Sotho Orthography - Lesotho Versus South African Writing

Lesotho Versus South African Writing

One issue which complicates the written language is the two divergent orthographies used by the two countries with the largest number of first language speakers. The Lesotho orthography is older than the South African one and differs from it not only in the choice of letters and the marking of initial syllabic nasals, but also (to a much lesser extent) in written word division and the use of diacritics on vowels to distinguish some ambiguous spellings.

Additionally, in older texts the nasalized click was written nǵ in Lesotho (as a relic of a much older click series: ḱ, ḱh, and nǵ), but now the more universal digraph nq is used in both countries.

When the symbol "š" is unavailable electronically, people who write in Lesotho Sesotho often use ts' or t's to represent the aspirated alveolar affricate tš.

In word-initial positions, a syllabic nasal followed by a syllable starting with the same nasal is written as an n or m in South Africa but as an apostrophe in Lesotho.

Note that, when not word-initial, Lesotho orthography uses an n or m just like South African orthography.

When consonants or vowels are omitted due to (diachronic or synchronic) contractions, Lesotho orthography uses apostrophes to indicate the missing sounds while the South African orthography generally does not.

Ha ke eso mmone — Ha ke es'o 'mone I haven't seen her

Ngwana ka — Ngoan'a ka My child

In order to distinguish between the concords of class 1(a) and the 2nd. person singular, Lesotho orthography uses u to represent phonetic o and w for the 2nd. person, even when there is no chance of ambiguity.

U motle You are beautiful

O motle He/she is beautiful

Le uena ke u elelitse I did advise you too

Le eena ke mo elelitse I did advise him/her too

In Lesotho, ò (for the two mid back vowels), ō (for the near-close near-back vowel), è (for the two mid front vowels), and ē (for the near-close near-front vowel) are sometimes used to avoid spelling ambiguities. This is never done in South African writing.

ho tšèla to pour — ho tšēla to cross

ho ròka to sing a praise poem — ho rōka to sew

These examples also have differing tone patterns.

Although the two orthographies tend to use similar written word divisions, they do differ on some points:

1. More often than not compounds that are written as one word in South African Sesotho will be written with dashes in Lesotho Sesotho

   moetapele — moeta-pele leader

2. The prosodic penultimate e- that is sometimes affixed to monosyllabic verbs is written with a dash in Lesotho

   eba! — e-ba! be!

3. The "focus marker" -a- is inserted between the subject concord and the verb stem in different ways in the two orthographies. This is probably the most commonly encountered difference between the word divisions of the two orthographies

   Dikgomo di a fula — Likhomo lia fula The cows are grazing

4. The class 2a prefix is usually simply attached to the class 1a noun in South Africa but Lesotho orthography uses a dash

   ntate father ⇒ bontate — bo-ntate fathers/father-and-them

Very often South Africans with recent ancestors from Lesotho have surnames written in Lesotho orthography, preserving the old spellings.

Gloria Moshoeshoe, South African actor and talk show host

Aaron Mokoena, South African and European soccer player