The ‘Tsotsi’ language variety of Venda

Abstract

The Tsotsi language variety or Tsotsitaal as it is commonly known, is a medium of communication which primarily prevails in South African cities, but which is also found in rural areas, and serves as a lingua franca between peoples of different ethnic groups such as Venda, Xhosa, Zulu, Tsonga, Tswana, etc. In this article, a survey is presented of the Tsotsi language variety as it is used in Venda. The need to recognise this spoken form as a language variety is motivated, and reference is also made to its status in the community and to its possible origins, from a general point of view. Extensive examples are given of the Venda variety, and an outline is presented of the influences that other languages have had on Venda. Furthermore, the differences which exist between the Tsotsi variety and the Standard variety of Venda are also illustrated in the form of selected examples of lexical items.