Tswa language
Bantu language spoken in southern Mozambique / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Tswa language?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
SHOW ALL QUESTIONS
"Dzonga" redirects here. Not to be confused with Dzongkha.
Tswa (Xitswa) is a South-Eastern Bantu language in Southern Mozambique. Its closest relatives are Ronga and Tsonga, the three forming the Tswa–Ronga family of languages.
Quick Facts Native to, Native speakers ...
Tswa | |
---|---|
Xitswa | |
Native to | Mozambique |
Native speakers | 1.2 million (2006)[1] |
Language codes | |
ISO 639-3 | tsc |
Glottolog | tswa1255 |
S.51,511 [2] | |
Linguasphere | 99-AUT-da (shi-Tswa) incl. varieties 99-AUT-daa...-dae + 99-AUT-db (shi-Hlengwe) incl. varieties 99-AUT-dba...-dbb |
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. |
Close
Tswa is mainly spoken in the rural areas west of Inhambane. Its largest dialect, Hlengwe, extends westwards to Southern Zimbabwe; Maho (2009) considers this to be a distinct language. The other principal dialects are Dzibi (Dzivi) and Dzonga. According to some estimates, there are perhaps more than one million BaTswa, however not all can communicate in Tswa. Many Mozambicans, including census takers, regard it as a dialect of Tsonga.