| Also Known As: Thonga,Tonga,Xichangana,Changana,Shangaan,Shitsonga,Shangana,Gwamba,Xitsonga,Tsonga
Description:
The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.
Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger-Congo languages. The language of the Shangaan people is called Xichangana (or "Shangaan" by outsiders) because we were under the Leadership of Soshangana "Manukusa) (Zulu). Shangaan has different variants: eg Tsonga, Ndawu, Ronga and xiTswa. In South Africa most of the VaTsonga now live in places like e.g. Nkowankowa, Giyani, Malamulele, Elim (Axipilongo, ka Jiwawa) in Limpopo province in South Africa.
As I edit this page, I refer to myself as a Shangaan person who speaks Xitsonga. All the Shangaan people living in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland and anywhere else in Southern Africa, the recorded history shows that they came from Gaza Province of Mozambique. The wars and other indigenous reasons are some of the reasons why people find themselves with different dialects different from others. Every language of the world is, in one way or the other affected by this. Take a simple example of American and British English. However one may justify that American English is in its own, the fact remains, England has the..... full article at Wikipedia |
Location of Tsonga Language Speakers
<googlemap zoom="1" width=400 height=300 lat="-10.358523" lon="21.815574" type="map">
-29.819142, 25.349897, South Africa
9.102097, 18.281250, Africa</googlemap>
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