is xhosa a khoisan language

uku-bhal+wa -> ukubhalwa "to be written", instead of illicit *ukujalwa). It is a national of Namibia, along with English and a number of other regional languages. Xhosa uses a system of tones to distinguish words that would otherwise sound the same. 3. This came about because South African actor John Kani, a native of the Eastern Cape province who plays Wakandan King T'Chaka, speaks Xhosa and suggested that the directors of the fictional Civil War incorporate a dialogue in the language. isandla/izandla (hand/hands). Most others are neighboring Bantu languages in southern Africa: the Nguni languages (Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Phuthi, and Northern Ndebele); Sotho; Yeyi in Botswana; and Mbukushu, Kwangali, and Gciriku in the Caprivi Strip. The Khoisan. South Khoisan includes a couple of endangered and several extinct languages of the Kalahari Desert. sokwenza isenzo ongathanda ukuba senziwe kumzalwane wakho. It is one of the eleven official languages of the Republic of South Africa. Foreign language learning is real world education, /c, , , , x, , / have no equivalents in English. Starostin (2013) gives the following classification of the Khoisan "macrofamily," which he considers to be a single coherent language family. The San were formerly called Bushmen, (from . Learn more about the Khoisan language family on Ethnologue. Don't let the learning stop here. Planning a trip? Xhosa is a tonal language with two inherent phonemic tones: low and high. Featuring handcraft https://t.co/GiM3yZdgvg, Situated in Cape Town Hope street studios, lies the excellent & craftmanship of David Dindi Leather collection, a s https://t.co/zlW7cX54f8, Self-taught designer Nondwe Nyathi of Indwe Designs, draws inspiration from the elegant Blue crane, its stately pre https://t.co/Srk6KNK2lM, Cool Tabs A sustainable & profitable business owned by Aretha Doyle, re-purposes soda can tabs and transforms them https://t.co/qCZyAieYy7, SA Tourisms sustainability village at AGES showcases proudly S.A eco and environmentally friendly products. No idea what a clicking language is? Additional phonemes use sequences of multiple letters. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Xhosa - a Bantu language closely related to Zulu. The spirits of those who have passed on are honoured in rituals and ceremonies. Xhosa is an official language in South Africa and Zimbabe, and is #CapeTownEPrix Besides clicks, Khoisan languages have non-click consonants, giving rise to very complex consonantal systems which are amongst the largest in the world. http://learn101.org/xhosa.php Tumbuka, [14] Also, a small community of Xhosa speakers (18,000) live in Quthing District, Lesotho.[15]. nangokweemfanelo. This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Xhosa-language. Learning Xhosa is a challenging, but rewarding experience. Fricatives become affricated and, if voiceless, they become ejectives as well: mf is pronounced [pf], ndl is pronounced [nd], n+hl becomes ntl [nt], n+z becomes ndz [ndz], n+q becomes [n] etc. The Xhosa comprise a number of clans such as Gcaleka, Ngika, Ndlambe, Dushane and the Qayi. According to the 2011 census there ), palatal (), and lateral (). Below is a table of Xhosa consonants. Xhosa Tribe, Xhosa Language and Xhosa Culture in South Africa It is also taught in universities. Clicks are stops produced with two points of contact in the mouth: one forward and one in the back. Makhuwa, Central Khoisan, the largest group, includes Nama (Khoekhoe, Khoekhoegowab) and Haiom (Saan) spoken in Namibia, and smaller languages spoken in the Kalahari desert of Botswana. The 15 clicks (which learners tend to battle with the most) are divided into three categories. Loma, Swati and Ndebele, and mutually intelligible with them to some extent. The X and H languages are even more complex. The term Bushman as it is used to describe certain southern African hunter-gatherers is somewhat controversial because it is perceived as racist. Xhosa has several dialects, including Mpondo (Pondo), Xesibe, Bomwana, Gaika, Gcaleka, Thembu, Mpondomise, Ndlambe (Ethnologue). Of these languages, Xhosa, Zulu, Ndebele and Yeyi have intricate systems of click consonants; the others, despite the click in the name Gciriku, more rudimentary ones. "Die Khoisan-Familie." North Khoisan is spoken by hunter-gatherers mainly in Namibia. The town itself receives an abundant supply of water from an underground source, which is referred to as All trademarks and web sites that appear throughout this site are the property of their respective owners. Comorian, The orthographic b in mb is the voiced plosive [mb]. Lambya, Its speakers and people belonging to the group are called isiXhosa. Most of the languages are endangered, and several are moribund or extinct. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhosa_language Xhosa beliefs recognise the presence of ancestral spirits and a supreme authority. There are several places of articulation at which click consonants occur, as shown in the table below. Languages such as Zulu and Xhosa make use of three of the five kinds of clicks. The fact that many of the surviving languages are endangered and some are even on the point of extinction bears testimony to inexorable social, economic, linguistic, and demographic forces that continue to marginalize and consume indigenous linguistic and cultural minorities. It is believed that the Xhosa language "click" sounds originated from the Khoisan language and that they were assimilated into the Xhosa Language over a long period of amalgamation between Xhosa and Khoisan peoples. The murmured clicks, plosives and affricates are only partially voiced, with the following vowel murmured for some speakers. [9] It has perhaps the heaviest functional load of click consonants in a Bantu language (approximately tied with Yeyi), with one count finding that 10% of basic vocabulary items contained a click.[10]. As with other South African languages, Xhosa is characterized by respectful forms of address for elders and in-laws. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. (They may also be voiced between vowels in some speaking styles.) C'est la deuxime langue la plus parle du pays. The Xhosa number approximately 7.1-million, the majority of whom live in Eastern Cape, and ancient traditions remain strong in this proud people. , "A Lexicostatistical Approach towards Reconstructing Proto-Khoisan", "From modern Khoisan languages to Proto-Khoisan: The Value of Intermediate Reconstructions. The South African Broadcasting Corporation broadcasts in Xhosa on both radio (on Umhlobo Wenene FM) and television, and films, plays and music are also produced in the language. Like other Bantu languages, Xhosa is rich in expressions, idioms, and proverbs. The Xhosa noun consists of two essential parts, the prefix and the stem. [12] It is the second most common Bantu home language in South Africa as a whole. One of the main reasons for the decline is that bilingual Khoisan speakers shift to the dominant language of the area and stop teaching the language to their children. They are not prenasalized, as can be seen in words such as , Incorrectly described as glottal clicks by, Last edited on 25 February 2023, at 23:55, "Xhosa alphabet, pronunciation and language", "South Africa Population grows to 44.8 Million", "Wakanda Is a Fake Country, but the African Language in 'Black Panther' is Real", Xhosa basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Xhosa_language&oldid=1141620598, [mp], [nt], [nt], [k], [n], [n], [n]. magazines and newspapers in Xhosa, as well as TV and radio programmes, Punu, Subscribe to my newsletter to receive detailed travel guides, exclusive travel and language learning tips, priority access to giveaways and more! Because I believe in uTalk so much, I reached out to them and weve teamed up to offer you an exclusive 30% OFF reader discount across all of uTalks 140 languages! Traill demonstrated this linguistic diversity in the data presented in the below table. Gldemann, Tom. Xhosa, along with Zulu and other indigenous languages of South Africa, has been a source of many words that were borrowed by South African English and that do not occur in other varieties of English in other parts of the world. There are five vowel phonemes, i.e., sounds that distinguish word meaning. The Xhosa, formerly called Kaffir or Kafir (Arabic for infidel), are a cluster of related peoples who have inhabited Eastern Cape Province and Transkei, South Africa, since before the 16th century. According to this hypothesis, clicks might have originally served as onomatopoetic imitations of naturally occurring sounds. When aspirated clicks (ch, xh, qh) are prenasalised, the silent letter k is added (nkc, nkx, nkq) to prevent confusion with the nasal clicks nc, nx, nq, and are actually distinct sounds. Even though the sound structure of the Khoisan languages is unique, their resemblance to each other in this respect has not provided the evidence needed to unravel all their internal genetic affiliations, let alone their relationships to other African languages. 1. They refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and their language as isiXhosa. #CapeTownEPrix A Beginner's Guide Khoisan: Africa's Clicking Languages Accent I'm fluent in Xhosa. I don't know, but I think you can compare them to Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. The Khoikhoi were once called Hottentots by Europeans. Kimbundu, This distinctive linguistic characteristic was adopted by a number of neighbouring Bantu languages, such as Xhosa and Zulu in South Africa. Most syllables end in a vowel, and there are no consonant clusters. Lingala, Xhosa is, to a large extent, mutually intelligible with Zulu and with other Nguni languages to a lesser extent. Not all languages using clicks as phonemes are considered Khoisan. The Khoisan languages were once spoken across all of southern Africa from southern Angola in the west to Swaziland in the east and the Cape of Good Hope in the south (see the map). Others think that Xhosa-speaking children should be taught in their native language in the early grades. One puzzling feature of the Khoisan languages is that, despite some uniformity in their use of clicks, they differ considerably among themselves in aspects such as word formation, sentence structure, and vocabulary. But this line of thinking has proved fruitless. Masaaba, Similarly, the tenuis (plain) clicks are often glottalised, with a long voice onset time, but that is uncommon. Other figures are the huge lightning bird (impundudu), and the gentleabantubomlambo aquatic human-like beings who accept into their family those who drown. On external genealogical relationships of the Khoe family. If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Although all the Khoisan languages use click sounds, Sandawe and Hatsa are . It is also taught in universities. Konjo, Xhosa, derived from the Khoisan language, refers to "angry men." The majority of the South African languages that use tongue-clicking have roots in the indigenous Khoisan . Updates? Xhosa is part of the branch of Nguni languages, which also include Zulu, Southern Ndebele and Northern Ndebele, called the Zunda languages. Xhosa (isiXhosa) is the southernmost member of the Bantoid group of the Niger-Congo language family in Africa. The Khoisan | South African History Online Enchantment winds through the Xhosa language, dress and rituals. Genetically, the Hadza people are unrelated to the Khoisan peoples of Southern Africa, and their closest relatives may be among the Pygmies of Central Africa. Author of. We look forward to https://t.co/QcOGOzgax0, In collaboration with Advertising Week and Hartbeat, the Nelson Mandela foundation presents the Healing Power of La https://t.co/ati9CUOaa0, upon for guidance, support and to turn the tide of favour, , the majority of whom live in Eastern Cape, , and ancient traditions remain strong in this proud people, A certain amount of intermarriage with the Khoisan people they found here, Enchantment winds through the Xhosa language, dress and rituals. #VisitSouthAfrica https://t.co/ncCaKrq4Fa, The Summit includes a Sustainability Village that aims to boost the local economy and power positive economic activ https://t.co/OEOnUXyWdU, Clareb accessories is your one stop shop for all things, unique earrings, necklaces, bracelets. Digo, As a result of this contact, the Xhosa people borrowed some Khoisan words along with their pronunciation, for instance, the click sounds of the Khoisan languages. The click consonant sounds are a typical and unique feature of the San and Khoikhoi languages. Planning a trip? Who Are The Xhosa People, And Where Do They Live? - WorldAtlas Haya, The next are the alveolar clicks with the tongue tip and palate. Nyamwezi, Xhosa has an inventory of ten vowels: [a], [~e], [i], [~o] and [u] written a, e, i, o and u in order, all occurring in both long and short. The other Khoisan languages are unrecognized and marginalized, especially in South Africa. Tuu: A New Name for the Southern Khoisan Family, in Tom Gldemann (ed.). Eton, Though these are still under debate, one frequently accepted dialect grouping is as follows: Xhosa (original), Bhaca, Gcaleka, Thembu, Mpondomise, Ngqika, Mpondo, Mfengu and Bomvana. The Khoisan languages ( / ksn /; also Khoesan or Khoesaan) are a number of African languages once classified together, originally by Joseph Greenberg. ), Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. Yao, used as a language of instruction in primary schools, and in some The /i/ vowel is long in the penultimate syllable and short in the last syllable.[16]. The name Khoisan derives from the name of the Khoe-Khoe (also known as the Hottentot) group of South Africa and the San (Bushmen) group of Namibia. . The 'X' in Xhosa, for example, represents a type of . There are some exceptions, for instance, the Sandawe language in Tanzania whose speakers have maintained a relatively stable linguistic community. Xhosa is one of the 11 official languages recognized by the South African Constitution, and in 2006 it was determined that just over 7 million South Africans speak Xhosa as a home language. The phonology of Xhosa is characterized by a simple vowel inventory and a complex system of consonants. It is closely related to Zulu, Swati, and Ndebele. They are known as the Saa by the Nama, and this is the source of the word San. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. "Types of sound correspondence patterns in Khoisan languages." Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Here's 10 things you didn't know about this incredib, We're proud of you @KelvinvdLinde Bennie, along with John Ross (another missionary), set up a printing press in the Tyhume Valley and the first printed works in Xhosa came out in 1823 from the Lovedale Press in the Alice region of the Eastern Cape. Most of the languages in South Africa that involve tongue-clicking originate from the indigenous Khoisan people, who included plenty of different clicks in their speech and language. Herero, This term, now considered derogatory, means stutterer in Dutch. It is also spoken in Botswana and Lesotho. Below are some common words and sentences in Xhosa. In, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 12:02. https://www.memrise.com/course/1572/xhosa-an-intro/ Their language is often called the click, language because of its three dominant clicks, which. Implosive consonants Click consonants can be modified in a variety of ways. Xhosa is used in primary schools up to the second grade and is studied as a subject in both primary and secondary schools up to the tenth grade. Xhosa may refer to: Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa. For instance, they can be aspirated, nasalised and glottalised. Learn more about the Nilo-Saharan language family on Ethnologue. You can unsubscribe at any time. Download your free PDF guide with 125 Italian travel phrases. At the secondary level, instruction in schools serving Xhosa-speaking students is in English. The Nguni languages are unique among Bantu languages in that they have imploded "clicking" phonemes. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The majority of languages which contain clicks originate with the Khoisan languages. Anthony Traill at first accepted Khoisan (Traill 1986), but by 1998 concluded that it could not be demonstrated with current data and methods, rejecting it as based on a single typological criterion: the presence of clicks. Although Xhosa and Zulu are similar enough to be considered dialects of one language, Xhosa and Zulu speakers consider them to be separate languages. Sena, Otherwise, they tend to be tenuis (plain) stops. OshiWambo, Phrases | Total number of users in all countries is 19.2 million (Ethnologue). They are descended from the Nguni, who began migrating south from central and northern Africa more than a thousand years ago. A Beginners Guide Khoisan: Africas Clicking Languages. . The pocket of air produced by the resulting enclosure is rarefied by the sucking action of the tongue. Damin is an invented ritual language, and has nothing to do with Khoisan. "Khoisan." Bukusu, The majority of languages which contain clicks originate with the Khoisan languages. University of Cambridge Language Centre Resources - Xhosa The first printed Learn the local language with my unique 80/20 method. Thus their language is variously said to be extinct or to have 18,000 speakers, to be Ju or to be Khoe. An alveolar click sounds like the popping of a cork made by putting the tongue just behind the ridge in back of the front teeth. Prenasalisation occurs in several contexts, including on roots with the class 9 prefix /iN-/, for example on an adjective which is feature-matching its noun: /iN- + / [int] "beautiful" (of a class 9 word like inja "dog"). Ernst Oswald Johannes Westphal is known for his early rejection of the Khoisan language family (Starostin 2003). Xhosa beliefs dictate that people turn to a diviner or healer, usually attired in a headdress and shawl of fur, when needing advice on how to deal with the spirits, help with illnesses, or, ward off evil from unnatural forces such as the, a potentially malevolent goblin who attacks at night. The chart below (taken from Some elements of the structure of the Xhosa verb) shows some of the possible slots for prefixes and suffixes. Home South African Culture and Tradition Explored Languages of South Africa Xhosa Language of the Eastern Cape. Xhosa language - Wikipedia See also Khoisan languages, which contains several audio clips. Southern Sotho, I'm the 'guide' behind The Intrepid Guide, an Award-Winning site for travellers and language learners with thousands of readers, 1,000+ students, and a popular newsletter. Their language is often called the 'click ' language because of its three dominant clicks, which entered the isi Xhosa language when the Nguni arrivals mixed with the Khoisan. "Toward reconstructing Proto-South Khoisan." The language is also studied as a subject. For example. in a spirit of brotherhood. As in other Bantu languages, nouns in Xhosa are classified into morphological classes, or genders (15 in Xhosa), with different prefixes for both singular and plural. Clicks are stops produced with two points of contact in the mouth: one forward and one in the back. Ethnologue lists 27 Khoisan languages which are spoken by half a million people or less. Their use in education has been governed by legislation, beginning with the Bantu Education Act, 1953.[12]. Xhosa - A Bantu Language Spoken In Southern Africa So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site. Khoisan languages, a unique group of African languages spoken mainly in southern Africa, with two outlying languages found in eastern Africa. 1. . There are books, magazines and newspapers in Xhosa, as well as TV and radio programmes, films, plays and songs. This site is not affiliated with any government entity associated with a name similar to the site domain name. The Xhosa themselves are somewhat ambivalent about the use of their language in education. The word order is subjectverbobject, like in English. Xhosa is a Bantu language spoken in South Africa, mainly in the Densely populated with uncommon consonants, Xhosa consists of the usual pulmonic egressive sounds (used in English), ejectives, 15 clicks and an implosive. As of 2003[update] approximately 5.3million Xhosa-speakers, the majority, live in the Eastern Cape, followed by the Western Cape (approximately 2million), Gauteng (671,045), the Free State (246,192), KwaZulu-Natal (219,826), North West (214,461), Mpumalanga (46,553), the Northern Cape (51,228), and Limpopo (14,225). 1998. The release of the forward closure results in a pop-like sound. They are called upon for guidance, support, or to turn the tide of fortune. Xhosa is a Bantu language that is closely related to Ndebele and Swazi and is characterized by the unique click sounds for some letters. Choose your English to Xhosa translation service. It is also Mandekan, [12], Xhosa is the most widely distributed African language in South Africa, though the most widely spoken African language is Zulu. The original ancestor is Tshawe, but it is direct family members that Xhosa people call upon for guidance, support and to turn the tide of favour. Clicks are ingressive consonantal stops produced by an intake of air followed by a sudden withdrawal of the tongue from the soft palate, front teeth, or back teeth and hard palate. Shona, Mbunda, languages as a result of long and extensive interaction between the Day 1 and 2 highlights of the Africa Green Economic Summit if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'omniglot_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_1',141,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-omniglot_com-medrectangle-4-0'); Download an alphabet chart for Xhosa (Excel). http://www.southafricalogue.com/travel-tips/south-african-phrases-xhosa.html, Basaa, The name Khoisan derives from the name of the Khoikhoi (people people or real people) group of South Africa and the San (Bushmen) group of Namibia. films, plays and songs. Tswa, I will never give away, trade or sell your email address. Privacy Policy Aspiration is lost on obstruents; ejection is added on voiceless consonant. What animals did the Khoisan hunt? - TimesMojo The Bantu languages adopted the use of clicks from neighboring, displaced, or absorbed Khoisan populations (or from other Bantu languages), often through intermarriage, while the Dahalo are thought to have retained clicks from an earlier language when they shifted to speaking a Cushitic language; if so, the pre-Dahalo language may have been something like Hadza or Sandawe. They are better described as slack voiced than as breathy voiced. Xhosa is a member of the Southeastern, or Nguni, subgroup of the Bantu group of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family. A Niger-Congo language and a member of the Bantu family (Nguni group), spoken by more than 5 million people in the south-eastern part of South Africa, most notably in Cape Province and Transkei; also known as isiXhosa. Mende, Copyright 1995-2023 Southafrica.com. This is usually a misnomer for ejective consonants, which are found across much of the world, or is a reference to paralinguistic use of clicks such as English tsk! The word "Xhosa" is derived from the Khoisan language and means "angry men". All languages use sound symbolism to some extent, and, while there are indeed examples of clicks functioning in this way (for example, !, the word for the clicking noise made by the knee joints of a walking eland [Taurotragus oryx], contains an appropriate click in one Khoisan language), their normal linguistic function is as unremarkable as the function of more familiar consonants such as b or s in any language. Khoisan Last but not least is the Khoisan family with between 40 - 70 members. Their language is often called the click language because of its three dominant clicks, which entered the isiXhosa language when the Nguni arrivals mixed with the Khoisan. [12] However, this classification is not widely accepted. Duala, Agreements usually reflect part of the original class with which the word agrees. Let me know using thecomments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation. Translate files. Makonde, Nama, the largest Khoisan language, is officially recognized in Namibia and is taught at universities. Clicks The more notable characteristic is their depressor effect on the tone of the syllable.[19]. [15], The role of indigenous languages in South Africa is complex and ambiguous. A brief history of African click words | The Week Can you reproduce these click types? 'The adaptation of non-click consonants in Xhosa'. ), Khoisan Linguistic Studies . Tentative distribution of the Khoisan languages, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Khoisan-languages, Fu Jen Catholic University - Graduate School of Linguistics - The Khoisan Language Family. Most of the languages are unwritten, but Nama and Naro have Latin-based orthographies. However, there is no scientific proof to support this hypothesis since all languages use sound symbolism to a lesser or greater extent. Ngqika is considered to be the standard variety. Nguni - a group of southern Bantu languages . Baucom, Kenneth L. 1974. The Khoisan, or Click, linguistic family is made up of three branches: the Khoisan languages of the San (Bushmen) and Khoikhoi, spoken in various parts of sub-Saharan Africa; Sandawe, a language found in E Africa; and Hatsa (Hadzane or Hadzapi), also spoken in E Africa. Forms of "Nga" ##. It forms part of the ornamentation that reflects the different stages of a woman, s life. They are marked with an apostrophe //. 1971. This produces an audible noise. The prenasalized versions have a very short voicing at the onset which then releases in an ejective, like the prenasalized affricates, while the phonemically nasal clicks have a very long voicing through the consonant. Each click can combine with a number of accompanying articulations such as voicing, nasality, aspiration, and ejection producing a potentially large number of consonantal sounds: Nama has 20, Gwi 52, Juhoan 55 and Xo 83. second language speakers.