Abstract:
The development of Sepedi as a written language extends over a period of 100 years, from 1870 to 1967 when the current orthography was finalised. The missionaries, who were to put Sepedi to writing, were members of the Berlin Missionary Society who arrived in South Africa in 1859. To fulfil their mission, they had to devise a writing system for Sepedi, because the translation of the Bible was their ultimate aim. In the development of Sepedi as a written language a clear distinction must be drawn between the period before October 1929 and the period thereafter. The period before October 1929 may be characterized as one of multiformity. Everyone wrote Sepedi as he thought best, since there was no coordinating body to control the development of the written form of Sepedi. The era after October 1929 is marked by the achievement of uniformity and standardisation. During this period an effort was made to create a uniform orthography for the written Sotho languages. At this point in time there were three written Sotho languages, namely, Sesotho (Southern Sotho), Setswana and Sepedi (Northern Sotho).
