Tshwa language
| Tsoa | |
|---|---|
| Kua | |
| Hiechware | |
| Native to | Botswana, Zimbabwe |
Native speakers | 4,100 Tshwa and Shua (2008)[citation needed] |
|
Khoe
| |
| Dialects |
Hiechware
Cua
Cire Cire
|
| Official status | |
Official language in |
 Zimbabwe (as 'Khoisan') |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
Either: hio – Tsoa tyu – Kua |
Tsoa or Tshwa, also known as Kua and Hiechware, is a Khoe language spoken by some 7,400 people in Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Tsoa is the only Khoisan language in Zimbabwe, where "Khoisan" is an officially recognized language in the constitution.
Dialects
Tsoa–Kua is a dialect cluster.
- Tsoa, also known as Hiechware and as various other combinations of Hio-, Hie-, Hai- + Chwa, Tshwa, Chuwau, Tshuwau + -re, -ri; also as Sarwa, Sesarwa (the Tswana name), Gǁabake-Ntshori, Tati, and Kwe-Etshori Kwee
- Kua, also spelled Cua and Tyhua
- Cire Cire [tʃire tʃire]
Phonology
The Cire-cire dialect has the following consonant inventory:
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Lateral | Post- alveolar |
Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal click | ᵑǀ | (ᵑǃ) | ᵑǁ | (ᵑǂ) | ||||
| Oral click | ǀ ᶢǀ ǀʰ | (ǃ ᶢǃ ǃʰ) | ǁ ᶢǁ ǁʰ | (ǂ ᶢǂ ǂʰ) | ||||
| Glottalized click | ǀˀ | ǁˀ | ||||||
| Affricate click | (ǀqχ) | (ǁqχ) | ||||||
| Nasal stop | m | n | ||||||
| Oral stop | p b | t d | k ɡ | q | ʔ | |||
| Affricate | dz | tʃ dʒ | ||||||
| Fricative | s z | ʃ | χ | |||||
| Approximant | l |
The clicks have a very uneven distribution: Only a dozen words begin with one of the palatal clicks (ǂ), and these are replaced by dental clicks (ǀ) among younger speakers. Only half a dozen words start with one of the alveolar clicks (ǃ), and half a dozen more with one of the affricated clicks. These rather marginal sounds are placed in parentheses in the chart.
Tsoa has the five vowels /a e i o u/. It is not clear if Tsoa has long vowels, or simply sequences of identical vowels /aa ee ii oo uu/.
There are two tones, high and low, plus a few cases of mid tone.
References
External links
- Map of Tsoa language from the LL-Map Project
- Kua/Tsua basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
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