Tswa, or XiTswa is a South-Eastern Bantu language

Bantu languages

The Bantu languages constitute a traditional sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages. There are about 250 Bantu languages by the criterion of mutual intelligibility, though the distinction between language and dialect is often unclear, and Ethnologue counts 535 languages...

 in Southern Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

. Its closest relatives are Ronga

Ronga

Ronga is a South-Eastern Bantu language in the Tswa–Ronga family spoken just South of Maputo in Mozambique. It extends a little into South Africa...

 and Tsonga

Tsonga

Tsonga may refer to:* Tsonga language, a Bantu language spoken in southern Africa* Tsonga people, a large group of people living mainly in southern Mozambique* Jo-Wilfried Tsonga , French tennis player...

, the three forming the Tswa–Ronga family of languages.

Tswa is mainly spoken in the rural areas west of Inhambane

Inhambane

Inhambane, Terra de Boa Gente is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and according to the 2008 census has a population of 65,837, growing from the 1997 census of 54,157...

. Its largest dialect, Hlengwe, extends westwards to Southern Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

. Other dialects include Dzivi, Mhandla and the smaller Nwanati (Makwakwa), south of the Hlengwe and the Nzonge (Gwambe) between the Dzivi and Chopi

Chopi

The Chopi are an ethnic group of Mozambique. They have traditionally lived primarily in the Zavala region of southern Mozambique, in the Inhambane Province. They traditionally lived a life of subsistence agriculture, traditionally living a rural existence, although many were displaced or killed in...

. According to some estimates, there are just over 1 million BaTswa, but not all can speak the Tswa language. Many Mozambicans, including census officials, often consider it a dialect of 'Shangaan', another term for Tsonga.

Alphabet

Tswa uses a variant of the Latin alphabet previously used for Tsonga. It is partly based on those developed by the Portuguese colonists and Methodist missionaries to the region. The first major transliterator for the Tswa language into English was the Englishman J. A. Persson, who consolidated the alphabet for Tswa specifically.

Letter:

A

B

C

D

E

G

H

[I

J

K

L

M

N

Ṅ

O

P

R

S

Ŝ

T

U

V

W

X

Y

Z

Ẑ

Value:

a

b~β

tʃ

d

e~ɛ

ɡ

h

i

dʒ

k

l

m

n

ŋ

ɔ~o

p

r

s

ʂ

t

u

v

w

ʃ

j

z

ʐ

The letter 'q' is sometimes used in words imported from Zulu, in which case it is pronounced

Pronunciation

Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect....

in various ways, the clicks of Zulu not being native to the Tswa language. There are also several compounds, which include lateral fricatives.

Like most Bantu languages, all syllables end in vowels or nasals, but tone is more important than in most, though it is not commonly written.

Basics of grammar

Tswa is a Bantu language and thus has a noun class system and verbal system easily recognisable to Bantu speakers throughout Eastern and Southern Africa. In general the system is the same as in most Bantu languages. The following details are more specific.

Noun class system

Instead of genders there are eight classes which have a similar but more complex role, where each noun begins with a class prefix as below:

Class Number	Singular	Plural	Uses
1	mu-	ba-	mainly nouns for people
2	mu-	mi-	impersonal objects
3	gi-	ma-	impersonal objects, particularly fruit
4	xi-	ẑi-	tools, means, languages, diminutives, defects, verbal nouns
5	yi-	ti-	particularly nouns for animals
6	li-	ti-	mental qualities, states of mind, verbal nouns
7	wu-	-	abstract nouns
8	ku	-	infinitives

Verbal systems

Tswa verbs change according to status (affirmative/negative), mood (indicative/potential), aspect, tense, number, person and class.
The usual three persons used in the Bantu group apply, and the first and second persons plural are maximally inclusive. The class link is usually written as a separate word, as in Tsonga and Ronga. Otherwise the paradigm is organised as follows:

Affirmative

Indicative:

Present

Present continuous

Past

Past continuous

Perfect

Pluperfect

Future

Future perfect

Potential:

Present

Past

Perfect

Negative

Indicative:

Present

Past

Past continuous

Perfect

Pluperfect

Future

Future Perfect

Potential:

Present

Past

Perfect

Grammatical Peculiarities of Linguistic Interest

Though Tswa does have a subjunctive, it does not change the standard '-a' at the end of a verb to an '-e' like most of the surrounding Bantu languages, unless it is used as an implied imperative in a dependent clause – a peculiarity it shares with the Tsonga and Ronga. The 'xi-' class, unlike its seeming equivalents in other languages, more closely mirrors the Nguni 'isi-' in that it has a strongly diminutive use.