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Xhosa is a major African language spoken by almost 8 million people in South Africa. It is part of the Nguni language group and uses clicks in words, with fifteen different clicks represented by the letters c, x, and q in the Latin script. Xhosa is on the rise in South Africa and is one of the country’s official languages.
Xhosa is an African language spoken predominantly in South Africa. It is one of the major languages of the region, spoken by nearly 8 million people, who make up nearly a fifth of South Africa’s population. Xhosa did not have an original alphabet system, so it is written using the Latin alphabet.
The exact history of Xhosa is uncertain. It is part of the Nguni language group, which itself is a subgroup of the Bantu group, which itself is part of the larger Niger-Congo family that makes up most of southern Africa. Xhosa appears to have been quite heavily influenced by contact with various speakers of Khoisan languages.
The most noticeable trait that made its way from Khoisan languages to Xhosa is the use of clicks in words. While some Khoisan languages use a staggering amount of clicks, such as the forty-eight different click sounds in Jul ‘hoan, Xhosa uses only fifteen. Five of these clicks are dental clicks, five are lateral clicks, and five are alveolar clicks.
Dental clicks in Xhosa are represented in the Latin script by the letter c. These clicks are made by placing the tip of the tongue directly against the back of the teeth. Dental clicks are very similar to the familiar English scolding sound of tsk-tsk.
Side clicks in Xhosa are represented in the Latin script by the letter x. These clicks are made by touching the roof of the tongue with the tongue along one side. This is a tongue position similar to the l sound in English, as can be heard by lengthening the first sound of the word “love.” The click produced by side clicking has its best approximation in the English-speaking world as the sound made for calling horses.
Alveolar clicks in Xhosa are represented in the Latin script by the letter q. These clicks are made by having the tip of the tongue touch approximately the center of the palate. This is a tongue position similar to the t sound at the beginning of the English word “tap”. The sound made by alveolar clicking is best described as a sort of cork popping sound, or the kind of sound one might make to mimic knocking on something hollow.
Each of these positions is capable of making five sounds, depending on the way the air is flowing. Every sound can be produced in the most direct way. They can also be made in a nasal tone, as in nc, nx and nq. They can also be made by sucking them in, adding a strong blast of air, as in ch, xh and qh. They can also be done in a breathy voice, where the vocal cords are held further apart than normal, as in gc, gx and gq. Finally, they can be made using a nasal version of the breathy voice technique, as in ngc, ngx, and ngq.
Xhosa has been on the rise in South Africa in recent decades. It is the primary language in a small number of schools in Xhosa-speaking regions and is taught as an individual subject in a number of schools across the country. Xhosa is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa, usually referred to by its more formal name, isiXhosa.
