Khwe language
| Khwe | |
|---|---|
| Kxoe | |
| Spoken in | Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia |
| Native speakers | 9,000 (no date)[1] |
| Language family |
Khoe
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | either: xuu – Khwe hnh – ǁAni |
Khwe aka Kxoe is a dialect continuum of the Khoe family of Namibia, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, and small parts of Zambia, with some 11,000 speakers. It is learned locally as a second language in Namibia, but the language is being lost in Botswana as speakers shift to Tswana, under threat of deportation if they do not speak that language. Thousands of Kxoe were murdered in Angola after independence, as they had been used by the Portuguese as trackers, and the survivors fled to Zambia. However, some may have returned to Angola more recently.
There is currently a dictionary of the Kxoe language.
Contents |
[edit] User breakdown
Namibia: ~4,000
Angola: ~800
Botswana: ~5,000
South Africa: ~1,100
Zambia: ~100
DR Congo: ~50 (refugees from Angola)
[edit] Dialects
There is a large degree of dialectal variation in Khwe. Dialects include:
- Khoe-dam or Khwedam or Khwe or Xun or Huhwe
- ǁXo-kxoe
- ǁXom-kxoe
- Buma-kxoe
- Buga-kxoe or -khwe
- Gǀanda
- ǁAni or ǁAni-kxoe or ǀAnda or Tsʼéxa or Tannekwe or Gani-khwe or various combinations of Handá + kwe + dam.
Some of these may be subvarieties or local names.
[edit] Phonology
Khwe has 32 or 36 clicks, depending on whether one counts the four prenasalized clicks. There are four places of articulation, [ǀ], [ǃ], [ǂ], and [ǁ], each with several "releases". Miller (2011), in a comparative study with other languages, interprets the description in Kilian-Hatz (2003) as follows, illustrated with the palatal articulation:[2]
| Click | Description |
|---|---|
| ǂʰ | aspirated |
| ǂ | tenuis |
| ᶢǂ | voiced |
| ᵑǂ | nasal |
| ŋᶢǂ | prenasalized |
| ᵑǂˀ | glottalized nasal |
| ǂ͡q | linguo-pulmonic |
| ǂ͡χ | linguo-pulmonic fricative |
| ǂ͡χʼ | linguo-glottalic fricative |
[edit] Bibliography
- Kilian-Hatz, Christa (2003) Khwe dictionary (with a supplement on Khwe place names by Matthias Brenzinger). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. ISBN 3-89645-083-2
[edit] References
- ^ Lewis, M. Paul, ed. (2009). Ethnologue: Languages of the World (16th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International. http://www.ethnologue.com/.
- ^ Amanda Miller, 2011. "The Representation of Clicks". In Oostendorp et al. eds., The Blackwell Companion to Phonology.
[edit] External links
- Map of Kxoe (Mbarakwengo) language from the LL-Map Project
- Information about Kxoe language from the MultiTree Project
- The Ethnologue Report for Kxoe
- The Ethnologue Report for ǁAni
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