!Kung language

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!Kung
!Xũũ
Spoken in: Namibia, Angola 
Region: Okavango and Ovamboland Territory
Total speakers: 15,000
Language family: Khoisan
 Ju
  !Kung
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: khi
ISO/FDIS 639-3: variously:
knw — Kung-Ekoka
oun — !O!ung
mwj — Maligo
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

!Kung or !’O!Kung is a group of northern dialects of the Ju dialect continuum, which is generally classified as part of the Khoisan language family. !Kung is spoken in northern Namibia and southern Angola by perhaps 15,000 Saan, though this number is uncertain due to the possibility of double counting populations that go by more than one name. It is primarily spoken by the !Kung people.

Contents

[edit] Alternate names

(!’O)!Kung is also spelled Qxü, !Xû(n), !Ku, !Hu, !Khung, !Xung, !O!ung, and regionally called Maligo or !Xu-Angola, !Kung-Ekoka, ’Akhoe, and Vasekela.

[edit] Geographic distribution

!Kung is spoken in Namibia and Angola, generally around the Okavango River and Ovamboland Territory.

[edit] Current status

!Kung is endangered, along with most other Khoisan languages, because of encroaching Bantu and Khoi cultures. The Herero and Nama languages are becoming more commonly spoken among the Kung-ekoka, and the hunter-gatherer way of life that is typical of the Khoisan-speaking peoples is being eroded by Bantu and Khoi farming settlements.

[edit] Sounds

!Kung is famous for having one of the largest sound inventories in the world. However, the exact number depends on the analysis used to count them. But they do have 48 distinct click sounds[1]

For the complete sound inventory of a related Ju dialect, see Ju/’hoan.

Phonemic contrasts in !Kung include:

  • Pulmonic - click - twa to finish vs ǂwa to imitate
    • Pulmonic consonants
      • Voiced - voiceless unaspirated - voiceless aspirated stop: da skin, ta wild orange, tʰa bee sting
      • Voiced - voiceless unaspirated - voiceless aspirated - ejective affricate: djau expression of surprise, tca to fetch, tsʰe week, tc'a to pour
      • Voiced - voiceless fricative: za to sexually insult, se to see
    • Click consonants
      • Voiced unaspirated - voiced aspirated: gǃai~ puff adder, gǃʰei~ tree
      • Voiceless unaspirated - voiceless aspirated: ǃe~ noise, ǃʰa~ to know
      • Unaffricated - affricated release: ǃo behind, ǃxo elephant
      • Plain - glottalised release: ǃábí to roll up a blanket, ǃ?àbú rifle
      • Plain - nasalised: ǀi rhinoceros, nǀi to sit
  • Vowels
    • Plain - nasalised: gǃa rain, gǃa~ red
    • Plain - pharyngealised: nǀom springhare, nǀo̱m big talker
    • Short - long: ǀu to throw, ǀu: to put in

!Kung also distinguishes three to five tones.

[edit] Grammar

Linguistically, !Kung is generally termed isolating; what this means is that words' meanings are changed by the addition of other, separate words, rather than by the addition of affixes or the changing of word structure. A few suffixes exist - for example, distributive plurals are formed with the noun suffix -si or -mhi, but in the main meaning is given only by series of words rather than by grouping of affixes.

!Kung distinguishes no formal plural, and the suffixes -si and -mhi are optional in usage. The language's word order is Adverb-Subject-Verb-Object, and in this it is similar to English: "the snake bites the man" is represented by ǂ'aama nǃei zhu (ǂ'aama - snake, nǃei - to bite, zhu - man). Kung-ekoka uses word and sentence tone contours, and has a very finely differentiated vocabulary for the animals, plants and conditions native to the Kalahari Desert, where the language is spoken. For example, the plant genus Grewia is referred to by five different words, representing five different species in this genus.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Glenn R. Mortan (2002-09). Language at the Dawn of Humanity (PDF). asa3.org. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.

Snyman, Jan Winston. 1980. The relationship between Angolan !Xu and Zu/'õasi. In Bushman and Hottentot linguistic studies 1979, pp. 1-58. Ed. J. W. Snyman. University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria.

[edit] External links

Khoisan languages  (classification)

 Edit
‖Ani | G‖ana | G/wi | Hadza | ‡Hõã | Ju/’hoan | Korana | !Kung (!Xũũ) | Kwadi | ‡Kx’au‖’ein | Kxoe |

Nama | Naro | N/u | Sandawe | Seroa | Shua | Tsoa | ǀXam | ‖Xegwi | Xiri | !Xóõ
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