Xhosa language page

Classification and where spoken

Xhosa is a language in the Nguni group of Bantu (Guthrie S40). Xhosa is spoken in the Transkei coastal region of South Africa.

Number of speakers

Grimes (1996) gives a figure of 6,876,000 speakers. UBS (1982) notes 4,435,000 Xhosa speakers.

Usage

Xhosa is the national language of South Africa.

Orthographic status

Xhosa has a standardized orthography.

Sets of learning materials

One set of materials is sufficient for Xhosa.