Northern Sotho

This article is about the northeastern South African language. For the Lesotho and central South African language, see Sotho language.

Northern Sotho
Sesotho sa Leboa
Native toSouth Africa
RegionGauteng, Limpopo, parts of Mpumalanga
EthnicityPedi
Lobedu
Pulana
Tlôkwa
Native speakers
4.7 million (2011 census)[1]
9.1 million L2 speakers (2002)[2]
Early forms
Tswaniac
  • Hurutshe
    • Kgatla
Standard forms
 Pedi
Latin (Northern Sotho alphabet)
Sotho Braille
Ditema tsa Dinoko
Signed Northern Sotho
Official status
Official language in
 South Africa
Regulated byPan South African Language Board
Language codes
ISO 639-2nso
ISO 639-3nso
Glottologpedi1238  Pedi
S.32,301–304[3]
Linguasphere99-AUT-ed
Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks a form of Northern Sotho at home.
  0–20%
  20–40%
  40–60%
  60–80%
  80–100%
Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: density of Northern Sotho home-language speakers.
  <1 /km²
  1–3 /km²
  3–10 /km²
  10–30 /km²
  30–100 /km²
  100–300 /km²
  300–1000 /km²
  1000–3000 /km²
  >3000 /km²
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.
Pedi
PersonMopedi
PeopleBapedi
LanguageSepedi
A speaker of the Northern Sotho language

Sesotho sa Leboa is a Sotho-Tswana language group spoken in the northeastern provinces of South Africa, most commonly in Mpumalanga, Gauteng and the Limpopo provinces.[4] It is also known by Pedi or Sepedi and holds the status of an official language in South Africa.[5][6]

An official language for the Lebowa homeland during apartheid, it is the first language of over 4.6 million (9.1%) people according to the South African National Census of 2011, making it the 5th most spoken language in South Africa.

  1. ^ Northern Sotho at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development." Impact: Studies in language and society, 14:78
  3. ^ Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
  4. ^ "NORTHERN SOTHO - South African Language Sepedi". www.sa-venues.com. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  5. ^ "The SA Constitution". www.justice.gov.za. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  6. ^ "free online course". www.unisa.ac.za. Retrieved 18 September 2023.