!Kung language

!Kung /ˈkʊŋ/ (!Xuun), also known as Ju,^[3] is a dialect continuum (language complex) spoken in Namibia, Botswana, and Angola by the ǃKung people. Together with the ǂHoan language, it forms the proposed Kx'a language family. !Kung constituted one of the branches of the putative Khoisan language family, and was called Northern Khoisan in that scenario, but the unity of Khoisan has never been demonstrated and is suspected to be spurious. Nonetheless, the term "Khoisan" is widely retained as a convenience.^[4]

!Kung is famous for having a large number of clicks, such as the ǃ in its name, and has some of the most complex inventories of both consonants and vowels in the world. It also has tone. For a description, see Juǀʼhoansi. To pronounce !Xuun (pronounced [ǃ͡χu᷄ː̃] in Western !Kung/!Xuun) one makes a click sound before the x sound (which is like a Scottish or German ch), followed by a long nasal u vowel with a high rising tone.^[5]

Speakers

If the !Kung languages are counted together, they would make the third-most-populous Khoisan language after Khoekhoe and Sandawe. The most populous !Kung language, Juǀʼhoan, is perhaps tied for third place with Naro.

Estimates vary, but there are perhaps 15,000 speakers, though counting is difficult because speakers are scattered on farms, interspersed with speakers of other languages. Brenzinger (2011)^[1] counts 9,000 in Namibia, 2,000 in Botswana, 3,700 in South Africa, and 1,000 in Angola. Botswana hosts a minority of Juǀʼhoan speakers. Most of these figures are preliminary estimates, especially in Angola, where no demographic or linguistic surveys have been conducted since the civil war.

Until the mid–late twentieth century, the ǃʼOǃKung and Maligo dialects were widespread in southern and central Angola. However, most !Kung fled the Angolan Civil War to Namibia (primarily to the Caprivi Strip), where they were recruited into the South African Defence Force special forces against the Angolan Army and SWAPO. At the end of the Border War, more than one thousand fighters and their families were relocated to Schmidtsdrift in South Africa amid uncertainty over their future in Namibia.^[6] After more than a decade living in precarious conditions, the post-Apartheid government bought and donated land for a permanent settlement at Platfontein, near Schmidtsdrift.^[7]

Varieties

The better-known !Kung dialects are Tsumkwe Juǀʼhoan, Ekoka !Kung, ǃʼOǃKung, and ǂKxʼauǁʼein. Scholars distinguish between eleven and fifteen dialects, which may not be mutually intelligible when not adjacent, but there are no clear-cut distinctions between them at our present state of knowledge.

Sands et al. classify !Kung varieties into four clusters, with the first two being quite close:^[8]

• Northern !Kung: Southern Angola, around the Cunene, Cubango, Cuito, and Cuando rivers, but with many refugees now in Namibia:

ǃʼOǃKung

Maligo

• North-Central !Kung: Namibia, between the Ovambo River and the Angolan border, around the tributaries of the Okavango River east of Rundu to the Etosha Pan:

Tsintsabis

Okongo

Ovambo

Mpunguvlei

ǀʼAkhwe (Ekoka)

• Central !Kung: The area around Grootfontein, Namibia, west of the central Omatako River and south of the Ovambo River
• Southeastern !Kung: Botswana east of the Okavango Delta, and northeast Namibia from near Windhoek to Rundu, Gobabis, and the Caprivi Strip:

Tsumkwe

Omatako

Kameeldoring

Epukiro.

ǂKxʼauǁʼein was too poorly attested to classify, but has since been determined to be Southeastern.

Heine & Honken (2010) classify 11 varieties into three branches:^[9]

• Northern–Western !Xuun

Northern !Xuun

Maligo (!xuun, kúándò !xuun "Kwando !Xuun"; SE Angola)

ǃʼOǃKung (!ʼo !uŋ "Forest !Xuun"; eastern C Angola)

Western !Xuun

— (!xūún, !ʼālè !xòān "Valley !Xuun"; Eenhana district, N Namibia)

Akhwe (!xūún, ǀʼākhòè !xòān "Kwanyama !Xuun"; Eenhana, N Namibia)

Tsintsabis (!xūún; Tsintsabis, Tsumeb district, N Namibia)

Kavango !Xuun (!xūún, known as dom !xūún "River !Xuun" in Ekoka; Western Rundu district, N Namibia, & Angola adjacent)

• Central !Xuun

Gaub (Tsumeb district, N Namibia)

Neitsas (Grootfontein district, N Namibia)

• Southeastern !Xuun

Juǀʼhoan (ju-|ʼhoan(-si); Tsumkwe district, N Namibiba, & Bots adjacent)

Dikundu (!xun, ju-|ʼhoa(si); Dikundu, W Caprivi)

ǂKxʼauǁʼein (ju-|ʼhoan(-si), !xun, ǂxʼāōǁʼàèn "Northern people"; Gobabis district, E Namibia)

Protolanguage

The ancestral language, Proto-Juu or Proto-!Xuun, had five places of click articulation: Dental, alveolar, palatal, alveolar lateral, and retroflex (*ǃ˞ or *‼). The retroflex clicks have dropped out of Southeastern dialects such as Juǀʼhoan, but remain in Central !Kung. In ǀʼAkhwe (Ekoka), the palatal click has become a fricated alveolar.^[10][11]

References

Languages of Angola Official language Portuguese National languages Kimbundu Kongo !Kung Kwadi Lunda Mbunda Oshiwambo Kwanyama Ndonga Umbundu Indigenous languages Bolo Chokwe Gciriku Hakaona Holu Ibinda Khwe Kongo Kung-Ekoka Kuvale Kwangali Kwanyama Lingala Lucazi Luimbi Luvale Luyana Mashi Mbali Mbangala Mbukushu Ndombe Ngambwe Ngoya Nkumbi Nsongo Nyaneka Nyengo Ruund Sama Sekele Zemba

Languages of Namibia Official language English Recognized regional Oshiwambo Kwanyama Ndonga Afrikaans German Other Bantu languages Otjiherero Rukwangali Setswana Zemba Gciriku Fwe Kuhane Thimbukushu Shiyeyi Khoisan Nama/Damara Naro ǃXóõ Kung-Ekoka ǂKxʼauǁʼein Kxoe