Setswana is spoken in South Africa, Botswana, and some parts of Namibia and Zimbabwe. There are several varieties of Setswana, including Sengwato, Setlhaping, and Sekwena. Setswana is characterized by 28 consonants, and 7 vowels. Tone is semantically significant in Setswana and distinguishes meaning of phonetically identical words. Setswana is written from left to right using the Modern Latin Alphabet (Roman script). There are few studies that describe typical speech development in children acquiring Setswana, including both segmental and suprasegmental phonology. The majority of Setswana consonants are acquired by 2;6–2;11 years, and the ones missing from the inventories of 2-year-old children are mastered at 3;0–3;5 years. At 2;6–2;11 years, Setswana vowels have been acquired and lexical tone is used accurately. While knowledge on speech sound disorders in Setswana is limited, preliminary data suggests that the prevalence rate of SSDs in children acquiring Setswana is 4.9%.

Key words:
Setswana, Sekwena, Setlhaping, multilingual, communication, speech, language, children’s development, interdisciplinary, international communities, assessment, intervention

Book chapter:
Mahura, O., Pascoe, M., & Brookes, H. (2025). Setswana speech development. In S. McLeod (Ed.). The Oxford handbook of speech development in languages of the world. Oxford University Press.

Language overview presentation:

• Mahura, O., Pascoe, M., & Brookes, H. (forthcoming). Setswana: Multilingual children’s speech development. Charles Sturt University, Australia. https://www.csu.edu.au/research/multilingual-speech/languages

This presentation relates to the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
• SDG 4: Quality Education
• SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
• SDG 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goals