Xhosa, the language of ‘clicks’
The South African ‘click’ language, the Xhosa (pronounced more like Khosa), will you leave you scratching your head and marvelling at just how unique it is. Don’t believe me? Here’s an introduction:
A real tongue twister for non-Xhosa speakers.
And yet, in spite of what seems oh so complex to replicate, there is something melodic and captivating about the pops, knocks and clicks of Xhosa.
Xhosa is more than just a delightfully, difficult dialect. Here are some interesting facts about this extraordinary language:
- Xhosa is one of eleven officially recognised languages spoken in South Africa. English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Pedi, Sotho, Tswana, Swati, Venda, Tsonga and Ndebele make up the other ten. Xhosa has three main click sounds (along with other, less frequent clicks) for three central consonants:
- The pronunciation of the letter ‘C’. This sound is made by putting the tip of your tongue behind your front teeth and sucking down quickly. A ‘tut-tut’ sound should be roughly what you’re aiming for.
- The letter ‘X’ is made using a lateral alveolar clicking sound. Simply, that just means making a sound like the clicking of horse hooves. Probably the easier of the three clicks.
- ‘Q’. This one is tricky. Using your tongue, attach it to the roof of your mouth and suck down in one go, making a sharp click sound like if you were to knock on a door.
For a visual demonstration on how to grapple with the Xhosa clicks, check out this short lesson below, courtesy of Ubuntu Bridge!
- The South African click language (Xhosa) has existed in southern parts of Africa for several hundred years, since before the sixteenth century. It shares many linguistic similarities with the fellow South African language, Zulu, with many words sharing identical roots and structures.
- Xhosa was solely a spoken language until Christian missionaries eventually devised a Latin-based alphabet for it by in the early nineteenth century. It didn’t have any written publications until the year 1907 when USamson was published by the author S.E.K Mqhayi.
- Many famous people from South Africa are Xhosa people. Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Brenda Fassie are just a couple of examples. Modern-day comedian, Trevor Noah, is another who celebrates his own Xhosan heritage and likes to put a smile on the faces of his international audiences with his demonstrations of the ‘South African click language’. Along with other South African comedians, he continues to enlighten many people about the beauty and uniqueness of Xhosa and its importance in South African culture, in particular amongst Black communities.
- The ‘Black Panther’ movie released by Marvel Studios used Xhosa as the language of the fictional nation, Wakanda. This was an important step in providing authenticity and cultural awareness to the blockbuster film.
In an age that tells people to look inwards, it can be refreshing to pause and look around at a world that never fails to amaze. The Xhosa language, this famous ‘South African click language’, and its culture, like so many others across the continent of Africa, has the power to inform, inspire and entice us when we celebrate it for what it is: beautiful, unique and very, very cool.
Sources
Britannica, ‘Xhosa Language’, African Language, 2019
Francisco., Eric, ‘Inverse Entertainment’, Why Wakandans speak Xhosa, an Actual African Language, 2018, available here
Opland., Jeff, ‘The First Novel in Xhosa’ Research in African Literatures, 38 (4), pp. 87-110.
