Phuthi

Phuthi is an Nguni-Bantu language spoken in the Southern Part of Lesotho and the areas in South Africa adjacent to the same border.
Phuthi is strongly influenced by the surrounding Sesotho and Xhosa languages but still keeps hold of it’s clear fundamentals of lexicon and grammar not found in either Sesotho or Xhosa but found partly in Swati to the North,Swati being it’s closest considerable relative of Phuthi.
Phuthi is spoken in dozens of scattered communities in the border areas between where the far Northern Eastern Cape meets Lesotho. It has been estimated that around 20,000 people in South Africa and Lesotho use Phuthi as their home language. No census data on Phuthi
speakers is available from either South Africa or Lesotho, however, the language is certainly endangered.
With Phuthi, there are atleast two dialect areas based on linguistic criterion based on a single phonological presence or absence of a secondary labialisation. They are Mpapa/Daliwe; Villages in Southern Lesotho, South-east Morosi, Mafura and Other Phuthi Speaking areas;
Makoloane, Mosuoe, and a number of villages in North-West Qacha’s Nek.
– Nguni people are a linguistic cultural group of Bantu Cattle herders who migrated from Central Africa into Southern Africa
– Bantu – relates to a group of Niger- Congo languages spoken in Southern and Central Africa.

Thanks to Emuesiri Odiete for providing the materials and research for this page!