A hi loseni…
The Xitsonga orthography has undergone several important changes over the past century, particularly in the representation of the bilabial fricative sound [β]. Although this sound exists naturally in spoken Xitsonga; missionaries, linguists, and language standardizers struggled for decades to decide how it should best be written in the Roman alphabet.
The evolution of the letter “b → v̌ → v”
| IPA Sound | 1883 | 1890 | 1908 | 1938 | 1949 | 1962 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [β] | b | v̌ | v | — | — | v |
- In 1883, early Xitsonga orthography represented the sound simply with the letter b.
- By 1890, linguists introduced the symbol v̌ to distinguish the sound more precisely.
- In 1908, the orthography was simplified again, and the sound [β] began to be written as v.
- In 1938 and 1949 the orthographies left the sound effectively unmarked or standardized.
- In 1962, the letter v was officially retained as the accepted representation of [β].
“Keep exploring, keep learning, and let the language guide you.“
