[4] It is also known by Pedi or Sepedi and holds the status of an official language in South Africa.

[10] The Northern Sotho written language was based largely on the Sepedi dialect.

Missionaries studied this dialect the most closely and first developed the orthography in 1860 by Alexander Merensky, Grutzner, and Gerlachshoop.

[11] This subsequently provided a common writing system for 20 or more varieties of the Sotho-Tswana languages spoken in the former Transvaal, and also helped lead to "Sepedi" being used as the umbrella term for the entire language family.

[citation needed] Northern Sotho can be subdivided into Highveld-Sotho, which consists of comparatively recent immigrants mostly from the west and southwest parts of South Africa, and Lowveld-Sotho, which consists of a combination of immigrants from the north of South Africa and Sotho inhabitants of longer standing.

[citation needed][12] Northern Sotho is also closely related to Setswana, sheKgalagari and siLozi.

The circumflex accent can be added to the letters e and o to distinguish their different sounds, but it is mostly used in language reference books.

Go feta fao, ga go kgethollo yeo e swanetšego go dirwa go ya ka maemo a dipolitiki, tokelo ya boahlodi, goba maemo a ditšhabatšhaba goba lefelo leo motho a dulago go lona, goba ke naga ye e ipušago, trasete, naga ya go se ipuše goba se sengwe le se sengwe seo se ka fokotšago maemo a go ikemela ga naga ya gabo.