Swazi - Siswati
< Swahili | Major Languages | Temne >
Categories: Languages, South Africa, Swaziland
On this page... (hide)
- 1. Classification / Classification
- 2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
- 3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
- 4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
- 5. Usage / Utilisation
- 6. Orthography / Orthographe
- 7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
- 8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
- 9. Comments / Remarques
- 10. References / Références
1. Classification / Classification
Swazi (or Swati or Siswati) is a language in the Nguni group of Bantu (Guthrie S40). (Webbook?)
Ethnologue? lists the classification as: Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, S, Nguni (S.40)
'Siswati' is the Swati name, 'Swazi' is the Zulu name. The people are highly educated. Christian, traditional religion. (Ethnologue)
2. Where Spoken / Localisation géographique
Swazi is spoken in Swaziland and South Africa. (Webbook)
3. Number of Speakers / Nombre de locuteurs
According to Ethnologue:
- 1,013,193 in South Africa (1996 census)
- 650,000 in Swaziland (1993 Johnstone)
- 43,000 in Lesotho (2002)
- 731 in Mozambique (1980 census)
- Population total all countries: 1,706,924.
4. Dialect Survey / Enquête de dialecte
According to Ethnologue:
- Baca
- Hlubi
- Phuthi
5. Usage / Utilisation
Swazi is the national language of Swaziland and an official language there and in South Africa.(Webbook and Ethnologue)
According to Ethnologue, in Swaziland, the literacy rate in first language is high, the language is taught in all national schools and used in newspapers.
6. Orthography / Orthographe
6.1 Status / Statut
Swazi has a standardized Latin-based orthography. It does not use extended characters.
"Current Siswati orthography is based on a joint orthography agreed upon by both South Africa and Swaziland in 1980. However, this was apparently based on the 1969 Swazi orthography (Taljaard et al., 1991:1)." (Ribeiro 2010:18 n7))
6.2 Sample Alphabet / Alphabet exemple
According to the Geonames "Unicode test page...: Swati alphabet" http://www.geonames.de/alphrs.html#ssw , the alphabet is the same as that used in English (although there is no explanation if this applies to both Swaziland and South Africa)
A sample text is shown on the "Language Museum" site: http://www.language-museum.com/s/swati.htm
7. Use in ICT / Utilisation dans les TIC
7.1 Fonts / Polices
Latin fonts without extended ranges (such as commonly used for English) will suffice.
7.2 Keyboard layouts / Dispositions de clavier
An English keyboard or the South African keyboard http://translate.org.za/content/view/24/41/ can be used (verify re the English keyboard)
7.3 Content on computers & internet / Contenu en informatique et sur l'Internet
The South African language site "Batho Portal" http://www.sediba.org.za/ has a section on & in Siswati.
Wikipedia in Swati at http://ss.wikipedia.org/ (apparently just the site has been reserved)
7.4 Localized software / Logiciels localisés
The OpenOffice suite of software applications has been localized in Swati by Translate.org.za of South Africa. See http://translate.org.za/content/view/17/54/ . No information on any localization for Swaziland.
7.5 Language codes / Codes de langue
- ISO 639-1: ss
- ISO 639-2: ssw
- ISO 639-3: ssw
7.6 Other / Autre
Swati English Dictionary / sí-Ngísi sí-chazamagâma (word list - verify language) http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/translation/Swati/
8. Localisation resources / Ressources pour localisation
8.1 Individuals (experts) / Individuelles (experts)
8.2 Institutions / Institutions
8.3 On the internet / Sur la toile
AfricanLanguages.com "Siswati (Swati)" page http://www.africanlanguages.com/swati/
Open-Tran.eu supports Swazi http://ss.open-tran.eu
9. Comments / Remarques
This is a cross-border Southern African language that could have localized versions for Swaziland as well as South Africa - though the differences apart from a few minor locale issues would probably be minor. In any event, if they are based on a common version - in this case the one done by Translate.org.za - that would make it easier for the broader user community.
10. References / Références
Dwyer, David (1997), Webbook of African Languages, http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/hiermenu.html (page on "Swazi," http://www.isp.msu.edu/AfrLang/Swazi_root.html )
Ribeiro, Fernando Rosa (2010), "Complexities of Languages and Multilingualism," pp. in Zubeida Desai. et al, Educational Challenges in Multilingual Societies: LOITASA Phase Two Research, African Books Collective. https://books.google.com/books?id=7q6qUEjADWwC
SIL International, Ethnologue: Languages of the World, "Swati," http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ssw
SIL International, "ISO 639 Code Tables," http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes.asp
Taljaard, P.C., J.N. Khumalo, and S.E. Bosch (1991), Handbook of Siswati, Pretoria: J.L. van Shaik.
U.S. Library of Congress, "ISO 639.2: Codes for the Representation of Names of Languages: Alpha-3 codes arranged alphabetically by the English name of language," http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/English_list.php
Wikipedia, "SiSwati," https://ss.wikipedia.org/wiki/SiSwati
______, "Swazi language," https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swazi_language
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Categories: Languages, South Africa, Swaziland