Tsotsitaal and Camtho
| Tsotsitaal | |
|---|---|
| Flaaitaal | |
| Native to | South Africa | 
| Era | Creolized by 1930, used until ca. 1980. Now L2 only. | 
| Tswana creole | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | fly | 
| Glottolog | tsot1242 | 
| S40C (Shalambombo) | |
| Camtho | |
|---|---|
| Isicamtho | |
| Native to | South Africa | 
| Era | developed in the 1980s | 
| Tsotsitaal–Zulu pidgin | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | cmt | 
| Glottolog | camt1236 | 
| S40B | |
Tsotsitaal is a South African vernacular dialect derived from a variety of mixed languages mainly spoken in the townships of Gauteng province (such as Soweto, Soshanguve, Tembisa), but also in other agglomerations all over South Africa. Tsotsi is a Sesotho, Pedi or Tswana slang word for a "thug" or "robber" or "criminal", possibly from the verb "ho lotsa" "to sharpen", whose meaning has been modified in modern times to include "to con". The word taal in Afrikaans means "language".
A tsotsitaal is built over the grammar of one or several languages, in which terms from other languages or specific terms created by the community of speakers are added. It is a permanent work of language-mix, language-switch, and terms-coining.