Atlantic-Congo · ISO 639-3 tsc
Tswa Language Xitswa
Tswa is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken by about 1.2 million people in 1 country. It is written in the Latin script.
Where Tswa is spoken
- Official language
- Regional official
- Spoken by 10%+
- 1–10%
- Smaller communities
Countries that speak Tswa
Language family
- Atlantic-Congo
- Volta-Congo
- Benue-Congo
- Bantoid
- Southern Bantoid
- Narrow Bantu
- East Bantu
- Southern Bantu
- Nuclear Southern Bantu
- Dimsuffix Southern Bantu
- Nguni-Tsonga-Copi
- Tsonga-Copi
- Tswa-Ronga (S.50)
- Tswa
Writing system
Latin script
Related languages
About the Tswa language
Tswa (Xitswa) is spoken by about 1.2 million people, which makes it the 432nd most spoken language in the world — just behind Soninke (1.2 million) and ahead of Tausug (1.2 million). It belongs to the Atlantic-Congo language family and, more precisely, to the Tswa-Ronga (S.50) group within the Benue-Congo branch.
Where is Tswa spoken?
Tswa is used in 1 country. The largest communities live in Mozambique (1.3 million).
Tswa is not a national official language anywhere.
Writing system and status
Tswa is written in the Latin script. It is a safe, widely transmitted language: children still learn it at home as their first language.
Its closest relatives in the same branch of the family are Tsonga, Ronga, Zulu, Xhosa, Swati, North Ndebele and 2 more.
ISO codes: ISO 639-3 tsc.
Frequently asked questions about Tswa
How many people speak Tswa?
Where is Tswa spoken?
What language family does Tswa belong to?
What is Tswa called in Tswa?
Is Tswa an endangered language?
Data: Languages of the World dataset (MIT) — ISO 639-3, Glottolog (CC BY 4.0), Unicode CLDR, Google LinguaMeta (CC BY 4.0) and Wikidata; country lists: samayo/country-json (MIT). Speaker numbers include first- and second-language speakers where sources report them.