Linguistic Contribution of Northern Sotho to Sepitori: Perspectives of Speakers of the Language brought up in Tshwane, South Africa
Lebogang M. Madingwaneng 
& Thabo Ditsele
Issue: Vol.6 No.8 Article 26 pp.1625 – 1639
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256826 | Published online 25th July, 2025
© 2025 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Various scholars indicated that Sepitori resulted from language contact in Tshwane, especially between Northern Sotho and Setswana, which are mutually intelligible. Previous research has focused on the influence of Sepitori on the standard varieties of Northern Sotho and Setswana, and not the other way around and this was a gap in research, which needed to be addressed. This study looked at how Northern Sotho contributed to the development of Sepitori by establishing lexical items, which were drawn from Northern Sotho. The first set of data was gathered from YouTube by extracting statements with Sepitori lexical items; the statements were said by Sepitori-speaking comedians. After that, the statements were discussed with 16 participants to establish whether they regarded them as Sepitori lexical items with origins from Northern Sotho, be it the standard variety or non-standard varieties referred to as dialects; their responses constituted the second set of data. Participants confirmed that Sepitori lexical items which were before them originated from Northern Sotho. Interestingly, they were unaware that there are lexical items which Northern Sotho shared with Setswana and Southern Sotho because they only attributed such to Northern Sotho, and that demonstrated their limited knowledge of Setswana and Southern Sotho. The study has demonstrated that Northern Sotho is one of the most significant languages in the development of Sepitori, the other being Setswana. This study has the potential to encourage more researchers to conduct research on non-standard varieties spoken in South Africa particularly as they continue to gain traction in the linguistic landscape of South Africa.
Keywords: home languages, standard varieties, non-standard varieties, Northern Sotho, Sepitori, Tshwane, South Africa
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Lebogang M. Madingwaneng is a linguistics and education scholar. She began her academic journey with a National Diploma in Language Practice from Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) in 2014 which she completed in 2016. She later obtained a Bachelor of Technology in Language Practice in 2017 and a Master’s degree in 2019, also at TUT. This article is based on her Master’s research project. Since 2020, she has been lecturing at TUT focusing on language- and communication-related modules. She has presented oral papers at conferences. Her main research field is Sociolinguistics.
Prof. Thabo Ditsele is a Sociolinguist and a Linguistic Anthropologist with a C2 rating at the NRF (National Research Foundation of South Africa). He holds the position of Full Professor at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). He obtained a BA (in Communication and Setswana), and a B Admin Honours (in Industrial Relations) from North-West University. He also holds an M Phil (in Second Language Studies) from Stellenbosch University, and a D Tech (in Language Practice) from TUT. He has read more than 40 papers at conferences, seminars, and workshops in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. He is a leading researcher on Sepitori and has published nearly 30 articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as a book chapter on Sepitori in a book titled: Global perspectives on youth language practices (2022). He has received two research grants from the NRF, for Tsotsitaal (2014-2016) and for Sepitori (2019 to 2021). As a fiction and non-fiction writer, he has published a Setswana novel titled: Maile maila boganana (2008), two Setswana short stories in an anthology titled: Pelo e ganne molora (2008), and his memoir in English titled: From an obscure village to around the world: Volume 1, Americas (2020).
Madingwaneng, Lebogang M., and Thabo Ditsele. “Linguistic Contribution of Northern Sotho to Sepitori: Perspectives of Speakers of the Language Brought up in Tshwane, South Africa .” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 6, no. 8 (2025): 1625–39. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.20256826.
© 2025 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
