Abstract
This paper describes the problems encountered yesterday, those that are being encountered today, and those that might be encountered tomorrow in the practical orthographies of the Sotho languages (although these problems essentially pertain to all of the nine official African languages in South Africa). Concepts, such as “Standard”, “Written norm”, “Spoken norm”, “Spelling” and “Orthography”, are defined. Certain questions arise, for example: Is it possible to adhere to the orthography laid down by one of the African Language Boards? If not, why not? After all, what is the purpose of a “Standard Orthography”? Does an orthography play any role in communication or, for that matter, education? Undeniably yes, but what is its role? Why should publishers be concerned? Whilst probing such questions, it has been necessary to have recourse to the development and the present state of the orthographies of other languages in the world so as to retain perspective.
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