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The phonology of Sesotho and those of the other Sotho–Tswana languages are radically different from those of "older" or more "stereotypical" Bantu languages. Modern Sesotho in particular has very mixed origins (due to the influence of Difaqane refugees) inheriting many words and from non-Sotho–Tswana languages.
There are in total 39 consonantal Other authors may choose to include the labialized consonants as contrastive phonemes, potentially increasing the number by 26 to 75. Labialization does create , as is exemplified by the short passive suffix, but different authors seem to be divided on whether or not these should be counted as authentic phonemes (especially since Sotho–Tswana-type labialization caused by vowel "absorption" is a fairly strange and rare process).
Besides the passives, there are still numerous minimal pairs differing only in the labialization of a single consonant (note that each of the following pairs has similar tonal patterns):
Normal consonants and their labialised forms do not contrast before back vowels (that is, a labialized consonant will lose its labialization before a back vowel).
Note that some Sotho–Tswana languages do have prenasalized consonants, or at least have less strict and varied nasalization rules, but this is almost certainly as a result of influence from neighbouring non-Sotho–Tswana languages.
Thus isiZulu words such as e ntabeni ('on the mountain'), i mpuphu ('flour'), ezi nkulu ('the big ones'), ukula nda ('to fetch'), ukula mba ('to become hungry'), and ukuthe nga ('to buy') are to Sesotho th abeng , phofo, tse kgolo, ho la ta, ho la pa, and ho re ka, respectively (with the same meanings).This is further intensified by the law of nasalization and nasal homogeneity, making derived and imported words have syllabic nasals followed by homogeneous consonants, instead of prenasalized consonants.
Another important sound change in Sesotho which distinguishes it from almost all other Sotho–Tswana languages and dialects is the chain shift from and to and (the shift of to is not yet complete).
In certain respects, however, Sesotho is more conservative than other Sotho–Tswana languages. For example, the language still retains the difference in pronunciation between , , and .Strictly speaking, should be an allophone of found only when is nasalized. However, possibly due to the mixed origins of Sesotho, there are several instances of appearing without nasalization (as is the case in Setswana) or of failing to nasalize when the nasalizing consonant is not visible (such as when forming polysyllabic class 9 nouns).
Thus one finds:
where the nasalization is applied in the first noun but not the second.
Many other Sotho–Tswana languages have lost the fricative , and some Northern Sotho languages, possibly influenced by Tshivenda, have also lost the lateral affricate and pronounce all three historical consonants as (they have also lost the distinction between and — thus, for example, speakers of the Northern Sotho language commonly called Setlokwa call their language "Setokwa").A further collapse occurred in Silozi — which has lost the generally unusual distinction between plain and aspirated consonants. Thus Sesotho , , , , and all map to the single Silozi phoneme .
The existence of (lightly) ejective consonants (all unvoiced unaspirated stop consonant) is very strange for a Bantu language and is thought to be due to Khoisan influence. These consonants occur in the Sotho–Tswana and Nguni languages (being over four times more common in Southern Africa than anywhere else in the world), and the ejective quality is strongest in isiXhosa, which has been greatly influenced by Khoisan phonology.
As with most other Bantu languages, almost all palatal and postalveolar consonants are due to some form of palatalization or other related phenomena which result from a (usually palatal) approximant or vowel being "absorbed" into another consonant (with a possible subsequent nasalization).
The Southern Bantu languages have lost the Bantu distinction between long and short vowels. In Sesotho the long vowels have simply been shortened without any other effects on the syllables; while sequences of two dissimilar vowels have usually resulted in the first vowel being "absorbed" into the preceding consonant, and causing changes such as labialization and palatalization.
As with most Southern African Bantu languages, the "composite" or "secondary" vowels *e and *o have become and . These usually behave as two phonemes (conditioned by vowel harmony), although there are enough exceptions to justify the claim that they have become four separate phonemes in the Sotho–Tswana languages.
Additionally, the first-degree (or "superclose", "heavy") and second-degree vowels have not merged as in many other Bantu languages, resulting in a total of 9 phonemic vowels.
Almost uniquely among the Sotho–Tswana languages, Sesotho has adopted clicks.Urban varieties of Pedi language are currently acquiring clicks as well. There is one place of articulation, alveolar click, and three manners and phonations: tenuis, aspirated, and nasalized. These most probably came with loanwords from the Khoisan and Nguni languages, though they also exist in various words which don't exist in these languages and in various ideophones.
These clicks also appear in environments which are rare or non-existent in the Nguni and Khoisan languages, such as a syllabic nasal followed by a nasalized click ( written , as in nnqane 'that other side'), a syllabic nasal followed by a tenuis click (, also written , as in senqanqane 'frog'; this is not the same as the prenasalized radical click written in the Nguni languages), and a syllabic nasal followed by an aspirated click ( written , as in seqhenqha 'hunk').
| + Vowels‡The IPA symbols used for the near-close vowels in this and related articles are different from those that are often used in the literature. Often, the symbols and are used instead of the standard and , but they represent the close central unrounded vowel and the close central rounded vowel, respectively, in modern IPA. | |
| { class = "wikitable" style = "float: left" !colspan="2" | |
| b oot | |
| p ut | |
| y awn (RP, SAE) | |
| b oard | |
| spa | |
Sesotho makes a three-way distinction between lightly ejective, aspirated and voiced consonant stop consonant in several places of articulation.
| + Stops‡ !Place of articulation | Example |
| pitsa ('cooking pot') | |
| phuputso ('investigation') | |
| le bese ('milk') | |
| bo tala ('greenness') | |
| tharollo ('solution') | |
| Mo dimo ('God') | |
| boi karabelo ('responsibility') | |
| le kho kho ('pap baked onto the pot') |
Sesotho possesses four simple nasal stop. All of these can be syllabic and the syllabic velar nasal may also appear at the end of words.
| + Nasals‡ !Place of articulation | Example |
| ho ma maretsa ('to glue') | |
| mpa ('stomach') | |
| le na neo ('programme') | |
| nna ('I') | |
| ho nyala ('to marry') | |
| nnyeo ('so-and-so') | |
| le ngolo ('letter') | |
| ho nka ('to take') |
The following occur. All instances of and most probably come from original close , , , and vowels or Proto-Bantu *u, *i, *û, and *î (under certain circumstances).
Note that when appears as part of a syllable onset this actually indicates that the consonant is labialized.
| + Approximants‡ !Place of articulation | Example |
| se wa ('epidemic') | |
| se lepe ('axe') | |
| mo llo ('fire') | |
| ho tsama ya ('to walk') |
The following fricatives occur. The glottal fricative is often voiced between vowels, making it barely noticeable.There are many historical instances in Sesotho which show an occasional confusion between the phonemes , , and (no consonant). For example, the verb -aha ('build') often appears as -haha (cf. Silozi -yaha), though comparison with other languages (Setswana -aga, Nguni -akha, etc.) reveals its true form.
Other examples include the changing of the original verbal focus marker *-ya- to -a-; the second person singular objectival concord ( -o-, but Setswana -go- and Nguni -ku-); the verb -laya ('to correct'); its Proto-Bantu form *-dag- should have given -laa, which does occur as a variant); verbs which end in the form -iya (e.g. -siya 'leave behind', -diya 'cause to fall', etc.) being alternatively rendered as -ia; lee (egg; Proto-Bantu *di-gi) often appearing as lehe; etc. It should also be noted that many verbal derivatives treat verbs ending with -ya as if they end with -a (that is, the suffix replaces the entire -ya, not just the final -a).
| + Fricatives‡ !Place of articulation | Example |
| ho fumana ('to find') | |
| Se sotho | |
| Mo shwe shwe ('Moshoeshoe I') | |
| mo jalefa ('heir | |
| ho hla hloba ('to examine') | |
| se kgo ('spider') | |
| ho a ha ('to build') |
There is one trill consonant. Originally, this was an alveolar rolled lingual, but today most individuals pronounce it at the back of the tongue, usually at the uvular position. The uvular pronunciation is largely attributed to the influence of French language missionaries at Morija in Lesotho. Just like the French version, the position of this consonant is somewhat unstable and often varies even in individuals, but it generally differs from the "r"'s of most other South African language communities. The most stereotypical French-like pronunciations are found in certain rural areas of Lesotho, as well as some areas of Soweto (where this has affected the pronunciation of Tsotsitaal).
| + Trill‡ !Place of articulation | IPA !Notes | Example | |||
| alveolar | /r/ | can also be a tap | similar to the spanish perr o | r | ke.a kea o rata ('I love you') |
| mo ri ri ('hair') |
Sesotho has a relatively large number of affricates. The velar affricate, which was standard in Sesotho until the early 20th century, now only occurs in some communities as an alternative to the more common velar fricative.In Setswana and most Northern Sotho languages these are two different phonemes. The Setswana velar fricative corresponds to the Sesotho glottal fricative, and the velar affricate corresponds to the Sesotho velar fricative/affricate, but before the close vowel u Setswana regularly uses the unvoiced glottal fricative.
| + Affricates‡ !Place of articulation | Example |
| ho tsoko tsa ('to rinse') | |
| ho tshoha ('to become frightened') | |
| ho tlatsa ('to fill') | |
| tlhaho ('nature') | |
| n tja ('dog') | |
| ho n tjhafatsa ('to renew') | |
| ho ja ('to eat') | |
| kgale ('a long time ago') |
The following occur.For completeness, this table uses a narrower (more detailed) transcription of clicks than usual in Bantu languages, but the rest of this article and other articles in the series use the less detailed system of click transcription. See the full consonant table above to see the usual transcriptions. In common speech they are sometimes substituted with dental clicks. Even in standard Sesotho the nasal click is usually substituted with the tenuis click. is also used to indicate a syllabic nasal followed by an ejective click (), while is used for a syllabic nasal followed by a nasal click ().
| + Clicks‡ !Place of articulation | Example |
| ho qo qa ('to chat') | |
| ho nqosa ('to accuse') | |
| le qheku ('an elderly person') |
The following heterorganic compounds occur. They are often substituted with other consonants, although there are a few instances when some of them are phonemic and not just allophonic. These are not considered consonant clusters.
In non-standard speech these may be pronounced in a variety of ways. bj may be pronounced (followed by a palatal glide) and pj may be pronounced . pj may also sometimes be pronounced , which may alternatively be written ptj, though this is not to be considered standard.
| + Heterorganic compounds‡ !Place of articulation | Example |
| ho pjatla ('to cook well;) | |
| m pjhe ('ostrich') | |
| ho bjarana ('to break apart') | |
| ho bo fjwa ('to be tied') |
The possible syllables are:
Additionally, the following phonotactic restrictions apply:
Syllabic l occurs only due to a vowel being elided between two l's:
There are no contrastive long vowels in Sesotho, the rule being that juxtaposed vowels form separate syllables (which may sound like long vowels with undulating tones during natural fast speech).This is not to say that the glottal stop is part of the phoneme inventory of Sesotho, nor is it correct to say that the language has diphthongs or triphthongs (or even longer: h a o a e utlwa 'you did not hear it'). Sequences of vowels may be pronounced with hiatus (thus they are not diphthongs), but in fast speech they may simply flow into each other (thus the glottal stop is not a contrastive phoneme). Originally there might have been a consonant between vowels which was eventually elided that prevented coalescence or other phonological processes (Proto-Bantu *g, and sometimes *j).
Other Bantu languages have rules against vowel juxtaposition, often inserting an intermediate approximant if necessary.
Nasalization (alternatively Nasal permutation or Strengthening) is a process in Bantu languages by which, in certain circumstances, a prefixed nasal becomes assimilated to a succeeding consonant and causes changes in the form of the phone to which it is prefixed. In the Sesotho language series of articles it is indicated by .
In Sesotho it is a fortition process and usually occurs in the formation of class 9 and 10 nouns, in the use of the objectival concord of the first person singular, in the use of the adjectival and enumerative concords of some noun classes, and in the forming of reflexive verbs (with the reflexive prefix).
Very roughly speaking, voiced consonants become devoiced and fricatives (except Historically ( was an affricate (this still appears as a variation) and was therefore not an exception.
Some individuals nasalize and to (possibly by analogy with the Setswana hu nasalizing to khu) and sometimes even (perhaps due to the unstable nature of the voiced , which is barely audible and may cause the syllable to sound as if it does not have an onset). Though this is certainly not to be considered standard, it is an understandable reaction to the frication ("weakening") of the affricate .
Vowels and the approximant get a in front of themStrangely, there are no polysyllabic verbs beginning with . The verb -ya cannot be used with an objectival concord (it may have an intransitive, locative, or instrumental import and an idiomatic passive, but is not transitive) and the approximant is removed in verbal derivations. There are also no adjectives beginning with or any other parts of speech which may be nasalized, so there are no instances of being nasalized.
Note that if a were to nasalize by getting a in front of it, the phonotactic restrictions and phonetic rules of the language would not allow the combination *. In Silozi, which has many verbs with word-initial (many of which correspond to Sesotho vowel verbs), nasalization of results in , which has collapsed from original Sotho–Tswana , , and . Since nasalization removes voicing and frication (and Sesotho palatalization preserves aspiration), one may then deduce that if Sesotho were to nasalize it would most probably become tj.
The syllabic nasal causing the change is usually dropped, except for monosyllabic stems and the first person objectival concord. Reflexive verbs don't show a nasal.
Other changes may occur due to contractions in verb derivations:
Nasal homogeneity consists of two points:
Palatalization is a process in certain Bantu languages where a consonant becomes a palatal consonant.
In Sesotho it usually occurs with the short form of passive verbs and the diminutives of nouns, adjectives, and relatives.
For example:
Alveolarization is a process whereby a consonant becomes an alveolar consonant. It occurs in noun diminutives, the diminutives of colour adjectives, and in the pronouns and concords of noun classes with a di- or diN- prefix. This results in either or .
Examples:
Other changes may occur due to phonological interactions in verbal derivatives:
The alveolarization which changes Sesotho to is by far the most commonly applied phonetic process in the language. It's regularly applied in the formation of some class 8 and 10 concords and in numerous verbal derivatives.
Velarization in Sesotho is a process whereby certain sounds become velar consonants due to the intrusion of an approximant. It occurs with verb passives, noun diminutives, the diminutives of relatives, and the formation of some class 1 and 3 prefixes.
For example:
There are two primary types of regular vowel elision:
For example:
Vowel raising is an uncommon form of vowel harmony where a non-open vowel (i.e. any vowel other than ) is raised in position by a following vowel (in the same phonological word) at a higher position. The first variety — in which the open-mid vowels become close-mid — is commonly found in most Southern African Bantu languages (where the Proto-Bantu "mixed" vowels have separated). In the 9-vowel Sotho–Tswana languages, a much less common process also occurs where the near-close vowels become raised to a position slightly lower than the close vowels (closer to the English b eat and b oot than the very high Sesotho vowels i and u) without ATR (or, alternatively, with both +ATR and +RTR).
These changes are usually recursive to varying depths within the word, though, being a left spreading rule, it is often bounded by the difficulty of "foreseeing" the raising syllable:
Additionally, a right-spreading form occurs when a close-mid vowel is on the penultimate syllable (that is, the stressed syllable) and, due to some inflection or derivational process, is followed by an open-mid vowel. In this case the vowel on the final syllable is raised. This does not happen if the penultimate syllable is close ( or ().
These vowels can occur phonemically, however, and may thus be considered to be separate phonemes:
The difficulty lies in acknowledging the role of ATR in this process. In the past, when they were recognised at all, they were often viewed as simply an extra vowel height, and the choice of symbols differed between authors since standard IPA does not recognise the possibility of so many contrastive close vowel heights.
when immediately followed by a syllable containing the close vowels or . Unlike the mid vowel raising this processes is not iterative and is only caused directly by the close vowels (it cannot be caused by any hidden vowels or by other raised vowels).
Labialization is a modification of a consonant due to the action of a bilabial element which persists throughout the articulation of the consonant and is not merely a following semivowel. This labialization results in the consonant being pronounced with rounded lipsIn Sesotho, when a consonant is followed by a vowel, the shape of the lips is changed to resemble the shape of the vowel while the consonant is being pronounced (or even before, when the syllable is the first after a pause) with the shaping being more severe the higher the vowel height. Thus, when a consonant is followed by a back vowel the lips are rounded when pronouncing the consonant, and the lips are spread when pronouncing a consonant followed by a front vowel. Labialization may be explained by saying that, for some reason, the lips are rounded in anticipation of a back vowel that is never pronounced.
This also explains why labialization disappears before back vowels. Since the lips will already be rounded anyway in anticipation of the following vowel, there is no way to distinguish between a labialized consonant before a back vowel and a normal consonant before a back vowel (this is similar to the situation in English where — written as — is pronounced in words such as whom, whole, and whore).
Note that it is also possible for labialization to simply disappear, even if any other modification of the consonant caused as a side-effect of labialization remains. One example is the tentative evolution of modern Sesotho ntja ('dog') from Proto-Bantu *N-bua:
(but, in Sesotho, with no velarization) and with attenuated high frequencies (especially noticeable with fricatives and aspirated consonants).
It may be traced to an original or being "absorbed" into the preceding consonant when the syllable is followed by another vowel. The consonant is labialized and the transition from the labialized syllable onset to the syllable nucleus vowel sounds like a bilabial semivowel (or, alternatively, like a diphthong). Unlike in languages such as Chishona and Tshivenda, Sesotho labialization does not result in "whistling" of any consonants.
Almost all consonants may be labialized (indicated in the orthography by following the symbol with ), the exceptions being labial stops and fricatives (which become palatalized), the bilabial and palatal nasals (which become velarized), and the voiced alveolar allophone of (which would become alveolarized instead). Additionally, syllabic nasals (where nasalization results in a labialized instead) and the syllabic (which is always followed by the non-syllabic ) are never directly labialized. Note that the unvoiced heterorganic doubled articulant fricative only occurs labialized (only as ).
Due to the inherent bilabial semivowel, labialized consonants never appear before back vowels:
Except for the second form of the first demonstrative pronoun, certain formations involving certain enclitics, polysyllabic ideophones, most compounds, and a handful of other words, there is only one main stress falling on the penult.
The stressed syllable is slightly longer and has a falling tone. Unlike in English, stress does not affect vowel quality or height.
This type of stress system occurs in most of those Eastern and Southern Bantu languages which have lost contrastive vowel length.
The second form of the first demonstrative pronoun has the stress on the final syllable. Some proclitics can leave the stress of the original word in place, causing the resultant word to have the stress at the antepenultimate syllable (or even earlier, if the enclitics are compounded). Ideophones, which tend to not obey the phonetic laws which the rest of the language abides by, may also have irregular stress.
There is even at least one minimal pair: the adverb fela ('only') has regular stress, while the conjunctive fela ('but') (like many other conjunctives) has stress on the final syllable. This is certainly not enough evidence to justify making the claim that Sesotho is a stress accent language, though.
Because the stress falls on the penultimate syllable, Sesotho, like other Bantu languages (and unlike many closely allied Niger–Congo languages), tends to avoid monosyllabic words and often employs certain prefixes and suffixes to make the word disyllabic (such as the syllabic nasal in front of class 9 nouns with monosyllabic stems, etc.).
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