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Xhosa
isiXhosa
Spoken in	South Africa, Lesotho
Region	Eastern Cape, Western Cape
Ethnicity	amaXhosa
Native speakers	7.8 million  (2006)
Language family	Niger–Congo Atlantic–Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Nguni Zunda Xhosa
Official status
Official language in	South Africa
Language codes
ISO 639-1	xh
ISO 639-2	xho
ISO 639-3	xho
Linguasphere	99-AUT-fa incl. varieties 99-AUT-faa to 99-AUT-faj + 99-AUT-fb (isiHlubi)
300px Proportion of the South African population that speaks Xhosa at home   0–20%   20–40%   40–60%   60–80%   80–100%
This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters.

Xhosa (/ˈkoʊsə/; Xhosa: isiXhosa [isikǁʰóːsa]) is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said with a rising or falling or high or low intonation. One of the most distinctive features of the language is the prominence of click consonants; the word "Xhosa" begins with a click.

Xhosa is written using a Latin alphabet. Three letters are used to indicate the basic clicks: c for dental clicks, x for lateral clicks, and q for post-alveolar clicks (for a more detailed explanation, see the table of consonant phonemes, below). Tones are not indicated in the written form.

Affiliation and distribution[link]

Xhosa is the southernmost branch of the Nguni languages, which include Swati, Northern Ndebele^[1] and Zulu. There is some mutual intelligibility with the other Nguni languages, all of which share many linguistic features. Nguni languages are in turn part of the much larger group of Bantu languages, and as such Xhosa is related to languages spoken across much of Africa.^[2]

Xhosa is the most widely distributed African language in South Africa, while the most widely spoken is Zulu.^[2] Xhosa is the second most common home language in South Africa as a whole. As of 2003^[update] the majority of Xhosa speakers, approximately 5.3 million, live in the Eastern Cape, followed by the Western Cape (approximately 2 million), Gauteng (671,045), the Free State (246,192), KwaZulu-Natal (219,826), North West (214,461), Mpumalanga (46,553), the Northern Cape (51,228), and Limpopo (14,225).^[3] A minority of Xhosa speakers (18,000) exists in Quthing District, Lesotho.^[4]

Dialects[link]

Xhosa has several dialects, including

• Gcaleka
• Ndlambe
• Ngqika /Rharhabe
• Thembu
• Bomvana
• Mpondomse (Mpondomise)
• Mpondo
• Xesibe
• Bhaca
• Cele people
• Hlubi
• Mfengu^[4]

History[link]

Xhosa-speaking peoples have inhabited coastal regions of southeastern Africa since before the sixteenth century. The members of the ethnic group that speaks Xhosa refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and call their language isiXhosa, while the language is most commonly known as "Xhosa" in English.

Almost all languages with clicks are Khoisan languages and the presence of clicks in Xhosa demonstrates the strong historical interaction with its Khoisan neighbours. An estimated 15% of the vocabulary is of Khoekhoe (Khoisan) origin.^[4] In the modern period, Xhosa has also borrowed from both Afrikaans and English.

Role in modern society[link]

Henry Hare Dugmore, an Englishman who became fluent in Xhosa and jointly produced the first translation of the Bible into the language in 1859.

The role of African languages in South Africa is complex and ambiguous. Their use in education has been governed by legislation, beginning with the Bantu Education Act of 1953.^[2]

At present, Xhosa is used as the main language of instruction in many primary schools and some secondary schools, but is largely replaced by English after the early primary grades, even in schools mainly serving Xhosa-speaking communities. The language is also studied as a subject.

The language of instruction at universities in South Africa is English or Afrikaans, and Xhosa is taught as a subject, both for native and non-native speakers.

Literary works, including prose and poetry, are available in Xhosa, as are newspapers and magazines. The first Bible translation was in 1859, produced in part by Henry Hare Dugmore.^[4] The South African Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts in Xhosa on both radio (on Umhlobo Wenene FM) and television, and films, plays and music are also produced in the language. The best-known performer of Xhosa songs outside South Africa is Miriam Makeba, whose Click Song #1 (Qongqothwane in Xhosa) and Click Song #2 (Baxabene Ooxam) are known for their large number of click sounds.

In 1996^[update], the literacy rate for first-language Xhosa speakers was estimated at 50%, though this may have changed in the years since the abolition of apartheid.^[4]

Linguistic features[link]

Xhosa is an agglutinative language featuring an array of prefixes and suffixes that are attached to root words. As in other Bantu languages, Xhosa nouns are classified into fifteen morphological classes (or genders), with different prefixes for singular and plural. Various parts of speech that qualify a noun must agree with the noun according to its gender. These agreements usually reflect part of the original class that it is agreeing with. Constituent word order is subject–verb–object.

Verbs are modified by affixes that mark subject, object, tense, aspect, and mood. The various parts of the sentence must agree in class and number.^[2]

Examples

ukudlala - to play

ukubona - to see

umntwana - a child

abantwana - children

umntwana uyadlala - the child plays

abantwana bayadlala - the children play

indoda - a man

amadoda - men

indoda iyambona umntwana - the man sees the child

amadoda ayababona abantwana - the men see the children

Zonke zinto ezilungile zivela kuThixo - all things that are good proceed from God.

Vowels[link]

Xhosa has an inventory of ten vowels: [a], [ɛ], [i], [ɔ] and [u], both long and short, written a, e, i, o and u.

Tones[link]

Xhosa is a tonal language with two inherent, phonemic tones: low and high. Tones are frequently not marked in the written language, but when they are, they are a [à], á [á], â [áà], ä [àá]. Long vowels are phonemic but are usually not written, except for â and ä which are the results of gemination of two vowels with different tones each and have thereby become long vowels with contour tones (â high-low = falling, ä low-high = rising).

Consonants[link]

Xhosa is rich in uncommon consonants. Besides pulmonic egressive sounds, as in English, it has 18 clicks (by way of comparison, the Juǀʼhoan language, spoken by roughly 10,000 people in Botswana and Namibia has 48 clicks, while the ǃXóõ language, with roughly 4,000 speakers in Botswana, has 83 click sounds, the largest consonant inventory of any known language), plus ejectives and an implosive. 15 of the clicks also occur in Zulu, but are used less frequently than in Xhosa.

The six dental clicks (represented by the letter "c") are made with the tongue on the back of the teeth, and are similar to the sound represented in English by "tut-tut" or "tsk-tsk" to reprimand someone. The second six are lateral (represented by the letter "x"), made by the tongue at the sides of the mouth, and are similar to the sound used to call horses. The remaining six are alveolar (represented by the letter "q"), made with the tip of the tongue at the roof of the mouth, and sound somewhat like a cork pulled from a bottle.

The following table lists the consonant phonemes of the language, giving the pronunciation in IPA on the left, and the orthography on the right:

Nelson Mandela is a famous Xhosa speaker.

1. Two additional consonants, [r] and [r̤], are found in borrowings. Both are spelled r.
2. Two additional consonants, [ʒ] and [ʒ̈], are found in borrowings. Both are spelled zh.
3. Two additional consonants, [dz] and [dz̤], are found in loans. Both are spelled dz.
4. An additional consonant, [ŋ̈] is found in loans. It is spelled ngh.

In addition to the ejective affricate [tʃʼ], the spelling tsh may also be used for either of the aspirated affricates [tsʰ] and [tʃʰ].

The breathy voiced glottal fricative [ɦ] is sometimes spelled h.

The ejectives tend to only be ejective in careful pronunciation or in salient positions, and even then only for some speakers; elsewhere they tend to be tenuis (plain) stops. Similarly, the tenuis (plain) clicks are often glottalized, with a long voice onset time, though this is uncommon.

The murmured clicks, plosives, and affricates are only partially voiced, with the following vowel murmured for some speakers. That is, da may be pronounced [dʱa̤] (or, equivalently, [d̥a̤]). They are better described as slack voiced than as breathy voiced. They are only truly voiced after nasals, though then the oral occlusion is very short in stops, and most often does not occur at all in clicks, so that the absolute duration of voicing is the same as in tenuis stops. (They may also be voiced between vowels in some speaking styles.) The more salient characteristic is their depressor effect on the tone of the syllable.^[6]

Consonant changes with prenasalization[link]

When consonants are prenasalized, their pronunciation and spelling may change. Murmur no longer shifts to the following vowel. Fricatives become affricates, and if voiceless, become ejectives as well, at least with some speakers: mf is pronounced [ɱp̪fʼ]; ndl is pronounced [ndɮ];n+hl becomes ntl [ntɬʼ]; n+z becomes ndz [ndz], etc. The orthographic b in mb is a voiced plosive, [mb].

When voiceless clicks c, x, q are prenasalized, a silent letter k is added – nkc, nkx, nkq – so as to prevent confusion with the nasal clicks nc, nx, nq.

Anthem[link]

Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika is part of the national anthem of South Africa, national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia, and the former anthem of Zimbabwe and Namibia. It is a Xhosa hymn written by Enoch Sontonga in 1897. The first chorus is:

Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;

Maluphakam'upondo lwayo;

Yiva imithandazo yethu

Usisikelele.

Lord, bless Africa;

May her horn rise high up;

Hear Thou our prayers And bless us.

See also[link]

• Xhosa calendar
• Henry Hare Dugmore, the first translator of the Scriptures into Xhosa
• U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, a 2005 Xhosa film adaptation of Bizet's Carmen
• UCLA Language Materials Project, an online project for teaching languages, including Xhosa.

References[link]

External links[link]

Xhosa language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up Xhosa in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Xhosa language profile (at UCLA Language Materials Project)
• Ethnologue report for Xhosa
• Xhosa -> English dictionary
• A very short Xhosa -> English dictionary
• PanAfrican L10n page on Xhosa
• Google in Xhosa
• Xhosa Grammar
• English to Xhosa Translation

v t e Languages of Lesotho Official English Sesotho (national language) Non-official Phuthi Xhosa Zulu

v t e Languages of South Africa Official West Germanic Afrikaans English Southern Bantu Sotho-Tswana Northern Sotho (Sepedi) Sesotho Tswana (Setswana) Nguni Southern Ndebele (isiNdebele) Swazi (siSwati) Xhosa (isiXhosa) Zulu (isiZulu) Venda (Tshivenda) Tsonga (Xitsonga) PanSALB1 Khoi Nama San SASL German Greek Gujarati Hindi Portuguese Tamil Telegu Urdu Arabic Hebrew Sanskrit 1 unofficial languages mentioned in the 1996 constitution

"A Whiter Shade of Pale" is the debut song by the British band Procol Harum, released 12 May 1967. The single reached number one in the UK Singles Chart^[1] on 8 June 1967, and stayed there for six weeks. Without much promotion, it reached #5 on the US charts, as well. It is one of the fewer than 30 all-time singles to have sold 10 million (or more) copies worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

With its haunting Bach-flavoured instrumental melody, soulful vocals, and unusual lyrics—by the song's co-authors Gary Brooker, Keith Reid,^[2] and Matthew Fisher-- "A Whiter Shade of Pale" reached #1 in several countries when released in 1967. In the years since, it has become an enduring classic. It was the most played song in the last 75 years in public places in the UK (as of 2009),^[3] and the United Kingdom performing rights group Phonographic Performance Limited in 2004 recognised it as the most-played record by British broadcasting of the past 70 years.^[4] Also in 2004, Rolling Stone placed "A Whiter Shade of Pale" #57 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

More than 1000 recorded cover versions by other artists are known.^[5] The song has been included in many music compilations over the decades and has also been used in the soundtracks of numerous films, including The Big Chill, Purple Haze, Breaking the Waves, The Boat That Rocked and notably in Martin Scorsese's segment of New York Stories. Cover versions of the song have also been featured in many films, for example by King Curtis in Withnail and I and by Annie Lennox in The Net.

The original writing credits were for Brooker and Reid only. On 30 July 2009, Matthew Fisher won co-writing credit for the music in a unanimous ruling from the Law Lords.

Recording and personnel[link]

The song was performed and recorded at Olympic Studios in London, England with Gary Brooker providing the vocals and piano, Matthew Fisher on a Hammond M-102 organ, David Knights on bass and Ray Royer on guitar. Drums were by session drummer Bill Eyden. A few days later, the song was re-recorded with the band's then newly-recruited drummer Bobby Harrison. That version, though, was considered inferior^{[citation needed]} and one of the original mono recordings was chosen for release.

Producer for the record was Denny Cordell and Keith Grant was the sound engineer.^[6]

The song was included on the original U.S. release of the Procol Harum album, but not on the UK version.

Lyrics[link]

Reid got the title and the starting point for the song at a party. He overheard someone at the party saying to a woman, "You've turned a whiter shade of pale," and the phrase stuck in his mind.^[7][8] The original lyrics had four verses, of which only two are heard on the original recording. The third verse has been heard in live performances by Procol Harum, and more seldom also the fourth.^[9] The author of Procol Harum: beyond the pale, Claes Johansen, suggests that the song "deals in metaphorical form with a male/female relationship which after some negotiation ends in a sexual act."^[8] This is supported by Tim de Lisle in Lives of the Great Songs, who remarks that the lyrics concern a drunken seduction, which is described through references to sex as a form of travel, usually nautical, using mythical and literary journeys.^[10] Other observers have also commented that the lyrics concern a sexual relationship.^[7]

Structurally and thematically, the song is unusual in many respects. While the recorded version is 4:03 long, it is composed of only two verses, each with chorus. The piece is also more instrument-driven than most songs of the period, and with a much looser rhyme scheme. Its unusually allusive and referential lyrics are much more complex than most lyrics of the time (for example, the chorus focuses on Chaucer's The Miller's Tale). Thus, this piece can be thought of as a forerunner to the progressive rock that would reach its zenith about ten years later.

The phrase a whiter shade of pale has since gained widespread use in the English language, noticed by several dictionaries.^[11][12][13] As such, the phrase is today often used in contexts independent of any consideration of the song. (See ^[14] for many annotated examples complete with links to original sources.) It has also been heavily paraphrased, in forms like an Xer shade of Y--this to the extent that it has been recognised^[15][16] as a snowclone – a type of cliché and phrasal template.

Composition[link]

The song is in moderate time, in C major, and is characterised by the bassline moving stepwise downwards in a repeated pattern throughout. In classical music this is known as a ground bass. The harmonic structure is identical for the organ melody, the verse and the chorus, except that the chorus finishes with a cadence. The main organ melody appears at the beginning and after each verse/chorus. But it is also heard throughout, playing variations of its theme and counterpointing the vocal line. Both the vocal and the organ accompaniment reach a crescendo at the beginning of the chorus "And so it was, and later ..."; where the organist rapidly runs his finger down and up the entire keyboard. The final instrumental fades out to silence - a common device in pop music of the time.

The Hammond organ line of "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach's "Sleepers, Wake!" and "Air on the G String" - both of which use a similar stepwise bass motion. But contrary to popular belief, the song is not a direct copy or paraphrase of any music by Bach,^[17] although it makes clear references to both pieces. This similarity is referred to in the 1982 play The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard and the 1991 film The Commitments. A yet closer melodic influence that is seldom cited can arguably^{[weasel words]} be found in the organ choral prelude "O Mensch bewein dein' Sünde groß" (O Man, Lament Your Sin So Great), BWV 622, from Bach's Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book). The music also borrows ideas from "When a Man Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge.^[18]

Reception[link]

The single was released on 12 May 1967 by Deram Records and entered the UK charts on 25 May. In two weeks it reached number one where it stayed for six weeks, and on the UK chart for a total of 15 weeks. A May 1972 re-release on Fly Records stayed in the UK charts for a total of 12 weeks, and reached number 13 as highest. In the US, it reached #5 and sold over one million copies. In the Netherlands it entered the chart at number one in June 1967 and again reached number one in July 1972.

Chart positions: # 1 (UK), # 1 (the Netherlands), # 1 (Germany), # 1 (Ireland), # 1 (Australia), # 1 (World), # 3 (Norway VG-lista), # 5 (USA Hot 100). "A Whiter Shade of Pale" also managed to peak at number twenty-two on the soul charts in the U.S.^[19]

Over time, "A Whiter Shade of Pale" has earned extensive critical acclaim:

• John Lennon was a great fan of the song and was known to have played it repeatedly in his Rolls Royce. When it was released in England, Lennon (and friends in his circle) reportedly confused Brooker's soulful vocals with Steve Winwood, who had popularity at the time with The Spencer Davis Group.
• It was named joint winner (along with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", which also uses the word 'fandango') of the Best British Pop Single 1952–1977 at the BRIT Awards, part of Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.
• #57 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004.
• British TV station Channel 4 placed the song at #19 in its chart of the 100 greatest number one singles.^[20]

Authorship lawsuit[link]

In 2005, former Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher filed suit in the High Court against Gary Brooker and his publisher, claiming that he co-wrote the music for the song.^[21]

Fisher won the case on 20 December 2006 but was awarded 40% of the composers' share of the music copyright, rather than the 50% he was seeking and was not granted royalties prior to 2005.^[22]

Gary Brooker and publisher Onward Music were granted leave to appeal, and a hearing on the matter was held before a panel of three judges during the week of 1 October 2007. The decision, on 4 April 2008, by Lord Justice Mummery, in the Court of Appeal upheld Fisher's co-authorship^[23] but ruled that he should receive no royalties as he had taken too long (38 years) to bring his claim to litigation. Full royalty rights were returned to Brooker.^[24]

On 5 November 2008, Matthew Fisher was granted permission to appeal this decision to the House of Lords.^[25] Lawyers say it is the first time the Law Lords have been asked to rule on a copyright dispute involving a song.^[26] The appeal was heard in the House of Lords on 22–23 April 2009.^[27]

On 30 July 2009 the Law Lords unanimously ruled in Fisher's favour. They noted that the delay in bringing the case had not caused any harm to the other party; on the contrary they had benefited financially from it. They also pointed out that there were no time limits to copyright claims under English law. The right to future royalties was therefore returned to Fisher.^[28][29] The musicological basis of the judgment, and its effect on the rights of musicians who contribute composition to future works, has drawn some attention in the music world.^[30]

Video[link]

The first video for the song was shot in the ruins of Witley Court in Worcestershire, England.^[31] The Witley Court video features four of the five musicians who played on the hit single: Gary Brooker, Matthew Fisher, David Knights and Ray Royer, in performance and walking through the ruins. Only the drummer in the video isn't on the record: early band member Bobby Harrison is seen miming to session man Bill Eyden's drumming. According to Shindig! Magazine's Procol Harum cover story by Alan Robinson (November–December 2009 issue – page 55), the video was directed by Peter Clifton whose insertion of Vietnam War newsreel footage caused it to be banned from airplay on the "Top of the Pops" TV show. The band subsequently made another video using "Scopitone" technology, but by this time, Robin Trower and B.J. Wilson had replaced Royer and Harrison in the band, so only three of the five musicians on the recording are represented, and no performance footage included – only the five musicians cavorting around London, running across fields, etc. This lineup, with Fisher in a monk's cowl, also mimed to the song on Top of the Pops, (though Gary Brooker sang live) and black and white footage of this performance has been shown online, perhaps constituting the third video of the song from 1967. (See also its inclusion on the 'Top of the Pops 40th Anniversary 1964–2004 DVD'.)

There was also a video shot as part of Joel Gallen's Deja-View music video series.^[32] Originally airing on various networks in late 1985 through 1986, this video starred Harry Dean Stanton and Bernie Taupin, but featured no member of the band. It has also aired on VH1 Classic, and has recently surfaced online.^[33][34]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bill Eyden Obituary
• Procol Harum — A Whiter Shade Of Pale, live video from Eagle Rock Entertainment's official channel on YouTube
• A Whiter Shade of Pale: authorised lyrics of all four verses