Sesotho uses the apostrophe to represent the missing half of a doubled letter. Perhaps the most commonly uttered word in Sesotho (and probably in every language) is ‘Mè. ‘Mè means mother. It can also be written as Mmè, prompting many to think it is the French abbreviation of madame, since it does appear in front of a woman’s name, too.
How many syllables do you think ‘Mè has? It has two. How many different tones do you think it has? I can think of two, as well. The first tonal combination is used to refer to a mother in general, one’s own or another. It is mMÈ, as in lumela ‘mè, or /luMEla mMÈ/, meaning “hello/greetings mother.” Again it’s one’s own mother or any lady old enough to be one.
The second tonal combination is used to refer to one’s own mother, in the case where the term replaces the name. It is Mmè, as in Mmè ke lapile, or /Mmè ke laPIle/, meaning “Mum, I’m hungry.” Other Sesotho words in which an apostrophe replaces one of the letters of a doubled pair are:
‘ne or nne or four
‘na or nna or me
‘ma or mma or mother of (usually with a name afterwards)
‘mila or mmila or road
‘mopi or mmopi or the creator
‘mino or mmino or music
‘mutla or mmutla or rabbit
‘methe oe mmethe or sack
But the apostrophe isn’t always welcome, as in the verb lla (cry), and probably in many other words. If you can think of a word or words I’ve omitted in either group, let me know. I’ll be happy to include them. I might make a quiz of some sort on this phenomenon, but till then, if you’re a learner, why not try some of these quizzes?
