ǂʼAmkoe language
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (April 2009) |
| ǂHoan | |
|---|---|
| Region | Botswana |
Native speakers | less than 60 |
Kx'a
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| ELP | ǂHoan |
ǂHoan (also spelled ǂHõã etc.) is a Khoisan language of Botswana. It was shown to be related to the Juu languages by Heine and Honken (2010)[1] who established phonetic correspondences and examining historical sound changes between the respective languages. The resulting family is called Kx'a family by Heine and Honken and belongs to the Ju-ǂHoan lineage. Kx'a or kx'aa is a shared word in the languages belonging to this family meaning 'earth, ground'.
Note that there is a dialect of the !Xoon, which belongs to the Tuu family, that is called ǂHua, or sometimes Western ǂHuan. This has lead to some confusion in the literature as well as to an erroneous classification in the Ethnologue. The Ethnologue lists approximately right information concerning numbers of speakers and language area but classifies it as a 'Southern Khoisan' language, therefore clearly mistaking it with the !Xoon dialect. In order to be able to distinguish between the two languages, ǂHoan was also sometimes referred to as Eastern ǂHuan (see e.g. Barnard (1992: 62) [2].
ǂHoan is a severely endangered and moribund. The current number of speakers is less than 60 people, most of them around the age of 60. The language is no longer passed on to the children and grandchildren. The mother tongue of the majority of children is Kgalagadi, a Bantu language which is the local lingua franca of the area.
Language area
The language is spoken at the southern fringe of the Kalahari desert. Speakers have been found in the villages of Motokwe, Khekenye, Tswaane, Dutlwe, Mathibatsela and Salajwe. There are some semi-speakers or rememberers in Khudumelapye. No more speaker could be found in Tsia.
Dialects
Batibo (2005) [3] mentions a dialect named Sasi in his article. However, there is no source for this information and so far no one has published anything about this potential dialect. Batibo (2005) locates it around Serowe. Someone who has edited this page before says "The more divergent dialect, Sasi, is spoken in Botswana around Lethajwe and Artesia (south of Shoshong). Sasi and the rest of ǂHõã are mutually intelligible", but gives no source of this information either. There are some phonological differences between the ǂHoan spoken around Dutlwe and that spoken around Motokwe and Khekhenye. The potential phonological differences to the ǂHoan spoken in Salajwe are still subject to investigation.
Phonetics
ǂHõã has four level tones and one rising tone. The language has both uvular and bilabial clicks. Few other languages have either.
Clicks
Like the Tuu languages, with which it was previously classified, ǂHõã has five click onsets: bilabial, dental, alveolar, palatal, and lateral alveolar. There are thirteen accompaniments, or effluxes, for 65 potential click consonants. Only 55 of these possibilities are attested, though it is unknown whether this is due to actual gaps in the ǂHõã phonemic inventory, or are simply a reflection of linguists' poor knowledge of the ǂHõã language.
| Accompaniment (Efflux) |
Affricated clicks | 'Sharp' clicks | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bilabial clicks |
dental clicks |
lateral clicks |
alveolar clicks |
palatal clicks | |
| Voiced velar nasal | ᵑʘ | ᵑǀ | ᵑǁ | ᵑǃ | ᵑǂ |
| Voiced velar plosive | ᶢʘ | ᶢǀ | ᶢǁ | ᶢǃ | ᶢǂ |
| Tenuis velar plosive | ʘ | ǀ | ǁ | ǃ | ǂ |
| Aspirated velar plosive | ǀʰ | ǁʰ | ǃʰ | ǂʰ | |
| Glottalized velar plosive (prenasalized between vowels) |
ʘˀ (ᵑˀʘ) |
ǀˀ (ᵑˀǀ) |
ǁˀ (ᵑˀǁ) |
ǃˀ (ᵑˀǃ) |
ǂˀ (ᵑˀǂ) |
| Delayed aspiration (prenasalized between vowels) |
ᵑ̊ǁʰ (ᵑǁʰ) |
ᵑ̊ǃʰ (ᵑǃʰ) |
ᵑ̊ǂʰ (ᵑǂʰ) | ||
| Complex clicks | |||||
| Preglottalized velar nasal | ˀᵑʘ | ˀᵑǀ | ˀᵑǁ | ˀᵑǃ | ˀᵑǂ |
| Prenasalized voiced uvular plosive | ᶰǀɢ | ᶰǁɢ | ᶰǂɢ | ||
| Tenuis uvular plosive | ǀq | ǁq | ǃq | ǂq | |
| Aspirated uvular plosive | ǀqʰ | ǁqʰ | ǂqʰ | ||
| Voiceless uvular affricate | ʘq͡χ | ǀq͡χ | ǁq͡χ | ǃq͡χ | ǂq͡χ |
| Uvular ejective | ǀqʼ | ǁqʼ | ǃqʼ | ǂqʼ | |
| Uvular ejective affricate | ʘq͡χʼ | ǀq͡χʼ | ǁq͡χʼ | ǂq͡χʼ | |
Grammar
ǂHõã is an SVO Subject Verb Object language (see examples in Collins 2001, 2002, 2003). The SVO word order of ǂHõã and the other non-central Khoisan languages distinguishes them from Nama (Khoekhoe) and other central Khoisan languages which have SOV word order. ǂHõã has nominal postpositions used for locative relations (see Collins 2001), and the possessor precedes the head noun.
ǂHõã grammar is characterized by a number of features common to the non-central Khoisan languages. First there is an intricate system of nominal and verbal purality (the latter often referred to as pluractionality). Second, there is a system of verbal compounds. Third, there is a general purpose preposition (referred to as the linker in Collins 2003) which appears between post-verbal constituents.
References
- Bell, Arthur and Chris Collins. 2001. "ǂHoan and the Typology of Click Accompaniments in Khoisan", in Cornell Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 18, pp 126–153.
- Collins, Chris. 2003. The Internal Structure of vP in Ju|'hoan and ǂHoan. Studia Linguistica 57.1, pp 1–25.
- Collins, Chris. 2002. Multiple Verb Movement in ǂHoan. Linguistic Inquiry 33.1, pp 1–29.
- Collins, Chris. 2001. Aspects of Plurality in ǂHoan. Language 77.3, pp 456–476.
- Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1975. Plural Predicates in ǂHòã. In Bushman and Hottentot Linguistic Studies, A.S.I. Communication 2, ed. Anthony Traill, 1-50. University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg: African Studies Institute.
- Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1975. Busman Languages of the Kalahari: ǂHòã - Vocabulary -Stems, ǂHòã - Vocabulary - Recorded Utterances. Technical Project Report to the National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C.
- Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1975. Collected Field Notes.
- Gruber, Jeffrey S. 1973. ǂHòã Kinship Terms. Linguistic Inquiry 4, pp 427–449.
- Traill, Anthony. 1979. Phonetic Diversity in the Khoisan Languages. In Bushman and Hottentot Linguistic Studies, ed. J.W. Snyman, 167-189. University of South Africa, Pretoria.
- Traill, Anthony. 1973. N4 or S7: Another Bushman Language. African Studies 32: 25-32.
- Traill, Anthony. 1973. Westphal on "N4 or S7?": A Reply. African Studies 33: 249-255.
- ^ Heine, B. and Honken, H. 2010. 'The Kx'a Family'. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 79, p. 5-36.
- ^ Barnard, A. 1992. 'Hunters and herders of southern Africa'. Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Batibo, H. M. 'ǂHua: a critically endangered Khoesan language of the Kweneng District of Botswana'. Nigel Crawhall and Nicholas Ostler (eds.) Creating outsiders: endangered languages, migration and marginalisation, 87-93. Stellenbosh: Fondation for Endangered Languages.