Xhosa Language | Origin of Xhosa Language

Countries

South Africa

Total No. Of Countries

Rank: 14 (Overall)

0 46

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National Language

South Africa

Second Language

Lesotho, South Africa

Speaking Continents

Africa

Minority Language

Botswana, Lesotho

Regulated By

Interesting Facts

Xhosa has 15 click sounds, borrowed from the khoi-khoi and san languages of the South Africa.
The same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meaning when said with different tones, so Xhosa is tonal.

Similar To

Zulu, Swazi, and Ndebele

Derived From

Khoi-Khoi and San Languages

Alphabets

Alphabets in

Alphabets

Rank: 32 (Overall)

18 247

👆🏻

Phonology

How Many Vowels

Rank: 7 (Overall)

0 32

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How Many Consonants

Rank: 32 (Overall)

9 60

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Scripts

Latin

Writing Direction

Hard to Learn

Language Levels

Rank: 2 (Overall)

2 12

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Time Taken to Learn

44 weeks

Rank: 17 (Overall)

3 88

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Greetings

Hello

Molo

Thank You

Ndiyabulela

How Are You?

Unjani

Good Night

Ulale kakuhle

Good Evening

Ubusuku obuhle

Good Afternoon

Uben' emva kwemini entle

Good Morning

Molo

Please

Ndicela

Sorry

Ndicela uxolo

Bye

Uhambe/Usale kakuhle

I Love You

Ndiyakuthanda

Excuse Me

Uxolo

Dialects

Dialect 1

Gcaleka

Where They Speak

South Africa

How Many People Speak

19,000,000.00

Rank: 30 (Overall)

1.5 960000000

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Dialect 2

Thembu

Where They Speak

South Africa

How Many People Speak

19,000,000.00

Rank: 27 (Overall)

700 274000000

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Dialect 3

Hlubi

Where They Speak

South Africa

How Many People Speak

19.00

Rank: 84 (Overall)

2 230000000

👆🏻

Total No. Of Dialects

Rank: 9 (Overall)

0 188

👆🏻

How Many People Speak

How Many People Speak?

20.00 million

Rank: 42 (Overall)

0 1200

👆🏻

Speaking Population

0.11 %

Rank: 56 (Overall)

0 89

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Native Speakers

8.20 million

Rank: 52 (Overall)

0 873

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Second Language Speakers

11.00 million

Rank: 39 (Overall)

0.01 400

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Native Name

isiXhosa

Alternative Names

“Cauzuh” (pej.), Isixhosa, Koosa, Xosa

French Name

xhosa

German Name

Xhosa-Sprache

Pronunciation

[ˈkǁʰɔ̀ːsa]

Ethnicity

amaXhosa, amaBhaca

History

Origin

16th Century

Language Family

Niger-Congo Family

Subgroup

Benue-Congo

Branch

Bantu

Language Forms

Early Forms

No early forms

Standard Forms

isiXhosa

Language Position

Rank: 19 (Overall)

1 120

👆🏻

Signed Forms

Signed Xhosa

Scope

Individual

Code

ISO 639 1

ISO 639 2

ISO 639 2/T

xho

ISO 639 2/B

xho

ISO 639 3

xho

ISO 639 6

xho

Glottocode

xhos1239

Linguasphere

99-AUT-fa

Types of Language

Language Type

Living

Language Linguistic Typology

Subject-Verb-Object

Language Morphological Typology

Origin of Xhosa language

In order to communicate with each other, the origin of language was the essential part. Various languages are spoken all over the world. Xhosa language is one of the Most Difficult Languages. The origin of Xhosa language states that it was put to use in 16th Century. The history of Xhosa language reveals that the language is old and used since many years. Check out in brief about Xhosa Language History. Xhosa has no early forms. isiXhosa is the standard form of Xhosa language and it is used in government centers. Know all About Xhosa Language.

Xhosa population

Xhosa population gives us the total count of number of people speaking Xhosa language. Xhosa language is spoken by 20.00 million people in the world. Most of the Xhosa population lies in the Xhosa Speaking Countries. Xhosa language is spoken as first language by 8.20 million people and as second language by about 11.00 million people. Get to know Xhosa speaking population in detail.

Xhosa writing system

There are numerous writing systems but most widely used scripts are Latin, Cyrillic and Arabic. Xhosa writing system decides the alphabets, vowels and consonants i.e. the written form of Xhosa language. Some languages share common writing systems. Latin script is used by Xhosa language. Learn more about .

Information about Xhosa language

Check out all the information about Xhosa language here. You may find it interesting to learn Xhosa Alphabets or the vowels and consonants of this language. Also knowing about Xhosa Speaking Countries, Xhosa speaking continents and Xhosa Dialects will help in improving your knowledge about this language. Also while travelling to Xhosa countries knowing common Xhosa Greetings will help you in communicating with Xhosa people.