Editing Sotho language (section)

{{Short description|Southern Bantu language of Lesotho and neighbouring countries}}
{{About|the Lesotho and central South African Sotho language|the northeastern South African Sotho language|Northern Sotho}}
{{more footnotes needed|date=August 2021}}
{{engvarB|date=May 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Sotho
| nativename       = Sesotho
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|st|sɪ̀sʊ́tʰʊ̀|}}
| states           = {{Plainlist|
* [[Lesotho]] 
* [[South Africa]] 
* [[Zimbabwe]]
}}
| ethnicity        = [[Sotho people|Basotho]]
| speakers         = 5.6 million
| date             = 2001–2011
| ref              = e18
| speakers2        = 7.9 million [[L2 speakers]] in South Africa (2002)<ref>Webb, Vic. 2002. "Language in South Africa: the role of language in national transformation, reconstruction and development." ''Impact: Studies in language and society,'' 14:78</ref>
| familycolor      = Niger-Congo
| fam2             = [[Atlantic–Congo languages|Atlantic–Congo]]
| fam3             = [[Volta-Congo languages|Volta-Congo]]
| fam4             = [[Benue–Congo languages|Benue–Congo]]
| fam5             = [[Bantoid languages|Bantoid]]
| fam6             = [[Southern Bantoid languages|Southern Bantoid]]
| fam7             = [[Bantu languages|Bantu]]
| fam8             = [[Southern Bantu]]
| fam9             = [[Sotho–Tswana languages|Sotho–Tswana]]
|dia1=Phuthi
|dia2=Taung
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]] ([[Sesotho alphabet]])<br />[[Sotho Braille]]<br />[[Ditema tsa Dinoko]]
| nation           = {{Plainlist|
* {{flag|Lesotho}}
* {{flag|South Africa}}
* {{flag|Zimbabwe}}
}}
| agency           = [[Pan South African Language Board]]
| iso1             = st
| iso2             = sot
| iso3             = sot
| lingua           = [http://linguasphere.info/?page=linguascale&linguacode=99-AUT-ee 99-AUT-ee] incl. varieties 99-AUT-eea to 99-AUT-eee
| guthrie          = S.33
| sign             = [[Signed Sotho]]
| glotto           = sout2807
| glottorefname    = Southern Sotho
| altname          = Southern Sotho
}}
{{Infobox Bantu name|root=Sotho|person='''Mo'''sotho|people=[[Sotho people|'''Ba'''sotho]]|country=[[Lesotho|'''Le'''sotho]]|language='''Se'''sotho}} 
{{Sesotho language}}'''Sotho''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|uː|t|uː}}), also known as '''''Sesotho''''' ({{IPAc-en|s|ɪ|ˈ|s|uː|t|uː|,_|s|ə|-}}){{efn|Also spelled ''Suthio'', or ''Suthu'', ''Souto'', ''Sisutho'', ''Sutu'', or ''Sesutu''.}}, '''Southern Sotho''', or ''Sesotho sa Borwa'' is a [[Southern Bantu languages|Southern Bantu language]] spoken in [[Lesotho]] as its [[national language]] and [[South Africa]] where it is an [[official language]].

Like all [[Bantu languages]], Sesotho is an [[agglutinative language]] that uses numerous [[affixes]] and derivational and inflexional rules to build [[Sesotho grammar#The Sesotho word|complete words]].