Northern Sotho language 北索托语
（重定向自Lovedu）
![Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: proportion of the population that speaks a form of Northern Sotho at home.
0–20%
20–40%
40–60%
60–80%
80–100%](/Images/godic/202501/25/South_Africa_2011_Northern_Sotho_speakers_proportion_map.svg5914.png")
![Geographical distribution of Northern Sotho in South Africa: density of Northern Sotho home-language speakers.
<1 /km²
1–3 /km²
3–10 /km²
10–30 /km²
30–100 /km²
100–300 /km²
300–1000 /km²
1000–3000 /km²
>3000 /km²](/Images/godic/202501/25/South_Africa_2011_Northern_Sotho_speakers_density_map.svg5914.png")
Northern Sotho (Sesotho sa Leboa, also known by the name of its standardized dialect Sepedi or Pedi) is a Bantu language spoken primarily in South Africa, where it is one of the 11 official languages. According to the 2011 census it was the first language of 4,618,576 people in South Africa, principally in the provinces of Limpopo, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.