Tshwa language

Tsoa
Kua Hiechware
Native to	Botswana
Native speakers	4,100 Tshwa and Shua  (2008)
Language family	Khoe Kalahari (Tshu–Khwe) East Tsoa
Dialects	Hiechware Cua Cire Cire
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.

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:

Consonant phonemes of Tsoa

	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.

External links

• Map of Tsoa language from the LL-Map Project
• Information on Tsoa language from the MultiTree Project
• The Ethnologue Report for Tsoa
• The Ethnologue Report for Kua
• Kua/Tsua basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database