Xhosa

E11008
Bantu language Nguni language Southern Bantu language language of South Africa official language of South Africa

Xhosa is a Bantu language of South Africa, known for its distinctive click consonants and as one of the country’s major official languages.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (5)

Surface form Occurrences
Xhosa language 11
isiXhosa 2
AmaXhosa 1

Statements (53)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Bantu language ⓘ
Nguni language ⓘ
Southern Bantu language ⓘ
language of South Africa ⓘ
official language of South Africa ⓘ
clickType alveolar clicks ⓘ
dental clicks ⓘ
lateral clicks ⓘ
closelyRelatedTo Southern Ndebele ⓘ
surface form: Ndebele language

Swati language ⓘ
Zulu ⓘ
surface form: Zulu language
country South Africa ⓘ
ethnicGroup Xhosa people ⓘ
glottocode xhos1239 ⓘ
hasDialect Gaika dialect ⓘ
Nguni languages ⓘ
surface form: Gcaleka dialect

Ndlambe dialect ⓘ
Thembu dialect ⓘ
hasFeature agglutinative morphology ⓘ
click consonants ⓘ
ejective consonants ⓘ
noun class system ⓘ
prenasalized consonants ⓘ
subject–verb–object word order ⓘ
tonal language ⓘ
vowel harmony tendencies ⓘ
hasInfluenceFrom Afrikaans ⓘ
English ⓘ
hasStandardForm Xhosa self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: Standard Xhosa
ISO639-1Code xh ⓘ
ISO639-2Code xho ⓘ
ISO639-3Code xho ⓘ
isOneOf 11 official languages of South Africa ⓘ
languageFamily Atlantic–Congo languages ⓘ
Bantoid languages ⓘ
Bantu languages ⓘ
Benue–Congo languages ⓘ
Niger–Congo languages ⓘ
nativeName Xhosa self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form: isiXhosa
numberOfOfficialLanguagesInSouthAfrica 11 ⓘ
officialStatusIn South Africa ⓘ
surface form: Republic of South Africa
region Eastern Cape ⓘ
Gauteng ⓘ
Northern Cape ⓘ
Western Cape ⓘ
spokenBy Xhosa people ⓘ
subfamily Nguni languages ⓘ
Southern Bantu languages ⓘ
usedAs lingua franca in parts of Eastern Cape ⓘ
usedIn broadcast media in South Africa ⓘ
education in South Africa ⓘ
literature of South Africa ⓘ
writingSystem Latin script ⓘ

Referenced by (58)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

this entity surface form: Xhosa language
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
Shona → closelyRelatedTo → Xhosa ⓘ
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
Swati → closelyRelatedTo → Xhosa ⓘ
Zulu → closelyRelatedTo → Xhosa ⓘ
nde → closelyRelatedTo → Xhosa ⓘ
Thabo Mbeki → ethnicGroup → Xhosa ⓘ
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
Xhosa people → ethnonym → Xhosa ⓘ
this entity surface form: AmaXhosa
Mvezo → hasLanguage → Xhosa ⓘ
Wild Coast → hasLanguage → Xhosa ⓘ
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
Nguni languages → hasMember → Xhosa ⓘ
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
Qunu → hasOfficialLanguage → Xhosa ⓘ
Xhosa → hasStandardForm → Xhosa self-linksurface differs ⓘ
this entity surface form: Standard Xhosa
this entity surface form: Ngqika Xhosa
Xhosa polities → language → Xhosa ⓘ
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
Bhisho → languageMajority → Xhosa ⓘ
Mthatha → languageMajority → Xhosa ⓘ
Egoli → languageOfOrigin → Xhosa ⓘ
this entity surface form: Xhosa language
Cape Flats → languageSpoken → Xhosa ⓘ
Knysna → languageUsed → Xhosa ⓘ
Soweto → languageUsed → Xhosa ⓘ