Nama language

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Nama
Khoekhoegowab
Spoken in: Namibia, Botswana and South Africa 
Region: Orange River, Great Namaland
Total speakers: 250,000

Namibia: approx. 176,000
plus 16,000 Haiǁom
Botswana: 200 to 1,000
South Africa: approx. 56,000
Language family: Khoisan
 Khoe
  Khoekhoe
   North Khoekhoe
    Nama 
Official status
Official language of: National language in Namibia
Regulated by: no official regulation
Language codes
ISO 639-1: none
ISO 639-2: khi
ISO 639-3: variously:
hgm — Haiǁom
kqz — Korana
naq — Nama (Namibia)
xii — Xiri 
The distribution of the Nama language in Namibia.
The distribution of the Nama language in Namibia.
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.

Nàmá, also known as Khoekhoe or Khoekhoegowab, previously called Hottentot, is the most populous and widespread of the Khoisan languages. It belongs to the Khoe language family, and is spoken in Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa by the Nama, Damara, and Haiǁom, as well as smaller ethnic groups such as the ǂKhomani. The name for Nama speakers, Khoekhoen, is from the Nama word khoe "person", with reduplication and the suffix -n to indicate the plural. According to Ethnologue, there were 250,000 speakers as of 1998.

Nama is a national language in Namibia. In Namibia and South Africa, radio programs are broadcast in Nama.

Contents

[edit] Classification

Nama is a Khoe language, which is part of a hypothetical Khoisan phylum, it belongs to the northern branch of the Khoekhoe subbrans of the family (together with now extinct Eini).

[edit] Geographic distribution

Nama has 250,000 speakers in Namibia, South Africa, and (a few in) Botswana.

[edit] Dialects

[edit] Sounds

[edit] Vowels

There are 5 vowel qualities, found as oral /i e a o u/ and nasal /ĩ ã ũ/. These may be long or short, and there are several sequences or diphthongs: [əi ae əu ao ui oa oe] and nasal [ə͠ı ə͠u u͠ı o͠a]. ([ə] is phonemically /a/.)

[edit] Tones

Nama has three tones, /á, ā, à/, which may occur on vowels and nasal stops. The mid tone is not written.

[edit] Consonants

Nama has 31 consonants: 20 clicks and a simple set of 11 non-clicks.

[edit] Non-clicks

Bilabial Alveolar Velar Glottal
Stop p ~ β t ~ ɾ k kʰ ʔ
Affricate ʦ
Fricative s x h
Nasal m n

Between vowels, /p/ is pronounced [β] and /t/ is pronounced [ɾ].

[edit] Clicks

The clicks are doubly articulated consonants. Each click consists of one of four primary articulations or "influxes" and one of five secondary articulation or "effluxes". The combination of influxes and effluxes results in 20 phonemes.

The aspirated clicks are often pronounced as affricates. That is, /kǀˣ/ may be pronounced anywhere from [kǃʰ] to [kǃx].

The voiceless nasal accompaniment is difficult to hear when not between vowels, so to foreign ears it may sound like a longer but less raspy version of the aspirated accompaniment.

There have been several orthographies used for Nama, with sometimes conflicting differences in the representation of the clicks. In A Khoekhoegowab dictionary (Haacke 2000) the standardized version of Nama orthography has been used.

accompaniment affricated clicks 'sharp' clicks standardized
orthography
(with "ǃ")
dental
clicks		 lateral
clicks		 alveolar
clicks		 palatal
clicks
Tenuis kǀ kǁ kǃ kǂ <ǃg>
Aspirated kǀˣ kǁˣ kǃˣ kǂˣ <ǃkh>
Nasal ŋǀ ŋǁ ŋǃ ŋǂ <ǃn>
Voiceless nasal with
delayed aspiration		 ŋ̊ǀʰ ŋ̊ǁʰ ŋ̊ǃʰ ŋ̊ǂʰ <ǃh>
Tenuis with glottal stop kǀʔ kǁʔ kǃʔ kǂʔ <ǃ>

[edit] Grammar

Nama has a Subject Object Verb word order.

[edit] Example

Xam-i ke ʼa ǀúrún hòán tì kàóʼao káísep ʼa ǀaísa, ǀóm ̊ǁxáí, xápú kxáó, tsií ǃháése ra ǃxóés ǃʼáróma.

Tsií maátsekám ̊ǁóakas hòásàp ke ǂxam xam-à ǃárop ǃnaa ǂʼoá tsií ̊ǁʼiip tì ǀaísìpà síí kèrè ǀnoóku náú ǀúrún ǀxáa. Tsií maá tsèes hòásàp ke ̊ǁʼiipà kèrè ʼóa-ǀxií tànʼaose. Tsií nee ǂhòas ke ǀúrún ǃhúùp hòárákap ǃnaa kè ̊ǁnàúhè tsií ǂʼánhè ʼií xam-i ʼa ǀúrún tì kàóʼao ǃxáisà. Tsií maá tsèes hííʼap kèrè ʼóa-ǀxií tàn tsiís kxáóǃáa ʼoos ke ̊ǁʼiip tì ̊ǁuusà kèrè koápi "tíí ʼóátse! ǀóm ǃnórótse! xápú kxáótse! ǀóm ̊ǁxáítse! ʼáore kxòetse!" tí.

Xapes ke ǀúí tsekám ̊ǁóaka kxàí-máá tsiíp ke ǂxam xam-à kàrósn ʼoo ǃxóóǀxáapi "ǀóm ̊ǁxáítseǃ ǀóm ǃnórótse! xam ̊ǁ’oatseǃ xápú kxáótseǃ" tí, !xóóǀxáapi tóá tsií kè míí "amʼaseta ke ra ǂóm saáts maá ǀúrún hòán xaa ʼa ǀaísa ǃxáisà. Maá tsèes hòásàts ke saátsà ǂʼoá ǃárop ǃnaa tsií ʼóa-ǀxií tsií ra ̊ǁaute ʼamʼasets saátsà ʼa ǀúrún tì kàó’ao ǃxáisà. Xape, tíí ʼóátseǃ ǀúí tsèets ke nìí ǂʼoá ǃárop ǃnaa. Tsií ǂʼoá tsiíts ǃárop ǃnaa ra ǃuumaa hííʼats ke ǂxarí xuuróp ǂhanúse ra ǃúu ǃxoótì ǃnaa ǂnùa tànásepà nìí mùu. Tsií, tíí ʼóátseǃ ǀóm ̊ǁxáítseǃ ǀóm ǃnórótseǃ xápú kxáótseǃ ̊ǁnaá ǂxarí xuuróp ǀxáats kàrà ǀhaóʼú tsèes ̊ǁnaás ʼáís ke sóresà nìí ǂaa ʼóa-ǀxií tamats hàa hííʼa. ̊ǁnaá xuuróp tì ǀʼòns ke "kxòep" tí ra ǂaíhè.

[edit] English Translation

The lion is king of all the beasts because he is very strong, thick of chest, slim of waist, and runs fast.

Every morning, the young lion would go out into the forest and compare his strength with the other beasts. And every day he would return the victor. This news was heard and known throughout the animal world: that the lion was king of the beasts. Every day that he would return victorious, his mother would praise him, "Son of mine! Thick of neck! Slim of waist! Thick of chest! He-man!"

But one morning, when having got up the young lion was stretching, she praised him, "Thick of chest! Thick of neck! Lion-armed! Slim of waist!," finished praising him and said, "I truly believe that you are strongest of all the beasts. Every day you go out into the forest and return, and show me that you are truly king of the beasts. But, my son, one day you will go out into the forest. And while you are out walking around in the forest, you will see a little thing which walks straight, its head sitting on its shoulders. And, Son of mine! Thick of chest! Thick of neck! Slim of waist!, the day you meet that little thing, on that day the sun will set while you have not returned. The name of that little thing is called 'man'.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Beach, Douglas M. 1938. The phonetics of the Hottentot language. Cambridge: Heffer.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid. 1976. A Nama grammar: the noun-phrase. MA thesis. University of Cape Town.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid H. G. 1977. The so-called "personal pronoun" in Nama. In Traill, Anthony, ed., Khoisan linguistic studies 3, 43-62. Communications 6. Johannesburg: African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid. 1978. Subject deposition in Nama. MA thesis. University of Essex. Colchester (UK).
  • Haacke, Wilfrid. 1992. Compound noun phrases in Nama. In Derek F. Gowlett, ed., African linguistic contributions (Festschrift Ernst Westphal), 189-194. Pretoria: Via Afrika.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid. 1992. Dislocated noun phrases in Khoekhoe (Nama/Damara): further evidence for the sentential hypothesis. Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 29, 149-162.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid. 1995. Instances of incorporation and compounding in Khoekhoegowab (Nama/Damara). In Anthony Traill, Rainer Vossen and Marguerite Anne Megan Biesele, eds., The complete linguist: papers in memory of Patrick J. Dickens, 339-361. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid, Eliphas Eiseb and Levi Namaseb. 1997. Internal and external relations of Khoekhoe dialects: a preliminary survey. In Wilfrid Haacke & Edward D. Elderkin, eds., Namibian languages: reports and papers, 125-209. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag for the University of Namibia.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid. 1999. The tonology of Khoekhoe (Nama/Damara). Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung/Research in Khoisan studies, Bd 16. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
  • Haacke, Wilfrid H.G. & Eiseb, Eliphas (2002) A Khoekhoegowab dictionary with an English-Khoekhoegowab index. Windhoek : Gamsberg Macmillan. ISBN 99916-0-401-4
  • Hagman, Roy S.. 1977. Nama Hottentot grammar. Language science monographs, v 15. Bloomington: Indiana University.
  • Hahn, Theophilus. 1870. Die Sprache der Nama, nebst einem Anhang enthaltend Sprachproben aus dem Munde des Volkes. Redigierte Ausgabe eine Dissertation mit einem Anhang über Mythen der Khoi-khoin nebst Übersetzung und Wörterverzeichnis. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth.

[edit] External links

Khoisan languages  (classification)

 Edit
ǁAni | Gǁana | Gǀwi | Hadza | ǂHõã | Juǀʼhoan | Korana | ǃKung (ǃXũũ) | Kwadi | ǂKxʼauǁʼein | Kxoe |

Nama | Naro | Nǀu | Sandawe | Seroa | Shua | Tsoa | ǀXam | ǁXegwi | Xiri | ǃXóõ
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