South Africa has a rich and diverse linguistic heritage. The country boasts 12 official languages and a multilingual population fluent in at least two. Furthermore, South Africa has about 34 historically established languages.
The mix of languages spoken in South Africa is of huge cultural significance.
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Let's delve into the fascinating world of South African languages, exploring their history, distribution, and significance.
Historical Context
The origin of language in South Africa dates back further than every other location on Earth because the African continent served as the birthplace of modern humans. Clearly, over such a vast period of time, many languages have come and gone. However, we can still see ancient linguistic traces in some of the indigenous languages spoken in South Africa today.
From the 13th century onwards, South Africa’s linguistic map received influence from the native tongues of Europe. Portuguese explorers wished to navigate around Africa to find a new route to China. While Portugal’s explorers focused mainly on mapping the coastline, representatives of the Dutch East India Company harbored greedy intentions when they founded a trading post in Cape Town in 1652. The English and Dutch vied for control of South African resources and worked toward establishing their languages in South Africa, often at the expense of native South African languages.
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During colonialism and apartheid, official languages were European - Dutch, English and Afrikaans. African languages, spoken by at least 80% of the people, were ignored. Well, until the mid-1990s, the official languages of South Africa were Dutch, Afrikaans and English-despite African languages being spoken by more than 80% of the population.
In 1996, former President Nelson Mandela signed 11 languages into the Constitution of South Africa on December 16. Now, there are 11 official languages in South Africa, nine of which are African languages from the Bantu family. They were brought from West Africa as early as 3000 BCE.
Language Families in South Africa
South African languages are classified into two families: Niger-Congo and Indo-European languages. South Africa’s official languages include nine native African tongues. They all fit into the Niger-Congo language family but are split into subgroups. South Africa’s imported languages, English and Afrikaans, fall into the Indo-European language family.
The Nguni-Tsonga language subgroup includes IsiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu, siSwati, and Xitsonga. These languages then divide into even smaller groups. For example, locals consider IsiZulu, isiXhosa, isiNdebele, and siSwati as Nguni languages, but Xitsonga remains the lone Tswa-Ronga tongue.
The 12 Official Languages of South Africa
While English serves as the language of business and official settings, South Africa boasts a remarkable linguistic diversity. The country recognizes 12 official languages, including African languages like Zulu, Xhosa, and Sotho, as well as Afrikaans and English.
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Let's explore each official language of South Africa in turn:
- IsiZulu: Is the most widely spoken language in South Africa, the first language of close to a quarter of the population. According to the census, it’s the home language of almost a quarter (24.4%) of the population. The 14,613,202 people who speak isiZulu make up 24.4% of the country’s population. It is the dominant language of KwaZulu-Natal. Almost two-thirds (68.2%) of isiZulu-speaking people live in KwaZulu-Natal and nearly a quarter (23%) in Gauteng.
- The most widely spoken of the official languages of South Africa (when ranked by number of native speakers), Zulu is a Southern Bantu language.
- Speakers are clustered in the KwaZulu-Natal province in southeastern South Africa.
- Interestingly, the standard Zulu that is used in schools differs somewhat from urban Zulu, which you’re more likely to hear spoken in city streets.
- IsiXhosa: Is the dominant language of the Eastern Cape, isiXhosa is also the second-largest language in South Africa after isiZulu. The 9,786,928 people who speak isiXhosa make up 16.3% of the country’s population. Most (58.7%) isiXhosa speakers live in the Eastern Cape, with nearly a quarter (23%) in the Western Cape. IsiXhosa is the majority language in the Eastern Cape, where it is spoken by 81.8% of the population.
- The second most widely spoken language of South Africa is Xhosa.
- Xhosa is a click language, with around 10% of basic vocabulary containing one of three distinct click consonants.
- Afrikaans: Evolved out of a 17th-century Dutch dialect introduced to South Africa in 1652 when the Dutch first colonised the Cape of Good Hope. It became an official language with the Official Languages of the Union Act of 1925. The 6,365,488 people who speak Afrikaans make up 10.6% of the country’s population. Most Afrikaans speakers (46.4%) live in the Western Cape, and 17.7% in Gauteng. Afrikaans is the majority language of the Northern Cape (spoken by 54.6% of the provincial population) and the largest in the Western Cape (41.2%).
- One result of the colonisation of South Africa was the birth of Afrikaans.
- Today, Afrikaans is the third most natively spoken SA language.
- English: Is a prominent language in South African public life, widely used in government, business and the media. In 1910 English and Dutch were declared the official languages of the new Union of South Africa, a dominion of Britain. The 5,228,301 people who speak English make up 8.7% of the country’s population. A third (33%) of English speakers live in KwaZulu-Natal, another 30.2% in the Western Cape and a quarter (25.6%) in Gauteng. English is the second-largest language (14.4% of the provincial population) in KwaZulu-Natal after isiZulu (80%).
- Fourth on the list of the main languages in South Africa is English, with just shy of 4.9 million speakers.
- Location-wise, English speakers in South Africa are concentrated around urban and coastal areas across the country.
- Sepedi: The 1993 interim Constitution named the language Sesotho sa Leboa. It was then changed to Sepedi in the final Constitution of 1996. Sepedi is South Africa’s third-largest African language after isiZulu and isiXhosa, mainly spoken in Limpopo. The 5,972,255 people who speak Sepedi make up 10% of the total population. Sepedi is the majority language in Limpopo, spoken by 55.5% of the provincial population.
- Another South Africa official language is Sesotho sa Leboa, also known as Northern Sotho.
- Sesotho sa Leboa speakers are found mainly in northeastern South Africa.
- Setswana: The 4,972,787 people who speak Setswana make up 8.3% of the total population. More than half (53.7%) of Setswana speakers live in North West, nearly a third (30.5%) in Gauteng, and close on a tenth (9.2%) in the Northern Cape. Another 3.1% live in the Free State. Setswana is the majority language in North West, spoken by 72.8% of the provincial population.
- Setwsana is spoken mainly in northern South Africa, as well as in Cape Town, with a few pockets of speakers dotted around other areas of the country too.
- Also called Tswana, this Bantu language is spoken mainly in northwestern South Africa, including in the city of Pretoria.
- There, the language contains so much slang that it is known as Pretoria Sotho. That version of Setswana is the principal language of Pretoria and is unique to the city.
- Sesotho: The 4,678,964 people who speak Sesotho make up 7.8% of the total population. Most of the Sesotho-speaking population is almost equally divided between the Free State (44.2%) and Gauteng (40.6%). It is the majority language in the Free State, where 72.3% of the population are Sesotho-speakers.
- Sesotho is a South African language with over 3.8 million first language speakers in South Africa.
- Sesotho (or Sotho) has much in common linguistically with Setswana.
- Xitsonga: The 2,784,279 people who speak Xitsonga make up 4.7% of the country’s population. Nearly two-fifths (39.4%) of Xitsonga-speaking people live in Limpopo, over a third (36.6%) in Gauteng, 19% in Mpumalanga and 4% in North West. Xitsonga is the third-largest language in Limpopo (spoken by 17.3% of the provincial population) after Sepedi (55.5%) and Tshivenda (17.4%).
- Tsonga, also called Xitsonga, has over 2.2 million native speakers in South Africa.
- SiSwati: Is mostly spoken in Mpumalanga, whose curved eastern border almost encircles Eswatini, a country where it is the major language. The 1,692,719 people who speak siSwati make up 2.8% of the total population. The vast majority of siSwati speakers (89.7%) live in Mpumalanga, with the remaining third (30.5%) in Gauteng.
- Another of the official SA languages, Swati (also called Swazi, and called siSwati by its speakers) has just short of 1.3 million native speakers in South Africa.
- Tshivenda: Is something of a standalone among South Africa’s major African languages, falling into the broader Sotho-Makua-Venda subfamily but not part of the Sotho group. The 1,480,565 people who speak Tshivenda make up 2.5% of the total population. Close to three quarters (74.6%) of Tshivenda speakers live in Limpopo and almost a quarter (23.2%) in Gauteng. Tshivenda is the second-largest language in Limpopo, spoken by 17.4% of the provincial population.
- Tshivenḓa, which is also referred to as Venḓa is another of South Africa’s Bantu languages.
- With 1.2 million speakers, it is the tenth most spoken of all South African languages.
- IsiNdebele: It is part of the broader Nguni-Tsonga language subfamily, which it shares with isiNdebele, isiXhosa, isiZulu and siSwati. The 1,044,377 people who speak isiNdebele make up just 1.7% of the country’s population.
- The last on our list of official South Africa languages is Ndebele.
- Another language that uses clicks for consonants, Ndebele has just under 1.1 million first language speakers in South Africa.
Language Distribution by Population
Below is a list of all the languages in South Africa and the percentage of the population that speak it as a first language.
| Language | Subfamily | 1st language share | 1st language users | 2nd language users | All users |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Low Franconian | 13.5% | 6.9 million | 10.3 million | 17.2 million |
| English | West Germanic | 9.6% | 4.9 million | 11.0 million | 15.9 million |
| isiNdebele | Nguni | 2.1% | 1.1 million | 1.4 million | 2.5 million |
| isiXhosa | Nguni | 16% | 8.1 million | 11.0 million | 19.1 million |
| isiZulu | Nguni | 22.7% | 11.6 million | 15.7 million | 27.3 million |
| Sesotho | Sotho-Tswana | 7.6% | 3.8 million | 7.9 million | 11.8 million |
| Sesotho sa Leboa (Sepedi) | Sotho-Tswana | 9.1% | 4.6 million | 9.1 million | 13.8 million |
| Setswana | Sotho-Tswana | 8% | 4.1 million | 7.7 million | 11.8 millions |
| siSwati | Nguni | 2.5% | 1.3 million | 2.4 million | 3.7 million |
| Tshivenda | Sotho-Makua-Venda | 2.4% | 1.2 million | 1.7 million | 2.9 million |
| Xitsonga | Tswa-Ronga | 4.5% | 2.3 million | 3.4-million | 5.7 million |
Unofficial Languages
In addition to the official languages, a number of unofficial languages are spoken in South Africa, reflecting the country's diverse cultural heritage. These include:
- Khoekhoegowab
- !Orakobab
- Xirikobab
- N|uuki
- ǃXunthali
- Khwedam
- SiPhuthi
- IsiHlubi
- SiBhaca
- SiLala
- SiNhlangwini ("IsiZansi")
- SiNrebele (SiSumayela)
- IsiMpondo
- IsiMpondomise/IsiMpondomse
- KheLobedu
- SePulana
- HiPai
- SeKutswe
- SeṰokwa
- SeHananwa
- SiThonga
- SiLaNgomane
- SheKgalagari
- XiRhonga
- SeKopa (Sekgaga)
Sadly, we are likely to see !Orakobab and Nǁng join the ranks of South Africa’s lost languages very soon, if they haven’t already become extinct. Thankfully, the South African language Khoekhoegowab is faring somewhat better. Also called Nama and Damara, the language has around 167,000 native speakers currently, spread across both South African and Namibia (where it is a national language and used in public administration as well as education up to university level).
Census 2022 estimates that South African Sign Language is used by fewer than 10,000 people - way under 0.1% of the population. But other estimates put its number of users at around 600,000. The census also lists significant but unofficial home languages in South Africa. These are the Khoi, Nama and San languages (0.1%) of the Northern and Western Cape, and Namibia, as well as the Shona of Zimbabwe (1.2%), Malawi’s Chichewa (0.3%), and Portuguese (1.2%).
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Language is fluid. Code-switching is common. This simply means the use of one or more language in a single conversation. Here’s an example of code-switching overheard at a football match. An increasingly intermingled society means it’s less easy to assign a single language to a single population group.
Elsewhere in the world the ability to speak many languages is a sign of sophistication. But many are compelled to learn English and Afrikaans simply to get a job.
The contrast between first language and second language is shown in the maps at right. The second map reveals a couple of things. The first is how few people in South Africa speak just one language. The second is that while English is the dominant first language only in the cities - Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban - it is widely used as a second language across the country.
English- and Afrikaans-speaking people (mostly coloured, Indian/Asian and white people) tend not to have much ability in African languages, but are fairly fluent in each other’s language. For this reason, South African censuses ask people which two languages they speak.
All figures are from Census 2022 and refer to first language - the language most often spoken at home by people aged one and older. In the Eastern Cape isiXhosa is spoken by 82% of the population, according to the 2022 census. IsiZulu is the largest language in both KwaZulu-Natal, where 80% speak it, and Gauteng, where it makes up 23% of languages. Sesotho is the language of the Free State, spoken by 72% people there.
South Africa’s 12 official languages (and about 34 languages in total) offer a window into the country’s cultural and linguistic diversity. Take some time to learn more about the history and evolution of these South African languages and the places where they’re spoken.
