Talk:Tswana language

Linguistic brush up
Someone mentioned that the 'g' is an alveolar fricative, not a velar one. is anyone certain about this? Additionally, does anyone know the jargon term for when a languages only phonemes can be consonant-vowel, i.e. a word can not end with a consonant or begin with a vowel => two consonants or two vowels cannot follow one another. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Reilyjanson (talk • contribs) 00:25, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

/x/  is indeed a velar fricative, but unlike the article stated, it is not pronounced further back that the "h" in "house". It's actually pronounced further forward with /h/ being a voiceless glottal fricative.

I'm not sure on a specific word for languages which have a consonant-vowel syllable structure, but it would be written CV. The CV represents the syllable structure of the language showing a compulsory consonant in the onset position and a compulsory vocalic rhyme meaning all syllables are open. CV also shows that two consonants or two vowels cannot occur next to each other. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.148.76.132 (talk) 16:27, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Question on Tsetse
Hey everyone,

I'm writing the article on Tsetse and have a question for those who know Tswana. As I understand the history of the word tsetse, it comes originally from Tswana, being the generic word for fly.

Does tsetse indeed mean fly in Tswana?

What is the relation between Tswana and Sotho?

(The latter word was suggested as a possible origin for the word tsetse and may be a different language or dialect or an old word for the same language.) I hope to confirm this origin since I don't know either language. Thanks for any help.

Please leave any info on this page: Talk:Tsetse fly.

thanks, Acuster 04:03, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Answered there.  &mdash; mark &#9998; 23:19, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Tonal?
Is it a tonal language? The article should mention this. Badagnani 07:18, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

It is not a tonal language to the extreme that Mandarin is, but tone plays a much stronger role in Setswana than it does in, say, English. reilyjanson

If tone is semantic how can it not be marked in writing? Or is it?--87.162.16.110 (talk) 04:36, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

A humble request
Would anyone happen to know the answer to the question here: Reference desk/Language? Please help. Thanks, Zain Ebrahim (talk) 17:42, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Setswana Syntax
Is there any chance of adding a section on Setswana Syntax and Verb Conjugation? 58.161.52.156 (talk) 04:47, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

Tswana phrases
I have moved most of the Tswana phrases which were found in this article up to and including this revision to Wiktionary, where I thought it would be more appropriate. The phrases can now be found here. - Llonydd (talk) 17:46, 16 May 2011 (UTC)

Number
The number of speakers of Setswana in Zimbabwe is said to be anything from 98,000 to 28,000. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.177.162.24 (talk) 13:19, 9 November 2017 (UTC)

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Noun Classes - Please clarify this !
In the table of noun classes, the numbers don't seem to have any relation to the numbers usually associated with Ntu language noun classes. This is extremely confusing, and especially makes comparsion with other languages impossible for anyone who isn't fluent. Please either remove the numbers from the table, or rewrite the table with singulars and plurals on separate rows and use the numbers normally with Ntu noun classes. ~ 2601:441:4400:1740:1573:97D0:F03D:1269 (talk) 04:05, 16 November 2020 (UTC)

What is mainagotlhe 102.219.27.230 (talk) 16:02, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

Rifilwe_2013
When was Tswana first spoke 160.19.36.32 (talk) 17:43, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Botlhale jwa diphologolo
4and to 6wheel off to go nthusa Mmikie Mouse 41.122.64.238 (talk) 04:29, 30 April 2024 (UTC)

Requested move 2 July 2024

 * The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover)  The Night Watch     (talk)   17:17, 17 July 2024 (UTC)

Tswana language → Setswana – WP:COMMONNAME. Searching setswana gives you results mainly saying setswana. Most of them that say Tswana are about Tswana people and reading the sources later state that the language they speak is called Setswana. 48JCL 20:33, 2 July 2024 (UTC) — Relisting. BilledMammal (talk) 20:44, 9 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Same for when you search up Tswana language. 48JCL 20:34, 2 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Oppose. Tswana refers to both people and language in English. The grammar of all Bantu languages use the prefix modifier ki/chi/xi/si/isi/se on the ethnic root term to denote language (e.g. IsiZulu, Sesotho, Chichewa, Chishona, Kiswahili, Kikongo, etc.). But it is not customary to retain the prefixes in English sources. Particularly in lists of languages and comparative studies, they are usually given simply as "Zulu", "Sotho", "Chewa", "Shona", "Swahili", "Kongo" and, yes, "Tswana", and not by their prefix-adjusted name. For the record, Tswana does not refer to people - the same Bantu grammar rules use ba/ma/wa prefix modifiers for people, thus "Tswana people" are "Batswana" (similarly Basotho, Batonga, Bakongo, Mashona, Waswahili, etc.).  While educational, familiarity with Bantu modifier prefixes should not be expected of Wikipedia readers.  "Tswana language" is clearer and more recognizable.  Walrasiad (talk) 01:48, 8 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Batswana is more common than Tswana people also Kowal2701 (talk) 11:43, 15 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Oppose, OP's argument boils down to "Google it I'm right", and that's just not sufficient evidence. 162 etc. (talk) 21:34, 9 July 2024 (UTC)


 * Oppose. This refers to it as Tswana, but I did see a couple Setswana sources like OP described. however, per Walrasiad above Tswana is clearly the more natural name, and there are redirects, and the mention in the first sentence to point to Setswana. Mrfoogles (talk) 23:05, 9 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Support Setswana is by far the more common name in English language sources per ngrams Kowal2701 (talk) 11:42, 15 July 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
 * Oppose. As explained above by Walrasiad. Rui &#39;&#39;Gabriel&#39;&#39; Correia (talk) 15:38, 17 July 2024 (UTC)