Remarks on the historical background and some grammatical characteristics of Eastern Sotho

Abstract

In this article Eastern Sotho, i.e. the language wich is nowadays spoken by only a limited number of aged people known as Bapai in the Eastern-Transvaal Lowveld, is viewed from two different angles: Firstly, the historical background of the Bapai is investigated. Although very little information exists on their origin, it is concluded, following Van Warmelo (1935) and Ziervogel (1954), that the existing Bapai are descendants of one of the oldest Sotho groups which entered Southern Africa, and which originally inhabited the northern regions of Swaziland. Secondly, a selected number of grammatical characteristics of Pai (the language) are discussed in order to give a picture of the linguistic peculiarities which prevail when the language of these people is compared with Standard Northern Sotho. The material presented in this section was collected during two field trips which were undertaken in the Pai territory during 1984, and it differs in many respects from Ziervogel's observations which he published in 1954 under the title The Eastern Sotho.