This is the first in a series on Setswana language, literature and culture produced by the Department of Africa Languages and Literature at the University of Botswana. It provides a uniquely comprehensive and systematic description of the sound system of the language spoken in Botswana. It deals with speech sounds, namely consonants and vowels, by describing their distinctive properties, their functional roles in the language, representation in the current orthography and their regional variations. The description also looks at other sound phenomena such as vowel lengthening, syllable structure, stress and tone. All new terms and concepts are systematically explained, with many examples.