The Setswana Alphabet

Q: What does Setswana mean?

Setswana means "language of the Tswana people". The prefix Se- is a Bantu noun-class marker (class 7/8) for languages and abstract concepts. The root Tswana refers to the Tswana people. The full naming system: Se tswana (the language), Ba tswana (the people), Bo tswana (the place) [1] . The same prefix system applies across the Sotho-Tswana branch: Sesotho (language of the Sotho), Basotho (the people), Lesotho (the place); Sepedi (language of the Pedi), Bapedi (the people). This Ba-/Se-/Bo- triad is one of the most recognisable features of Sotho-Tswana cultural naming conventions [3] .

Q: Is Setswana the same as Tswana?

Yes — Setswana and Tswana are the same language (ISO 639-3: tn). Setswana is the community's own name (Se- = "language of"); Tswana is the international/exonym form used in scholarly literature and the South African Constitution. Both names refer to exactly the same language [2] . The community strongly prefers "Setswana" in everyday use. International databases (Ethnologue, Glottolog, ISO) list it as "Tswana" while the community, government of Botswana, and South African language boards use "Setswana" [1] .

Q: Where is Setswana spoken?

Setswana is spoken in Botswana (national language, ~80% of the population), South Africa's North West Province (formerly Bophuthatswana) and Northern Cape , and in smaller communities in Zimbabwe and Namibia (Botswana border areas) [2] . In South Africa, Setswana is one of 11 official languages and has official status in North West Province. The Electoral Commission of South Africa produces all election materials in Setswana. Botswana Radio and Botswana Television broadcast widely in Setswana. Total speakers (L1 + L2) are estimated at 5–8 million [1] .

Q: What are the Sotho-Tswana languages?

The Sotho-Tswana branch of Southern Bantu includes three closely related official South African languages and one national language: Setswana (Tswana — Botswana and South Africa), Sesotho (Southern Sotho — Lesotho and South Africa), and Sepedi (Northern Sotho / Pedi — Limpopo Province of South Africa) [3] . All Sotho-Tswana languages share: the lateral affricate (tlh in Tswana, tl in Sesotho/Sepedi), the Se-/Ba-/Bo- prefix system, and broadly similar phonological and grammatical structures. They are mutually partially intelligible, especially Sesotho and Sepedi [1] .

Q: What is the tlh sound in Setswana?

The tlh in Setswana represents the voiceless lateral affricate /tɬ/. This sound starts with a t-stop (tongue on alveolar ridge) and releases with air flowing over the sides of the tongue rather than through the centre. The result is a combined t+lateral sound unique in Southern Africa to the Sotho-Tswana group [3] . The tlh sound appears in tlhano (five) and is one of the first features a learner of Setswana encounters. The related Sesotho language writes the same sound as tl ; Zulu and Xhosa have a related lateral fricative hl (/ɬ/) but without the t onset. The tlh of Setswana is typologically rare among the world's languages [3] .

Q: What is the official status of Setswana?

Setswana is the national and official language of Botswana , where it serves as the primary medium of government, education, and broadcasting. It is also one of the 11 official languages of South Africa under the 1996 Constitution, spoken mainly in the North West Province and parts of the Northern Cape [2] . In Botswana, Setswana is used from primary school through public media and has a strong standard written form. In South Africa it is supported by institutions such as the Pan South African Language Board. Setswana has over five million speakers across Botswana and South Africa, making it one of the larger Southern Bantu languages by speaker count [1] .

Q: What writing system does Setswana use?

Setswana is written in the Latin alphabet . The orthography was pioneered by missionaries in the 19th century — most notably Robert Moffat of the London Missionary Society, who translated the full Bible into Setswana (1857) and compiled an early grammar and dictionary. Modern spelling standards are maintained by language boards in both Botswana and South Africa [1] . The Setswana alphabet uses digraphs and trigraphs for its distinctive sounds: tlh (/tɬ/), tsh , kg , ng , and labialized clusters sw and tsw. Tones are phonemic but are not written in the standard orthography. Setswana has one of the oldest continuous traditions of written use among Bantu languages in Southern Africa [3] .

Q: What is the noun class system in Setswana?

Like all Bantu languages, Setswana organises its nouns into noun classes marked by prefixes. The most recognisable classes in Setswana are Se- (class 7, languages and abstract concepts), Ba- (class 2, people), and Bo- (class 14, place and abstract nouns). These three give Setswana its famous naming triad: Se-tswana (the language), Ba-tswana (the people), Bo-tswana (the place) [3] . Other common noun classes include Le- (singular objects), Di- (plural), and Mo-/Me- (for people and trees). Every adjective, verb, and pronoun must carry an agreement prefix matching the noun class of its subject. This agreement system is the grammatical backbone of Setswana and is shared across the Sotho-Tswana branch with Sesotho and Sepedi [1] .

Setswana at a Glance

Setswana is the community's own name for the Tswana language (ISO 639-3: tn). The prefix Se- is a Bantu noun-class marker meaning "language of" — the full name means "language of the Tswana people". The people are Batswana (Ba- = "people of") and the country of Botswana (Bo- = "place of") takes its name from the same root ^[1]
Setswana is the national language of Botswana and one of 11 official languages of South Africa under the 1996 Constitution. It is spoken by approximately 5–8 million people in Botswana, South Africa's North West Province and Northern Cape, Zimbabwe, and Namibia, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in Southern Africa ^[2]
Setswana belongs to the Sotho-Tswana subgroup of Southern Bantu — the same branch as Sesotho (Southern Sotho) and Sepedi (Northern Sotho). All three languages share the lateral affricate (written tlh in Setswana, tl in Sesotho) and the Se-/Ba-/Bo- prefix system for naming language/people/place ^[3]
The most distinctive phoneme of Setswana is the lateral affricate tlh (/tɬ/) — a stop that releases laterally rather than centrally. It appears in tlhano (five) and numerous everyday words. The digraph kg (velar/uvular) and trigraph tsh (aspirated ts-affricate) are further distinctive features of the Setswana consonant inventory ^[3]
In democratic elections, the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) produces all ballot papers, voter education materials, and official notices in Setswana along with South Africa's other ten official languages. Setswana is also used in the South African Parliament, courts, and primary-level education in North West Province ^[2]
Stellenbosch University and Rhodes University are among the leading South African institutions for Setswana language research. Setswana has one of the longest traditions of written documentation in Southern Africa, with missionary grammars and dictionaries (notably by Robert Moffat and John Brown) dating to the mid-19th century ^[1]

Tswana Distinctive Consonants (tlh, tsh, kg):

tlh

[tɬ]

tsh

[tsʰ]

[kx]

Tswana Vowels:

[a]

[ɛ]

[i]

[ɔ]

[u]

Tswana Consonants:

[b]

[d]

[f]

[ɡ]

[h]

[dʒ]

[k]

[kʰ]

[l]

[m]

[mm]

[n]

[ⁿd]

[ᵑɡ]

[ᵑk]

[ⁿt]

nts

[ⁿts]

[p]

[pʰ]

[r]

[s]

[ʃ]

[sw]

[t]

[tʰ]

tsw

[tsw]

[w]

[j]

[b]

Voiced bilabial stop /b/ — B as in "bat"

[d]

Voiced alveolar stop /d/ — D as in "dog"; distinct from prenasalized nd

[f]

Voiceless labiodental fricative /f/ — F as in "fun"

[ɡ]

Voiced velar stop /ɡ/ — G as in "go"

[h]

Voiceless glottal fricative /h/ — H as in "house"

[dʒ]

Voiced palato-alveolar affricate /dʒ/ — J as in "jam"

[k]

Voiceless velar stop /k/ — K as in "kite"; Tswana: lesome (ten) contains k sound

[kʰ]

Aspirated voiceless velar stop /kʰ/ — K with a strong puff of air; a digraph representing a single aspirated phoneme

[l]

Alveolar lateral approximant /l/ — L as in "lamp"; Tswana: lesome (ten) begins with l

[m]

Bilabial nasal /m/ — M as in "mother"; Tswana: mm is a prenasalized bilabial sequence

[mm]

Geminate or prenasalized bilabial nasal /mm/ — a characteristic Setswana consonant cluster

[n]

Alveolar nasal /n/ — N as in "night"; first element in prenasalized consonants

[ⁿd]

Prenasalized voiced alveolar stop /ⁿd/ — nasal onset fused with alveolar stop; a single phoneme

[ᵑɡ]

Prenasalized voiced velar stop /ᵑɡ/ — a single phoneme; also the velar nasal /ŋ/ in some contexts; Tswana: ngwe (one)

[ᵑk]

Prenasalized voiceless velar stop /ᵑk/ — nasal onset before the k stop; a Bantu characteristic

[ⁿt]

Prenasalized voiceless alveolar stop /ⁿt/ — a single phoneme fusing nasal onset with t stop

nts

[ⁿts]

Prenasalized alveolar affricate /ⁿts/ — nasal onset before the ts affricate; a complex but characteristic Setswana phoneme

[p]

Voiceless bilabial stop /p/ — P as in "pin"

[pʰ]

Aspirated voiceless bilabial stop /pʰ/ — P with a strong puff of air

[r]

Alveolar trill or flap /r/ or /ɾ/ — R as in "red"

[s]

Voiceless alveolar fricative /s/ — S as in "sun"; Tswana: seswai (eight) begins with this consonant

[ʃ]

Voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ — SH as in "shoe"; a digraph representing a single phoneme

[sw]

Labialized alveolar fricative /sw/ — s with simultaneous lip-rounding

[t]

Voiceless alveolar stop /t/ — T as in "top"

[tʰ]

Aspirated voiceless alveolar stop /tʰ/ — T with a strong puff of air; not the English TH sound

tsw

[tsw]

Labialized alveolar affricate /tsw/ — the ts affricate with simultaneous lip-rounding; appears in the language name Se-tswana

[w]

Labio-velar approximant /w/ — W as in "water"

[j]

Palatal approximant /j/ — Y as in "yes"

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[1]

One in Tswana — ngwe

[2]

Two in Tswana — bedi

[3]

Three in Tswana — raro (cognate with Zulu -thathu, Swahili -tatu — the pan-Bantu three root)

[4]

Four in Tswana — ne

[5]

Five in Tswana — tlhano (features the distinctive lateral affricate tlh /tɬ/; cognate with Tsonga ntlhanu, Zulu hlanu)

[6]

Six in Tswana — thataro

[7]

Seven in Tswana — supa

[8]

Eight in Tswana — seswai

[9]

Nine in Tswana — robong

[10]

Ten in Tswana — lesome (the Tswana reflex of the pan-Bantu ten root *-kumi; cognate with Swahili kumi, Zulu ishumi, Tumbuka khumi)

[a]

[b]

[d]

[ɛ]

[f]

[ɡ]

[h]

[i]

[dʒ]

[k]

[kx]

[kʰ]

[l]

[m]

[mm]

[n]

[ⁿd]

[ᵑɡ]

[ᵑk]

[ⁿt]

Nts

[ⁿts]

[ɔ]

[p]

[pʰ]

[r]

[s]

[ʃ]

[sw]

[t]

[tʰ]

Tlh

[tɬ]

Tsh

[tsʰ]

Tsw

[tsw]

[u]

[w]

[j]

Expand All Collapse All

What does Setswana mean?

Is Setswana the same as Tswana?

Where is Setswana spoken?

What are the Sotho-Tswana languages?

What is the tlh sound in Setswana?

What is the official status of Setswana?

What writing system does Setswana use?

What is the noun class system in Setswana?

References:

[1] Stellenbosch University (SU), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. "African Languages — Setswana Language Studies". Retrieved from Stellenbosch University — African Languages
[2] Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC). "Setswana Electoral Materials — Official Language Information". Retrieved from Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC)
[3] Rhodes University, Department of Linguistics and English Language. "Sotho-Tswana Language Group — Setswana Studies". Retrieved from Rhodes University — Linguistics Department