Social:ǁXegwi language

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Short description: Extinct IKwi language of South Africa
ǁXegwi
RegionSouth Africa
EthnicityTlou-tle
Extinct1988, with the death of Jopi Mabinda[1]
Tuu
  • ǃKwi
    • Eastern
      • ǁXegwi
Language codes
ISO 639-3xeg
Glottologxegw1238[2]
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

ǁXegwi (pronounced /ˈzɛɡw/ ZEH-gwee), also known as Batwa, is an extinct ǃKwi language spoken at Lake Chrissie in South Africa , near the Swazi border. The last known speaker, Jopi Mabinda, was murdered in 1988.[3] However, a reporter for the South African newspaper Mail & Guardian reports that ǁXegwi may still be spoken in the Chrissiesmeer district.[4]

The ǁXegwi name for their language has been spelled giǁkwi꞉gwi or kiǁkwi꞉gwi. Their name for themselves has been transcribed tlou tle or kxlou-kxle, presumably [k͡ʟ̝̊ouk͡ʟ̝̊e]. The Nguni (Zulu and Swazi) called them (a)batwa, amaNkqeshe, amaNgqwigqwi; the Sotho called them Baroa/Barwa.[5]

Phonology

ǁXegwi lost the abrupt clicks (the various manners of ǂ and ǃ) found in its relatives. It reacquired ǃ from Nguni Bantu languages, but clicks remained relatively infrequent, compared to other Tuu languages. It also had a series of uvular plosives not found in other Tuu languages.[6]

Pulmonic and ejective consonants
Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
central lateral central lateral
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive voiced b d ɟ ɡ ɢ
tenuis p t k q ʔ
aspirated
ejective kʷʼ
Affricate voiceless ts
tx
kx Error using {{IPA symbol}}: "k𝼄" not found in list
aspirated tʃʰ k𝼄ʰ
voiced dz
ejective tsʼ tʃʼ kxʼ k𝼄ʼ
Fricative voiceless s ɬ ʃ x h
voiced β z ɮ ʒ ɦ
Sonorant r l j w
Lingual consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar
central lateral
Nasal modal ᵑʘ ᵑǀ ᵑǃ ᵑǁ
glottalized ᵑǀˀ ᵑǃˀ ᵑǁˀ
murmured ᵑʘʱ ᵑǀʱ ᵑǃʱ ᵑǁʱ
Plosive voiced ᶢǀ ᶢǃ ᶢǁ
aspirated ᵏǀʰ ᵏǃʰ ᵏǁʰ
tenuis ᵏʘ ᵏǀ ᵏǃ ᵏǁ
Affricate tenuis ᵏʘx ᵏǀx ᵏǃx ᵏǁx
ejective ᵏʘxʼ ᵏǀxʼ ᵏǃxʼ ᵏǁxʼ
Oral and Nasal vowels
Front Back
High i ĩ u ũ
Mid e o
Low a ã
Pharyngealized vowels[7]
Front Back
High ḭː ṵː
Mid
Low a̰ː

References

  1. ǁXegwi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
  2. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds (2017). "//Xegwi". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History. http://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/xegw1238. 
  3. Traill, A. (2002). "The Khoesan languages". in Mesthrie, Rajend. Language in South Africa. Cambridge University Press. p. 42. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511486692.003. 
  4. Davie, Kevin. "The secret pool of surviving Bushmen at Chrissiesmeer" (in en). The Mail & Guardian. http://mg.co.za/article/2011-06-24-the-secret-pool-of-surviving-bushmen-at-chrissiesmeer. 
  5. Treis, Yvonne (1998). "Names of Khoisan languages and their variants". in Schladt, Mathias. Language, identity, and conceptualization among the Khoisan. Rüdiger Köppe Verlag. pp. 463‐503. ISBN 978-3-89645-143-9. 
  6. Traill, Anthony (1999). Extinct: South African Khoisan Languages (CD).
  7. Honken, Henry (2020). "ǁX'egwi". The Oxford Handbook of African Languages. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 670–681. 

External links