Ta'a language
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| Taʼa | ||
|---|---|---|
| Spoken in: | Botswana, Namibia | |
| Region: | Southern Ghanzi District, northern Kgalagadi District, western Southern and western Kweneng Districts. Also spoken in Namibia. | |
| Total speakers: | 4,200 | |
| Language family: | Tuu Taʼa Taʼa |
|
| Language codes | ||
| ISO 639-1: | none | |
| ISO 639-2: | khi | |
| ISO 639-3: | nmn | |
| Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. | ||
Taʼa or ǃXóõ is a Khoisan language with a very large number of phonemes (speech sounds), by many counts the most of any known language, at least 74 consonants, 31 vowels, and four tones. These include fifty or more click consonants and several vowel phonations, though opinions vary as to which sounds are single segments versus clusters.
As of 2002 Taʼa 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, Taʼa was thought to be the last surviving member of the Tuu 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, ǀʼAuni 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 Taʼa. 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 Taʼa, which might be better described as a dialect continuum than as a single language.
[edit] Dialects
The two Namibian dialects, West !Xoon and 'N|ohan, are rather divergent. Botswanan dialects are not well described, though a survey was scheduled to partially remedy that in 2007.
[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 Taʼa 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
Taʼa 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.
Taʼa has 83 click sounds. Given the intricate clusters seen in the non-click consonants, it is not surprising that many of the Taʼa 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 Taʼa, 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 Taʼa 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. Recent work on Taʼa's sister language Nǀuu suggests that all clicks in both languages have a uvular or rear articulation, and that the clicks considered to be uvular here are actually velo-pulmonic and velo-glottalic airstream contours. It may be that the 'prevoiced' consonants of Taʼa can also be analysed as contour consonants, in this case with voicing contours.
All nasal clicks have twin airstreams, since the air passing through the nose bypasses the tongue. Usually this is pulmonic egressive. However, the ↓ŋ̊ʰ series in Taʼa is characterized by pulmonic ingressive nasal airflow. Ladefoged (SOWL p 268) states that "This ǃXóõ click is probably unique among the sounds of the world's languages that, even in the middle of a sentence, it may have ingressive pulmonic airflow."
[edit] Grammar
Taʼa 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, Taʼa has a tendency to put the question word at the beginning of sentences.
Anthony Traill did extensive research concerning the language and its various aspects. He even wrote a dictionary of the Taʼa language, named A ǃXóõ Dictionary, as well as a book on the phonetics of the language.
[edit] Example phrases
These example phrases are from the Eastern ǃXóõ dialect and were compiled by Anthony Traill.
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ǃnˤù.ṵ ì à ǁʼà-be ǃù.m ʘàa sâa Hare.14 1PRO PST take:S-3 Eland.3 child:34 thither "As for Hare, she took Eland's child away."
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ǃqháa̰ kū ǂnûm ǁɢˤûlitê ǀè dtxóʔlu ǀnàe ǂʼá sˤàa̰ give MPO:4PRO two genital:22-P ASS:3 stench:3 DAT:3PRO COM:2 fat:22 "Give them their stinking genitals with the fat!"
[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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