Introduction

This chapter focuses on variation in Sesotho which is an aspect of Sesotho that has received very little attention from scholars due to the dominance of the prescriptive approaches. Generally, the language has been treated as a static monolithic whole that does not have varieties. The general practice has been to treat any deviation from the prescribed forms as the ‘corruption’ of the language (Rapeane 1997). The situation has further been complicated by the misconception that variation in Sesotho is based along the lines of the clans. A search on variation in Sesotho brings up names such as Sefokeng variety, Sekwena variety, Setaung variety and even Sephuthi variety, all of which are based on the misconception that there are clusters of Bafokeng, Bakwena, Bataung and Baphuthi who speak their own varieties of Sesotho language.

As the next sections will show, variation does exist in Sesotho. However, the divisions of Sesotho-speaking people into clans is not a major contributory factor. The sections will show that there are different factors, such as the spatial setting, that have played a role in shaping the language spoken by each group of the Sesotho-speaking community.

The Standard and the Non-Standard Varieties of Sesotho

The first variation in Sesotho is the one that exists between the standard variety and the non-standard varieties. The standard variety is the one used in education, government, business and other formal settings.