ǃXóõ language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| ǃXóõ | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Botswana, Namibia | |
| Region: | Southern Gantsi district, northern Kgalagadi District, western Southern and western Kweneng districts. Also spoken in Namibia. | |
| Total speakers: | 4,200 | |
| Language family: | Khoisan Taʼa-ǃKwi Taʼa ǃXóõ |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | khi | |
| ISO 639-3: | nmn | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key. | ||
ǃXóõ is a Khoisan language with a very large number of phonemes, the most of any known language. These include many clicks and vowel phonations.
As of 2002 ǃXóõ is spoken by about 4,200 people worldwide. These are mainly in Botswana (approximately 4,000 people), but some are in Namibia.
Contents |
[edit] Relatives
Until the rediscovery of a few elderly speakers of Nǀu in the 1990s, ǃXóõ was thought to be the last surviving member of the Taʼa-ǃKwi language family.
[edit] Alternate names
ǀʼAuni (extinct), Kakia (extinct), Kiǀhazi (extinct), Nǀgamani (extinct), Ngǀuǁen (extinct), Nǀu-san, Xatia (Katia, Kattea, Khatia, Vaalpens, ǀKusi, ǀEikusi, Masarwa), ǃKwi.
There is much confusion with these names. For example, IʼAuni is actually a dialect of Nǀu, in the ǃKwi family, and Nguen, Nǀu-san are alternate names of that language. ǃKwi may also be a ǃKwi dialect rather than a dialect of ǃXóõ. Kakia may be a separate language in the Taʼa family, and Xatia etc may be variants of that name. Nonetheless, there is dialectal variation in ǃXóõ, which might be better described as a dialect continuum than as a single language.
[edit] Phonemes
[edit] Tones
There are 4 tones: high [á], mid [ā], low [à], and mid-falling [â].
[edit] Vowels
There are 5 vowel qualities, [a e i o u], which may be plain, murmured, or glottalized. [a o u] may also be both glottalized and murmured, as well as pharyngealized or strident. [a u] may be both pharyngealized and glottalized, for 26 vowels not counting nasalization or length.
Murmured vowels after plain consonants contrast with plain vowels after aspirated consonants, and likewise glottalized vowels with ejective consonants, so these are phonations of the vowels and not assimilation with consonant phonation.
Vowels may be long or short, but long vowels may be sequences rather than distinct phonemes. The other vowel quality sequences (diphthongs?), disregarding the added complexity of phonation, are [ai, ae, ao, au, oi, oe, oa, ou, ui, ue, ua].
All plain vowels may be nasalized. No other phonation may be nasalized, but nasalization occurs in combination with other phonations as the second vowel of a sequence ("long vowel" or "diphthong"). These sequences alternate dialectically with vowel plus velar nasal. That is, the name ǃXóõ may be dialectically [kǃxóŋ], and this in turn may be phonemically /kǃxóɲ/, since [ɲ] does not occur word-finally. However, this cannot explain the short nasal vowels, so ǃXóõ has at least 31 vowels.
A long, glottalized, murmured, nasalized o with falling tone is written <ôʼhõ>. A long, strident nasalized o with low tone is written <òqhõ>, since Traill analyzes stridency as phonemically pharyngealized murmur. (Note that phonetically these are distinct phonations.)
[edit] Consonants
ǃXóõ is unusual in allowing mixed voicing in its consonants. These have been called "prevoiced", but they actually appear to be consonant clusters. When homorganic, as in [dt], such clusters are listed in the chart below.
| non-click consonants | labial | dental | alveolar | palatal | velar | corresponding clicks? |
uvular | corresponding clicks? |
glottal | |
| oral stop | voiced | b ~ v | d | ʣ | ɡ | ɡǃ etc. | ɢ ~ ɴɢ | ɢǃ ~ ɴɢǃ etc. | ||
| tenuis | t | ʦ | k | kǃ etc. | q | qǃ etc. | ʔ | |||
| aspirated | tʰ | ʦʰ | kʰ | kǃʰ etc. | qʰ | |||||
| ejective | ʦʼ | kxʼ | kǃʼqʼ etc. | (qʼ) | qǃʼ etc. | |||||
| aspirated cluster | dtʰ | dʦʰ | ɡǃh etc. | ɢqʰ ~ ɴɢqʰ | ɢǃh etc. | |||||
| ejective cluster | dʦʼ | ɡkxʼ | ɡ!qʼ etc. | |||||||
| fricative | voiceless | s | x | kǃx etc. ? | ||||||
| nasal | voiced | m | n | ɲ | (ŋ) | ŋǃ etc. | ||||
| glottalized | mˀ | nˀ | ʔŋǃ etc. | |||||||
| other | (l) | dʲ ~ j | ||||||||
The nasal [ɲ] only occurs between vowels, and [ŋ] only word finally (and then only in some dialects), so these may be allophones.
There are additional consonant clusters: [tx, dtx, ʦx, dʦx, tkxʼ, dtkxʼ, ʦʼkxʼ, dʦʼkxʼ]. The click accompaniments seen in [ŋ̊ǃ, ŋ̊ǃʰ, kǃˀ, ɡǃkx] also do not fit into the chart.
ǃXóõ has 83 click sounds. Given the intricate clusters seen in the non-click consonants, it is not surprising that many of the ǃXóõ clicks should be analyzed as clusters. However, while some are clearly simplex and some clearly complex, there is debate over others.
There are five click releases: bilabial, dental, lateral, alveolar, and palatal. There are seventeen accompaniments, both velar and uvular. These are perfectly normal consonants in ǃXóõ, and indeed are preferred over non-clicks in word-initial position.
| affricated clicks | 'sharp' clicks | accompaniment, along with speaker or dialect variation | |||
| labial clicks | dental clicks | lateral clicks | alveolar clicks | palatal clicks | |
| kʘ | kǀ | kǁ | kǃ | kǂ | Tenuis (k) |
| qʘ | qǀ | qǁ | qǃ | qǂ | Tenuis uvular (q) |
| ŋ̊ʘ | ŋ̊ǀ | ŋ̊ǁ | ŋ̊! | ŋ̊ǂ | Voiceless nasal (ŋ̊) |
| ɡʘ | ɡǀ | ɡǁ | ɡǃ | ɡǂ | Voiced (ɡ) |
| ɢʘ | ɢǀ | ɢǁ | ɢǃ | ɢǂ | (Prenasalized) voiced uvular (ɢ, ɴɢ) |
| ŋʘ | ŋǀ | ŋǁ | ŋǃ | ŋǂ | Voiced nasal (ŋ) |
| kʘʰ | kǀʰ | kǁʰ | kǃʰ | kǂʰ | Aspirated (kʰ) |
| ŋ̊ʘʰ | ŋ̊ǀʰ | ŋ̊ǁʰ | ŋ̊ǃʰ | ŋ̊ǂʰ | Ingressive voiceless nasal with delayed aspiration (↓ŋ̊ʰ) |
| kʘˣ | kǀˣ | kǁˣ | kǃˣ | kǂˣ | Voiceless affricate (kˣ) |
| ˀŋʘ | ˀŋǀ | ˀŋǁ | ˀŋǃ | ˀŋǂ | Preglottalized nasal (ˀŋ) |
| qʘʼ | qǀʼ | qǁʼ | qǃʼ | qǂʼ | Uvular ejective (qʼ) |
| kʘˀ | kǀˀ | kǁˀ | kǃˀ | kǂˀ | Glottalized plosive (kˀ) |
| ɡʘx | ɡǀx | ɡǁx | ɡǃx | ɡǂx | Voiced velar plosive followed by voiceless velar fricative (ɡx, ɡkx) |
| kʘʼqʼ | kǀʼqʼ | kǁʼqʼ | kǃʼqʼ | kǂʼqʼ | Velar ejective followed by uvular ejective (kʼqʼ, dialectically kxʼ) |
| ɡʘqʼ | ɡǀqʼ | ɡǁqʼ | ɡǃqʼ | ɡǂqʼ | Voiced velar plosive followed by uvular ejective (ɡqʼ, dialectically ɡkxʼ) |
| ɡʘh | ɡǀh | ɡǁh | ɡǃh | ɢǂh | Voiced velar plosive followed by aspiration (ɡh, ɡkʰ) |
| ɢǀh | ɢǃh | ɢǂh | Voiced (prenasalized) uvular plosive followed by aspiration, velar frication, or uvular trill (ᴺɢh, ᴺɢx, ᴺɢʀ) | ||
Peter Ladefoged analyses the first ten accompaniments (through the ʔŋǃ series) as simplex, and the last seven as complex. This would mean that ǃXóõ has 50 simple clicks. However, it is not clear that the uvular ejective click series (qǃ’, etc) are consonant clusters, since the double-ejective clicks (kǃʼqʼ etc) are analysed as two segments, not three. Also, glottalized clicks similar to the kǃˀ series are analysed as simple consonants in other Khoisan languages.
[edit] Grammar
ǃXóõ is a Subject Verb Object language, and grammar is prepositional. Genitives, adjectives, relative clauses, and numbers come after the nouns they apply to. Reduplication is used to form causatives. Like some other Khoisan languages, ǃXóõ has a tendency to put the question word at the beginning of sentences.
Anthony Traill has done extensive research concerning the language and its various aspects. He has even written a dictionary of the ǃXóõ language, named A ǃXóõ Dictionary, as well as a book on the phonetics of the language.
[edit] References
- Traill, Anthony (1994). A !Xóõ Dictionary, (Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung, vol. 9), Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. ISBN 3927620564.
- Traill, Anthony (1985). Phonetic and phonological studies of "!Xóõ" Bushman. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. ISBN 3871186694.
[edit] External links
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