Xhosa is a member of the Nguni branch of the Southern Bantu languages, spoken by roughly 19 million people in South Africa and neighboring countries. Characterized by its rich click consonants, noun-class system, tonal patterns, and agglutinative morphology, Xhosa shares many features with other Bantu languages. According to the eLinguistics.net analysis using specific software modules to assess linguistic relationships, the five languages most similar to Xhosa are Zulu, Tsonga, Chichewa, Shona, and Swahili.
- Zulu (79.4)
Another Bantu language primarily spoken in South Africa is Zulu. It is considered Xhosa’s closest linguistic relative. The two languages share a significant portion of their vocabulary and grammar. Historical and cultural interactions between the Zulu and Xhosa people have further contributed to the similarities between their languages. - Tsonga (45.7)
Although Tsonga is not as closely related as Xhosa, it still shares several similarities with Xhosa. Tsonga is spoken in parts of South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. The language has been influenced by neighboring languages, including Xhosa. As a result, some common vocabulary and grammatical elements overlap. - Chichewa (41.7)
In Malawi, Chichewa is widely spoken. Its roughly twelve million speakers. Chichewa’s two basic tone levels feel more restrained compared to Xhosa’s fluid tonal melodies, and its vocabulary shares only around thirty to forty percent overlap. Clicks, too, are absent, and Chichewa draws sharper contrasts through its use of vowel length to mark meaning. - Shona (39.6)
Most Shona speakers are located in Zimbabwe. Like Xhosa, Shona retains a full complement of noun classes, serial verb constructions, and a tonal melody. Although some terms such as mwana for “child” are similar, many everyday words are still quite different in these languages. - Swahili (38.8)
Swahili is widely spoken in East Africa. Although it has diverged from Xhosa and other Southern Bantu languages to a greater extent, it still shares core grammatical structures and some vocabulary, reflecting their common Bantu origins. One big difference is that Swahili has more Arabic influences.
(to be considered for the list, the language must be spoken by at least one million people)