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Khoekhoe language test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator |
| Khoekhoe | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Khoekhoegowab | ||||
| Spoken in | Namibia, Botswana and South Africa | |||
| Region | Orange River, Great Namaland | |||
| Ethnicity | Khoikhoi, Nama, Damara, Haiǁom | |||
| Native speakers | 250,000 (2006)[1] plus possibly 50,000 Haiǁom (no date) |
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| Language family |
Khoe
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| Dialects |
Nama–Damara
Haiǁom
ǂĀkhoe
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| Official status | ||||
| Official language in | National language in Namibia | |||
| Language codes | ||||
| ISO 639-3 | Either: hgm – Haiǁom naq – Nama |
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The distribution of the Nama language in Namibia.
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The Khoekhoe language /ˈkɔɪkɔɪ/, or Khoekhoegowab, also known by the ethnic term Nàmá and previously the now-discouraged term Hottentot, is the most widespread of those languages of southern Africa which contain many "click" sounds, and have therefore been loosely classified as Khoisan languages. It belongs to the Khoe language family, and is spoken in Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa by three ethnic groups, the Nama, Damara, and Haiǁom. It appears that the Damara picked up the language from the Nama in Botswana, and that they migrated to Namibia separately from the Nama. The Haiǁom, who had spoken a Juu language, later shifted to Khoekhoe. The name for Nama speakers, Khoekhoen, is from the Nama word khoe "person", with reduplication and the suffix -n to indicate the plural. Georg Friedrich Wreede was the first European to study the language, after arriving in Cape Town in 1659.
Khoekhoe is a national language in Namibia. In Namibia and South Africa, radio programs are broadcast in it. In Namibia, it is used for teaching up to the university level, as well as in the administration.
Contents |
Dialects and Varieties [link]
It is unwise to be too strict about distinctions between "dialect" and "separate language", especially as many of the varieties seem to have disappeared. Writing in 1938, D.M.Beach in The Phonetics of the Hottentot Languages (see bibliography below) listed 8 subdivisions of the Nama proper, the !Gami-≠nũn or "Bondelswarts" (Warmbad to Kalkfontein, far south of Namibia), the !Xara-kai-kxoen or "Simon Kopper Hottentots" (Rietfontein and Kalahari), the Kxaro-!'oan (Keetmanshoop), the //Hapopen or "Veldskoendraers" (at Koes), the Kai-//xaun or "Rooi Nasie" (at Hoachanas), the //G'o-kain or "Groot Dode" (west of Gibeon and Berseba), the //Xau-/goãn or "Swartboois" (at Franzfontein, formerly Windhoek), and the "Topnaar", consisting of the ≠G'ao-nin (at Zesfontein) and the Mũ-//g'ĩn (east of Walvis Bay), to which he added the "Oorlams", from Cape Colony, regarded by some as not genuine Nama at all, namely the !Aman, the /Hai-/xauan, the Xopesin, the ??Aixa-//aen or "Afrikaaners" and Kai-/xauan. Added to these were the Korana, reportedly (in the 1830s) as numerous as the Nama themselves, and with perhaps in 1938 a "few individuals, very old men and women" able to speak the distinct Korana language, as which the extinct Griqua of the mixed ancestry Griqua people was reportedly almost the same. The language of the Bergdama peoples was sometimes listed as distinct, sometimes regarded as a variety of Nama: these included (1938) 11 traditional groups much scattered, the /Gopanin, the Tsoa-xau-taman or Swakop Dama, the Taũna-taman or Brandberg Dama, reported to have retained their language in 1938, the !'Oe-≠gãn or Erongo Dama, also retaining their language, the !'Omen, the Aope-//'aen, the Ao-kupun, in small groups in the Namib, and still speaking the language in 1938, the Animin, the /Gaio-taman, the Aro-taman, and the Aumin. In a fluid demographic and linguistic situation, local varieties of such languages are likely to be known as a name only. Others suggest, however:
- ǂĀkhoe (itself a dialect cluster)
- Sesfontein Damara (said to be mutually unintelligible)
- Nama – Central Damara
- Haiǁom
- Eini (extinct)
all of which are sometimes counted as distinct languages.
Phonology [link]
Vowels [link]
There are 5 vowel qualities, found as oral /i e a o u/ and nasal /ĩ ã ũ/. /u/ is strongly rounded, /o/ only slightly so. /a/ is the only vowel with notable allophony; it is pronounced [ə] before /i/ or /u/.
Tone [link]
Nama has been described as having three[2] or four[3] tones, /á, ā, à/ or /a̋, á, à, ȁ/, which may occur on each mora (vowels and final nasal stops). The high tone is higher when it occurs on one of the high vowels (/í ú/ or a nasal (/ń ḿ/) than on mid or low vowels (/é á ó/).[2]
The tones combine into a limited number of 'tone melodies' (word tones), which have sandhi forms after other words. The most important melodies, in their citation and main sandhi forms, are as follows:[3]
| Citation | Sandhi | Meaning | Melody |
|---|---|---|---|
| ǃ̃ˀȍm̀s | ǃ̃ˀòm̏s | butting, hitting s.t. | low |
| ǃ̃ˀȍḿs | an udder | low rising | |
| ǃ̃ˀòm̀s | forcing out of a burrow | mid | |
| ǃ̃ˀòm̋s | ǃ̃ˀòm̀s | a pollard | high rising |
| ǃ̃ˀóm̀s | ǃ̃ˀóm̏s | coagulating, prizing out [a thorn] | low falling |
| ǃ̃ˀőḿs | ǃ̃ˀóm̀s | a fist | high falling |
Stress [link]
Within a phrase, lexical words receive greater stress than grammatical words. Within a word, the first syllable receives the most stress. Subsequent syllables receive less and less stress, and are spoken more and more quickly.
Consonants [link]
Nama has 31 consonants: 20 clicks and a simple set of 11 non-clicks.
Non-clicks [link]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Plosive | p ~ β | t ~ ɾ | k | ʔ |
| Affricate | t͡s | k͡x | ||
| Fricative | s | x | h |
Between vowels, /p/ is pronounced [β] and /t/ is pronounced [ɾ].
Beach (1938)[4] reported that the Khoehkoe of the time had a velar lateral ejective affricate, [kʼ], a common realization or allophone of /kxʼ/ in languages with clicks. This sound no longer occurs in Khoekhoe, but remains in its cousin Korana.
Clicks [link]
The clicks are doubly articulated consonants. Each click consists of one of four primary articulations or "influxes" and one of five secondary articulation or "effluxes". The combination results in 20 phonemes. The affricated "effluxes" is a contour, a transition from a click to a non-click articulation. Miller (2011), in a comparative study with other languages, interprets their results as follows,[5]
| accompaniment | affricated clicks | 'sharp' clicks | standardized orthography (with "ǃ") |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dental clicks |
lateral clicks |
alveolar clicks |
palatal clicks |
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| Tenuis | ǀ | ǁ | ǃ | ǂ | ⟨ǃg⟩ |
| Nasal | ᵑǀ | ᵑǁ | ᵑǃ | ᵑǂ | ⟨ǃn⟩ |
| Voiceless aspirated nasal | ᵑ̊ǀʰ | ᵑ̊ǁʰ | ᵑ̊ǃʰ | ᵑ̊ǂʰ | ⟨ǃh⟩ |
| Glottalized nasal | ᵑ̊ǀˀ | ᵑ̊ǁˀ | ᵑ̊ǃˀ | ᵑ̊ǂˀ | ⟨ǃ⟩ |
| Fricative contour | ǀ͡χ | ǁ͡χ | ǃ͡χ | ǂ͡χ | ⟨ǃkh⟩ |
The affrication on the contour clicks is often light, but is 'raspier' than the aspirated clicks, with a sound like the ch of Scottish loch. The glottalized clicks are clearly voiceless, due to the hold before the release, and they are transcribed as simple voiceless clicks in the traditional orthography. The nasal component is not audible in initial position; the voiceless nasal component of the aspirated clicks is also difficult to hear when not between vowels, so to foreign ears it may sound like a longer but less raspy version of the contour clicks.
Phonotactics [link]
Lexical root words consist of two or rarely three moras, in the form CVCV(C), CVV(C), or CVN(C). (The initial consonant is required.) The middle consonant may only be w r m n (w is b~p and r is d~t), while the final consonant (C) may only be p, s, ts. Each mora carries tone, but the second may only be high or medium, for six tone "melodies": HH, MH, LH, HM, MM, LM.
Oral vowel sequences in CVV are /ii ee aa oo uu ai [əi] ae ao au [əu] oa oe ui/. Due to the reduced number of nasal vowels, nasal sequences are /ĩĩ ãã ũũ ãĩ [ə̃ĩ] ãũ [ə̃ũ] õã ũĩ/. Sequences ending in a high vowel (/ii uu ai au ui ĩĩ ũũ ãĩ ãũ ũĩ/) are pronounced more quickly than others (/ee aa oo ae ao oa oe ãã õã/), more like diphthongs and long vowels than like vowel sequences in hiatus. The tones are realized as contours. CVCV words tend to have the same vowel sequences, though there are many exceptions. The two tones are also more distinct.
Vowel-nasal sequences are restricted to non-front vowels: /am an om on um un/. Their tones are also realized as contours.
Grammatical particles have the form CV or CN, with any vowel or tone, where C may be any consonant but a click, and the latter cannot be NN. Suffixes, and a third mora of a root, may have the form CV, CN, V, N, with any vowel or tone; there are also three C-only suffixes, -p 1m.sg, -ts 2m.sg, -s 2/3f.sg.
Orthography [link]
There have been several orthographies used for Nama. A Khoekhoegowab dictionary (Haacke 2000) uses the modern standard.
In standard orthography, the consonants b d g are used for words with one of the lower tone melodies, and p t k for one of the higher tone melodies. W is only used between vowels, though it may be replaced with b or p according to melody. Overt tone marking is otherwise generally omitted.
| Orthography | Transcription | Melody | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| gao | /kȁó/ | low rising | 'rule' |
| kao | /kàő/ | high rising | 'be dumbfounded' |
| ǀhubu (or ǀhuwu) | /ǀʰȕwú/ | low rising | 'to stop hurting' |
| ǀhupu (or ǀhuwu) | /ǀʰùwű/ | high rising | 'to get out of breath' |
Nasal vowels are written with a circumflex. All nasal vowels are long, as in hû /hũ̀ṹ/ 'seven'. Long (double) vowels are otherwise written with a macron, as in ā /ʔàa̋/ 'to cry, weep'; these constitute two moras (two tone-bearing units).
Glottal stop is not written at the beginning of a word, where it is predictable, but is transcribed with a hyphen in compound words, such as gao-aob /kȁòʔòȁp/ 'chief'.
Grammar [link]
Nama has a subject–object–verb word order and has three gender classes: male, female and neuter. Male and female nouns have a singular, dual and plural; while neuter nouns only have singular and plural number.
| singular | dual | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | piris | pirira | piridi | goat |
| Male | arib | arikha | arigu | dog |
| Neuter | khoe-i | n/a | khoen | people |
Khoekhoe distinguishes between inclusive and exclusive 1st person plural pronouns. Sida is the exclusive form for we, it only includes a specific group; as opposed to sada, which is inclusive and refers to all.
Sample text [link]
Following is a sample text in the Khoekhoe language.[6]
- Nē ǀkharib ǀnâ da ge ǁgûn tsî ǀgaen tsî doan tsîn; tsî ǀnopodi tsî ǀkhenadi tsî ǀhuigu tsî ǀamin tsîn; tsî ǀkharagagu ǀaon tsîna ra hō.
- In this region we find springbuck, oryx, and duiker; francolin, guinea fowl, bustard, and ostrich; and also various kinds of snake.
Common words and phrases [link]
- ǃGãi tses - Good day
- ǃGãi ǁhoas - Good morning
- ǃGãi ǃhoes - Good evening
- Matisa - How are you?
- ǃGãise ǃgu re - Goodbye
- ǃHaese mugus - See you soon
Bibliography [link]
- Beach, Douglas M. 1938. The phonetics of the Hottentot language. Cambridge: Heffer.
- Haacke, Wilfrid. 1976. A Nama grammar: the noun-phrase. MA thesis. University of Cape Town.
- Haacke, Wilfrid H. G. 1977. "The so-called "personal pronoun" in Nama. In Traill, Anthony, ed., Khoisan linguistic studies 3, 43-62. Communications 6. Johannesburg: African Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand.
- Haacke, Wilfrid. 1978. Subject deposition in Nama. MA thesis. University of Essex. Colchester (UK).
- Haacke, Wilfrid. 1992. "Compound noun phrases in Nama". In Derek F. Gowlett, ed., African linguistic contributions (Festschrift Ernst Westphal), 189-194. Pretoria: Via Afrika.
- Haacke, Wilfrid. 1992. "Dislocated noun phrases in Khoekhoe (Nama/Damara): further evidence for the sentential hypothesis". Afrikanistische Arbeitspapiere, 29, 149-162.
- Haacke, Wilfrid. 1995. "Instances of incorporation and compounding in Khoekhoegowab (Nama/Damara)". In Anthony Traill, Rainer Vossen and Marguerite Anne Megan Biesele, eds., The complete linguist: papers in memory of Patrick J. Dickens", 339-361. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
- Haacke, Wilfrid, Eliphas Eiseb and Levi Namaseb. 1997. Internal and external relations of Khoekhoe dialects: a preliminary survey". In Wilfrid Haacke & Edward D. Elderkin, eds., Namibian languages: reports and papers, 125-209. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag for the University of Namibia.
- Haacke, Wilfrid. 1999. The tonology of Khoekhoe (Nama/Damara). Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung/Research in Khoisan studies, Bd 16. Cologne: Rüdiger Köppe Verlag.
- Haacke, Wilfrid H.G. & Eiseb, Eliphas (2002) A Khoekhoegowab dictionary with an English-Khoekhoegowab index. Windhoek : Gamsberg Macmillan. ISBN 99916-0-401-4
- Hagman, Roy S. 1977. Nama Hottentot grammar. Language science monographs, v 15. Bloomington: Indiana University.
- Hahn, Theophilus. 1870. Die Sprache der Nama, nebst einem Anhang enthaltend Sprachproben aus dem Munde des Volkes. Redigierte Ausgabe eine Dissertation mit einem Anhang über Mythen der Khoi-khoin nebst Übersetzung und Wörterverzeichnis. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth.
References [link]
- ^ Haiǁom at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009)
Nama at Ethnologue (16th ed., 2009) - ^ a b Hagman (1977)
- ^ a b Haacke & Eiseb (2002)
- ^ D. Beach, 1938. The Phonetics of the Hottentot Language. Cambridge.
- ^ Amanda Miller, 2011. "The Representation of Clicks". In Oostendorp et al. eds., The Blackwell Companion to Phonology.
- ^ Khoekhoegowab: 3ǁî xoaigaub. Gamsberg Macmillan, 2003
External links [link]
- Map of Nàmá language (Khoekhoe) from the LL-Map Project
- Information about Nàmá language from the MultiTree Project
- Nama grammar and a story at Cornell (dead link as of January 2009; cached by the Internet Archive)
- Nama Information from Rosetta Project (dead link as of 17-Oct-2010)
- The Ethnologue report for Nama
- The Ethnologue report for Haiǁʼom
- Nama (KhoeKhoegowab) Phrase Video Lessons
- KhoeSan Active Awareness Group (dead link as of 17-Oct-2010)
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