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Tsotsitaal has been part of the heritage of some Gauteng townships, but it seems to be a dying dialect

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Tsotsitaal has been part of the heritage of some Gauteng townships, but it seems to be a dying dialect. Tsotsitaal is a mixture of Afrikaans, English, and other indigenous languages.

The urban language originated in Sophiatown in Johannesburg in the 1940s.

However, it remains an informal language and has never been formalized.

Seasoned actor Jerry Mofokeng is multilingual, yet he says he expresses himself better when he speaks Tsotsitaal.

“Tsotsitaal is a mixture of different languages which include Afrikaans, English, and indigenous South African languages. It was spoken since the 1940s in Sophiatown in Johannesburg.”

Manual Makafane from Wits University says initially the language was used by the so-called uneducated.

“They were not fully illiterate and not fully equipped educationally … mainly criminals who were not well off and this was a way to try and communicate. It is derived from other languages. This was mainly the youth language, used language to communicate with one another.”

Tsotsitaal includes Iscamtho and Flaitaal, which is made up of more Nguni and Afrikaans words. This, as a big demographic of the coloured community, a predominantly Afrikaans-speaking society, lived in Sophiatown, Makafane says this came with some level of classism.

“Tsotsitaal was regarded as the language of the streetwise, but scamtho was regarded as the language of the moegoes, the streetwise, from the rural areas. Tsotsi gangs of Sophiatown started with petty crime. Most of the illegal crime was in cities like the hijacking of railway deliveries and robbing. But they did not commit crimes where they lived. That is why they were idolized. They were trendy.”

Emile Jansen, who grew up in Cape Town, says they had their own version of Tsotsitaal.

“Words like gogga, dagga, kwagga … these are all bushmen words which are in Afrikaans showing that language is a cool language created in Cape Town, a port city and everyone contributed to that language. Until today, there’s new terminology and interaction. In the prison it’s sabela, like gazi and gazilam.”

Siyabonga Sangweni from Orlando, Soweto, says he looked up to older guys speaking Tsotsitaal. He says while the language can never die, however, it has taken a different form.

“We have a lot of influence now from the international communities. So, it’s not dying per se. It’s taken a different form. When you go to Pretoria for example, ispitori is localized. You can tell that a person is from there. It’s going to die from what we used to know it as. Culture is not static and language is culture.”

Makafane believes Tsotsitaal has a place in modern society.

“Tsotsitaal will grow. There would be some debates of tsotsitaal being formalized, but people came together and tried to communicate, formed a culture, and could relate to one another. It has grown to kasi lingo – a language which identifies that you are from a particular region, dominating amongst the youth.”

The language has not been standardised, or formalised throughout the years. However, Makafane feels that it will be difficult for the lingo to enter formal spaces as there is no written form of the language.

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