Northern Sotho
| Northern Sotho | |
|---|---|
| Sesotho sa Leboa | |
| Native to | South Africa |
| Region | Limpopo, Gauteng, Mpumalanga |
| Ethnicity | Pedi
Lobedu Pulana Tlôkwa |
Native speakers | 6.2 million (2022 Census) 9.1 million L2 speakers (2002) |
Early forms | Tswaniac
|
Standard forms | Pedi |
| Latin (Northern Sotho alphabet) Sotho Braille Ditema tsa Dinoko | |
| Signed Northern Sotho | |
| Official status | |
Official language in | South Africa |
| Regulated by | Pan South African Language Board |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-2 | nso |
| ISO 639-3 | nso |
| Glottolog | pedi1238 Pedi |
S.32,301–304 | |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUT-ed |
Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks a form of Northern Sotho at home.
0–20%
20–40%
40–60%
60–80%
80–100% | |
Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: density of Northern Sotho home-language speakers
<1 /km²
1–3 /km²
3–10 /km²
10–30 /km²
30–100 /km²
100–300 /km²
300–1000 /km²
1000–3000 /km²
>3000 /km² | |
| Pedi | |
|---|---|
| Person | Mopedi |
| People | Bapedi |
| Language | Sepedi |
Sepedi, also known as Northern Sotho, is one of South Africa’s twelve official languages and belongs to the Bantu language family, specifically the Sotho-Tswana group. The language is spoken mainly in Limpopo Province, and to a lesser extent in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, and North West.
Sepedi refers to the dialect spoken by the Pedi people. Northern Sotho is the umbrella term for a group of related dialects. The two terms are often used interchangeably, but technically Sepedi is one dialect of Northern Sotho.
As of the 2022 South African Census, approximately 6.2 million people — or 10.0% of the national population speak Sepedi as their first language. Sepedi ranks as the fifth most spoken first language.