue root, abbreviated ATR or +ATR, or expanded, is the expansion of the pharyngeal cavity by moving the base of the tongue forward, and often lowering the larynx, during the pronunciation of a vowel. ... A mid vowel is a vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ... Sesotho is a language spoken in southern Africa. ...

Vowel imbrication

Vowel imbrication is the vowel harmony-like morphophonological phenomenon found in many Bantu languages. Vowel imbrication in two-syllable verb roots is effectively fully productive in Phuthi, that is, -CaC-a verb stems become -CeC-e in the perfective aspect (or 'perfect tense').

Labialisation

Labialised coronal consonants [tf tfw dv dvw], that is, consonants with distinct heterorganic (fricated) secondary articulation, generally found to be exceedingly rare in Bantu languages).

Labialisation is secondary articulatory feature of sounds in a language, most usually used to refer to consonants. ... Bantu is a language family that belongs to the Niger-Congo group. ...

Tone

Either of two surface tone distinctions, H (high) or L (low), is possible for each syllable (and in certain limited cases rising (LH) and falling (HL) tones are possible too). There is a subtype within the L tone category: when a syllable is 'depressed' (that is, from a depressor consonant in the onset position, or a morphologically or lexically imposed depression feature in the syllabic nucleus), the syllable is produced phonetically at a lower pitch. This system of tone depression is phonologically regular (that is, the product of a small number of phonological parameters), but is highly complex, interacting extensively with the morphology (and to some extent with the lexicon). Phonologically, Phuthi is argued to display a three-way High/Low/toneless distinction. Like all Nguni languages, Phuthi displays phonetically rising and falling syllables, always related to the position of a depressed syllabic nucleus.

It has been suggested that Tonal language be merged into this article or section. ... It has been suggested that Tonal language be merged into this article or section. ... In phonetics and phonology, a syllable onset is the part of a syllable that precedes the syllable nucleus. ... In phonetics and phonology, the nucleus is the central part of the syllable, mostly commonly a vowel. ...

Depressed consonants

In line with a number of southern Bantu languages (including all Nguni, Venda, Tsonga and Shona), and also all Khoisan languages of southwestern Africa), a significant subset of the consonants in Phuthi are 'depressors' (or 'breathy voiced'). These consonants are so named because they have a consistent depression effect on the pitch of an immediately successive H (high) tone. In addition, these consonants produce complex non-local phonological tone-depression effects. Swati and Phuthi have similar properties in this respect, except that the parameters of the Phuthi depression effects are significantly more complex than those documented thus far for Swati.

For the cattle breed see Nguni cattle. ... Venda, also known as Tshivenda, or Luvenda, is a Bantu language. ... The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan. ... Shona (or ChiShona) is a native language of Zimbabwe and southern Zambia; the term is also used to identify those Kintu speaking peoples in Southern Africa who speak one of the Shona languages. ... . ... Breathy voice or murmured voice is a phonation in which the vocal folds are vibrating as in normal voicing, but the glottal closure is incomplete, so that the voicing is somewhat inefficient and air continues to leak between the vocal folds throughout the vibration cycle with audible friction noise. ... Swati (siSwati in the language itself; Swazi in Zulu) is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. ...

Tone/voice interaction

Significantly complex tone/voice interactions have been identified in Phuthi. This phenomenon results in what is analysed at one level as massive and sustained violations of locality requirements on a H tone domain arising from a single H tone source, e.g. surface configurations of the type HLH (in fact H L* H) are possible where all H syllables emanate from a single underlying H source, given at least one L syllable being depressed. Such tone/voice configurations lead to grave problems for any theoretical phonology that seeks to be maximally constrained in its architecture and operations.

The last two phenomena are non-tonal suprasegmental properties which each take on an additional morphological function in Phuthi: It has been suggested that Tonal language be merged into this article or section. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... In linguistics, prosody refers to intonation and vocal stress in speech. ...

Morphological use of vowel height

The 'supercloseness' property also active in the first vowel harmony type (above) is active in at least one paradigm of the Phuthi morphological system (the axiomatic negative polarity of the copula: "There is no..."). A morphological use for a vocalic property (here: supercloseness) does not appear to be recorded elsewhere for a Bantu language.

For other uses, see Morphology. ... In phonetics, vowel height refers to the position of the tongue relative to the roof of the mouth in a vowel sound. ... A close vowel is a type of vowel sound used in many spoken languages. ...

Morphological use of breathy voice/depression

The vocalic property breathy voice/depression is separated from the set of consonants that typically induces it, and is used grammatically in the morphological copulative—similar to the Swati copula—and elsewhere in the grammar too (e.g. in associative prefixes formed from 'weak' class noun prefixes 1,3,4,6,9).

For other uses, see Morphology. ... Breathy voice or murmured voice is a phonation in which the vocal folds are vibrating as in normal voicing, but the glottal closure is incomplete, so that the voicing is somewhat inefficient and air continues to leak between the vocal folds throughout the vibration cycle with audible friction noise. ... Breathy voice or murmured voice is a phonation in which the vocal folds are vibrating as in normal voicing, but the glottal closure is incomplete, so that the voicing is somewhat inefficient and air continues to leak between the vocal folds throughout the vibration cycle with audible friction noise. ...

Bibliography

• Bourquin, Walther (1927) 'Die Sprache der Phuthi'. Festschrift Meinhof: Sprachwissenschaftliche und andere Studien, 279-287. Hamburg: Kommissionsverlag von L. Friederichsen & Co.
• Donnelly, Simon (1997) 'Aspects of Tone and Voice in Phuthi'. (MS.) U. Illinois PhD dissertation.
• Donnelly, Simon (1999) 'Southern Tekela is alive: reintroducing the Phuthi language'. In K. McKormick & R. Mesthrie (eds.), International Journal of the Sociology of Language 136: 97-120.
• Ellenberger, David-Frédéric. (1912) History of the Basuto, Ancient and Modern. Transl. into English by J.C. Macgregor. (1992 reprint of 1912 ed.). Morija, Lesotho: Morija Museum & Archives.
• Guthrie, Malcolm. (1967-1971) Comparative Bantu: An Introduction to the Comparative Linguistics and Prehistory of the Bantu Languages. (Volumes 1-4). Farnborough: Gregg International.
• Msimang, Christian T. (1989) 'Some Phonological Aspects of the Tekela Nguni Languages'. Doctoral dissertation, University of South Africa, Pretoria.
• Mzamane, Godfrey I. M. (1949) 'A concise treatment on Phuthi with special reference to its relationship with Nguni and Sotho'. Fort Hare Papers 1.4: 120-249. Fort Hare: The Fort Hare University Press.

Notes

IPA may refer to: The International Phonetic Alphabet or India Pale Ale ... Sesotho is a language spoken in southern Africa. ...

External links

• http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ssw

Note: the Ethnologue entry is currently inaccurate. Phuthi is no longer coherently in any obvious sort of heteronomous dialect relationship to Swati (several hundred kilometres separate the two language territories; Phuthi-speakers have no conscious awareness of any relationship to Swati). Nevertheless, there are very significant linguistic elements at all levels of the grammar, not least the lexicon, that tie Phuthi closely to Swati historically, in fact, as the closest living relative of Swati.