Xhosa Language: Nguni language of southern South Africa
Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa.
Xhosa is spoken by 7.6 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Xhosa is written using a Latin alphabet. Henry Hare Dugmore helped translate the entire Bible in Xhosa language. Xhosa has ten vowels.
| Xhosa | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| isiXhosa | ||||
| Native to | South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho | |||
| Region | Eastern Cape, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Northern Cape, Free State | |||
| Ethnicity | Xhosa people | |||
Native speakers | 8.2 million (2011 census) 11 million L2 speakers (2002) | |||
Niger–Congo
| ||||
| Latin (Xhosa alphabet) Xhosa Braille | ||||
| Signed Xhosa | ||||
| Official status | ||||
Official language in |  South Africa Zimbabwe | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-1 | xh | |||
| ISO 639-2 | xho | |||
| ISO 639-3 | xho | |||
| Glottolog | xhos1239 | |||
Guthrie code | S.41 | |||
| Linguasphere | 99-AUT-fa incl. | |||
 Proportion of the South African population that speaks Xhosa at home
| ||||
Xhosa is well known for its set of three major clicks.
References
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