Tsotsitaal

E944735

Tsotsitaal is an urban South African slang and mixed language variety associated with township youth and street culture, blending elements from multiple local languages and Afrikaans.

All labels observed (1)

Label Occurrences
Tsotsitaal canonical 2

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf argot ⓘ
mixed language variety ⓘ
sociolect ⓘ
urban slang ⓘ
associatedWith street culture ⓘ
township youth ⓘ
countryOfOrigin South Africa ⓘ
culturalContext South African popular culture ⓘ
township subcultures ⓘ
developedIn 20th century ⓘ
urban areas of South Africa ⓘ
domain street life ⓘ
youth culture ⓘ
etymologyOfName derived from the word "tsotsi" meaning gangster or streetwise youth ⓘ
function boundary marking between insiders and outsiders ⓘ
informal communication ⓘ
social identification ⓘ
hasAlternativeName tsotsi language ⓘ
hasAlternativeSpelling Tsotsi-taal ⓘ
hasCharacteristic code-mixing ⓘ
group identity marking ⓘ
in-group exclusivity ⓘ
lexical innovation ⓘ
rapid change ⓘ
hasResearchField sociolinguistics ⓘ
urban linguistics ⓘ
influenced later South African youth slang varieties ⓘ
influencedByLanguage Afrikaans ⓘ
English ⓘ
Sotho languages ⓘ
Tswana ⓘ
linked to: Setswana

Xhosa ⓘ
Zulu ⓘ
languageFamily mixed language ⓘ
notOfficialLanguageOf South Africa ⓘ
register informal ⓘ
relatedTo Camtho ⓘ
Isicamtho ⓘ
South African township slang ⓘ
spokenIn Gauteng province ⓘ
linked to: Gauteng

Johannesburg ⓘ
Soweto ⓘ
status non-standard language variety ⓘ
usedBy urban youth in South Africa ⓘ
usedFor concealing meaning from authorities or outsiders ⓘ
usedIn South African townships ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Tsotsi → language → Tsotsitaal ⓘ
Kwaito → typicalLanguage → Tsotsitaal ⓘ