Languages of South Africa

Proportion of the population that speaks a Nguni language as a first language.

0–20%   20–40%   40–60%

60–80%   80–100%

Was

Density of first-language speakers of Nguni languages.

<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

Proportion of the population that speaks a Sotho–Tswana language as a first language.

0–20%   20–40%   40–60%

60–80%   80–100%

Density of first-language speakers of Sotho–Tswana languages.

<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

Proportion of the population that speaks a West Germanic language as a first language.

0–20%   20–40%   40–60%

60–80%   80–100%

Density of first-language speakers of West Germanic languages.

<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

Factually in South Africa there are various tribes existing in different provinces as a result languages are dominant in their respective provinces which makes it a common language specifically to its province. Sesotho is dominant in Free State province, Setswana in Gauteng and North West provinces, Sepedi, Xitsonga and Tshivenda in Limpopo province, isiXhosa in Eastern/Western provinces. The common language is English as is spoken everywhere in South Africa as a medium of instruction. The common ethnic languages spoken by ethnic South Africans are dominantly Sesotho, Sepedi, Setswana, isiZulu and isiXhosa. English and Afrikaans speaking make up a minority group of South Africa however English is still used as a medium of instruction in the country. It is understood in most urban areas and is the dominant language in government and the media.[4]

The majority of South Africans speak a language from one of the two principal branches of the Bantu languages that are represented in South Africa: the Sotho–Tswana branch (which includes Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho and Tswana languages officially), or the Nguni branch (which includes Zulu, Xhosa, Swati and Ndebele languages officially). For each of the two groups, the languages within that group are for the most part intelligible to a native speaker of any other language within that group.

The indigenous African languages of South Africa which are official, and therefore dominant, can be divided into two geographical zones, with Nguni languages being predominant in the south-eastern third of the country (Indian Ocean coast) and Sotho-Tswana languages being predominant in the northern third of the country located further inland, as also in Botswana and Lesotho. Gauteng is the most linguistically heterogeneous province, with roughly equal numbers of Nguni, Sotho-Tswana and Indo-European language speakers, with Khoekhoe influence. This has resulted in the spread of an urban argot, Tsotsitaal or S'Camtho/Ringas, in large urban townships in the province, which has spread nationwide.

Tsotsitaal in its original form as "Flaaitaal" was based on Afrikaans, a language derived from Dutch, which is the most widely spoken language in the western half of the country (Western and Northern Cape). It is spoken as first language by approximately 61 percent of whites and 76 percent of Coloureds.[5] This racial term is popularly considered to mean "multiracial", as it represents to some degree a creole population, however most of whom are in fact Khoekhoen in heritage, and many (particularly Cape Muslims) are also descendants of slave populations imported by the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) from slaving posts in West and East Africa, and from its colonies of the Indian Ocean trade route.

Political exiles from the VOC colony of Batavia were also brought to the Cape, and these formed a major influencing force in the formation of Afrikaans, particularly in its Malay influence, and its early Jawi literature. Primary of these was the founder of Islam at the Cape, Sheikh Abadin Tadia Tjoessoep (known as Sheikh Yusuf). Hajji Yusuf was an Indonesian noble of royal descent, being the nephew of the Sultan Alauddin of Gowa, in today Makassar, Nusantara. Yusuf, along with 49 followers including two wives, two concubines and twelve children, were received in the Cape on 2 April 1694 by governor Simon van der Stel. They were housed on the farm Zandvliet, far outside of Cape Town, in an attempt to minimise his influence on the VOC's slaves. The plan failed however; Yusuf's settlement (called Macassar) soon became a sanctuary for slaves and it was here that the first cohesive Islamic community in South Africa was established. From here the message of Islam was disseminated to the slave community of Cape Town, and this population was foundational in the formation of Afrikaans. Of particular note is the Cape Muslim pioneering of the first Afrikaans literature, written in Arabic Afrikaans, which was an adaptation of the Jawi script, using Arabic letters to represent Afrikaans for both religious and quotidian purposes. Afrikaans, however, originates in the Dutch varieties spoken in Khoekhoe communities of ǁHuiǃgaeb (the Khoekhoe name for the region of Cape Town), as a trade language before and during the early stages of the VOC occupation. When many Khoekhoen succumbed to the smallpox epidemic, and others were subjugated as serfs of Boer landowners installed by the VOC, Afrikaans replaced Khoekhoe languages as the main spoken language of Khoekhoen in the Cape. It also became the de facto national language of the Griqua (Xiri or Griekwa) nation, which was also primarily a Khoekhoe group.

Afrikaans is also spoken widely across the centre and north of the country, as a second (or third or even fourth) language by Black South Africans (which, in South Africa, popularly means SiNtu-speaking populations) living in farming areas.

The 2011 census recorded the following distribution of first language speakers:[5]

Chapter 1 (Founding Provisions), Section 6 (Languages) of the Constitution of South Africa is the basis for government language policy.

The English text of the constitution signed by president Nelson Mandela on 16 December 1996 uses (mostly) the names of the languages expressed in those languages themselves. Sesotho refers to Southern Sotho, and isiNdebele refers to Southern Ndebele. Controversy surrounds the designation of Northern Sesotho as Sepedi (its main dialect) instead of the comprehensive Sesotho sa Leboa (which had been the wording in the Interim Constitution of 1993).[8] The spelling of Venda is also incorrectly rendered as Tshivenda instead of the correct Tshivenḓa.

The constitution mentions "sign language" in the generic sense rather than South African Sign Language specifically.

1. The official languages of the Republic are Pedi, Sotho, Tswana, Swati, Venḓa, Tsonga, Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Xhosa and Zulu.
2. Recognising the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of our people, the state must take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages.
3. (a) The national government and provincial governments may use any particular official languages for the purposes of government, taking into account usage, practicality, expense, regional circumstances and the balance of the needs and preferences of the population as a whole or in the province concerned; but the national government and each provincial government must use at least two official languages.
   (b) Municipalities must take into account the language usage and preferences of their residents.
4. The national government and provincial governments, by legislative and other measures, must regulate and monitor their use of official languages. Without detracting from the provisions of subsection (2), all official languages must enjoy parity of esteem and must be treated equitably.
5. A Pan South African Language Board established by national legislation must
   (a) promote, and create conditions for, the development and use of -
     (i) all official languages;
     (ii) the Khoi, Nama and San languages; and
     (iii) sign language; and
   (b) promote and ensure respect for -
     (i) all languages commonly used by communities in South Africa, including German, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Portuguese, Telugu, Tamil and Urdu; and
     (ii) Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit and other languages used for religious purposes in South Africa.
   — Constitution of the Republic of South Africa[9]

The following is from the preamble to the Constitution of South Africa:

• National Language Services
• Official names of South Africa
• Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities

• Introduction to the languages of South Africa
• Ethnologue Listing of South African Languages
• PanAfriL10n page on South Africa
• Statistics SA
• Hornberger, Nancy H. "Language Policy, Language Education, Language Rights: Indigenous, Immigrant, and International Perspectives." Language in Society, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Dec., 1998), pp. 439–458
• Alexander, Mary. The 11 languages of South Africa (January 2018)