Editing Tswana language (section)

== History ==
The first European to describe the language was the [[Germans|German traveller]] [[Hinrich Lichtenstein]], who lived among the [[Tswana people]] [[Batlhaping tribe|Batlhaping]] in 1806 although his work was not published until 1930. He mistakenly regarded Tswana as a [[dialect]] of the [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], and the name that he used for the language ''"Beetjuana"'' may also have covered the [[Northern Sotho language|Northern]] and [[Sotho language|Southern Sotho languages]].

The first major work on Tswana was carried out by the British [[missionary]] [[Robert Moffat (missionary)|Robert Moffat]], who had also lived among the [[Batlhaping tribe|Batlhaping]], and published ''Bechuana Spelling Book'' and ''A Bechuana Catechism'' in 1826. In the following years, he published several other [[books of the Bible]], and in 1857, he was able to publish a complete translation of the Bible.<ref name="janson_1991_36-37">{{Harvnb|Janson|Tsonope|1991|pp=36–37}}</ref>

The first grammar of Tswana was published in 1833 by the missionary James Archbell although it was modelled on a Xhosa grammar. The first grammar of Tswana which regarded it as a separate language from Xhosa (but still not as a separate language from the Northern and Southern Sotho languages) was published by the French missionary, E. Casalis in 1841. He changed his mind later, and in a publication from 1882, he noted that the Northern and Southern Sotho languages were distinct from Tswana.<ref>{{Harvnb|Janson|Tsonope|1991|pp=38–39}}</ref>

[[Sol Plaatje|Solomon Plaatje]], a South African intellectual and [[linguist]], was one of the first writers to extensively write in and about the Tswana language.<ref name="janson_1991_36-37" />