Sound structure
Sesotho pronunciation guide
| Sound |
As in English |
Sesotho example (translation) |
|
a |
a in far b in able b in bed + y in you d in deer e in we ai in hair f in after f in far + y in you ch in loch h in hand like Ll in Welsh Llewellyn ee in meet ch in chunk ck in back c in cat + ch in loch ki in kindle l in left m in him n in name ng in longer CLICK (nasalised) ny in Kenya oe in shoe aw in jaw p in lip p in pull p in cup + y in you p in cup + y in you + a CLICK CLICK (aspirated) CLICK (aspirated) r in red s in his sh in shoot t in hat t in till ch in chunk ch in chunk tl in little t (in cat) + Ll in Welsh Llewellyn ts in hats ch in change oe in shoe y in you w in water |
araba
(answer) bala (read) bjara (crush) dula (sit) lebese (milk) memo (invitation) fofa (fly) lefjwa (be paid) gafa (tax) hape (again) hlafuna (chew) bina (sing) kajeno (today) kena (enter) kgahliso (fun) khabetjhe (cabbage) leino (tooth) mokete (festival) nama (meat) ngaka (doctor) nqalo (place) nyala (marriage) monna (man) roka (praise) pula (rain) phiri (hyena) pjatla (boil well) pjhatla (smash) qeta (finish) qhitsa (drip) qhwaya (wave) rekisa (sell) sefate (tree) mashala (coal) tau (lion) thaba (mountain) tjeka (dance) tjhaka (visit) tlou (elephant) tlhaho (origin) tseba (know) tsheha (laugh) utlwa (perceive by a sense) ya (go) wena (you) |
CLICK sounds are suction sounds made by trapping a body of air between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, i.e. the tongue touches the whole edge of the upper teeth as well as the velum. The middle of the tongue is lowered without this closure being broken. This lessens the pressure of air in the space between the tongue and the palate. When the closure is broken at any point, the air from outside rushes into this small space, resulting in a click sound.
Vowel chart for Sesotho:
![[Sesotho vowel chart]](vowels2.gif)
Doke and Mofokeng (1957:1-10) list these 9 vowels, while Mokoena (1998:23) only refers to 7 of them.
Summary of the consonants of Sesotho:
(Click here
for a detailed
version.)
| Sources WEBSITES Travlang.com Sesotho pronunciation guide BOOKS DOKE, C.M. & MOFOKENG, S.M. 1957. Textbook of Southern Sotho Grammar. Cape Town : Longman. 491p. (see p.1-51) KOCK, L.J. & MOEKETSI, R.H. An Introduction to Sesotho phonetics. Houtbay : Marius Lubbe. 87p. MOKOENA, A.D. 1998. Sesotho made easy. Pretoria : Van Schaik. 243p. (see p.22-26) [BUY THIS BOOK] SHARPE, M.R.L. 1980. Everyday Sesotho Grammar. Morija : Morija Sesuto Book Depot. 158p. (see p.1-2) SWANEPOEL, C.F., KOCK, L.J., MOEKETSI, R.H. & MISCHKE, G. 1994. Southern Sotho Studyguide 1 for SST102-X. (Introduction to phonetics and phonemics). Pretoria : Unisa. 72p. WILKEN, P. 1994. Understanding everyday Sesotho. Cape Town : Maskew Miller Longman. 94p. (see p. vi-vii) [BUY THIS BOOK] |
Sesotho.web.za
© J. Olivier
(2009)