SOTHO, SOUTHERN: a language of Lesotho

The following is the entry for this language as it appeared in the 14th edition (2000).
It was superseded by the corresponding entry in the 15th edition (2005). See also the corresponding entry in the current edition of Ethnologue.

SIL code: SSO

ISO 639-1: st

ISO 639-2: sot

Population	1,493,000 in Lesotho (1993 Johnstone), 85% of the population. Population total all countries 4,197,000.
Region	Also spoken in Botswana, South Africa.
Alternate names	SUTO, SUTHU, SOUTO, SESOTHO, SISUTHO
Classification	Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Narrow Bantu, Central, S, Sotho-Tswana (S.30), Sotho, Southern.
Comments	National language. Christian, traditional religion. Bible 1878-1989.

Also spoken in:

South Africa

Language name	SOTHO, SOUTHERN
Population	2,704,000 in South Africa (1995), 6.9% of the population (1995 The Economist).
Alternate names	SUTO, SUTHU, SESOTHO, SOUTO, SISUTHO
Dialects	TAUNG, PHUTHI.
Comments	Sotho, Pedi, and Tswana are largely inherently intelligible but have generally been considered separate languages. National language. Literacy rate in second language: Fair. Language of secondary education. Newspapers, radio programs. Bible 1878-1989. See main entry under Lesotho.