), palatal (), and lateral (). Other Bantu Languages include the Xhosa and Zulu languages, two languages famous for their large number of click consonants developed through their extended interaction with the Khoisan languages of Southern Africa. The majority of languages which contain clicks originate with the Khoisan languages. Xhosa (/ks, kos/,[5][6][7] Xhosa pronunciation:[ksa]), formerly spelled Xosa and also known by its local name isiXhosa, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. While palatalisation occurred historically, it is still productive, as is shown by palatalization before the passive suffix /-w/ and before diminutive suffix /-ana/. Xhosa is one of four sister languages called Nguni Languages (Ndebele, Swati, Xhosa and Zulu) which are all mutually intelligible. Copyright The Intrepid Guide Ltd 2022. For the Mande language spoken in Burkina Faso, see, Map showing the distribution of the Khoisan languages (yellow), Grammatically, the southern Khoisan languages are generally, Greenberg, Joseph H. 1955. are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another 1998. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the language spoken in the fictional African nation of Wakanda is Xhosa. The Nguni languages are unique among Bantu languages in that they have imploded "clicking" phonemes. Tone, stress and vowel length are not indicated. A bilabial click is a pop made by bringing the lips together and releasing them, just like the sound of a kiss. Snyman, Jan Winston. Bonny Sands (1998) concluded that the family is not demonstrable with current evidence. Of all the Khoisan languages, only Nama enjoys official recognition. "History of Click-Speaking Populations of Africa Inferred from mtDNA and Y Chromosome Genetic Variation", "The Kxa Family: A New Khoisan Genealogy", . Gwere, There are two groups of languages in southern Africa that have clicks: the Khoisan languages and certain languages of the Niger-Congo family, most notably Zulu and Xhosa. Numbers | http://learn101.org/xhosa.php Total number of users in all countries is 19.2 million (Ethnologue). Adjectives, possessive pronouns and demonstratives come after the noun they modify. "Die Khoisan-Familie." Although mutually intelligible, they are considered to be separate languages for political and cultural reasons. The small town of De Aar is located in the central Groot Karoo along the railway line between Cape Town and Kimberley, which was established in the late 1800s. Implosive consonants Enchantment winds through the Xhosa language, dress and rituals. 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. , "A Lexicostatistical Approach towards Reconstructing Proto-Khoisan", "From modern Khoisan languages to Proto-Khoisan: The Value of Intermediate Reconstructions. The Khoikhoi were once called Hottentots by Europeans. Zulu: 22.7%, Xhosa: 16%, Afrikaans . Tonga, The language is an important part of Khois. Zulu, Languages written with the Latin alphabet, if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'omniglot_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_2',147,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-omniglot_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[320,50],'omniglot_com-large-mobile-banner-1','ezslot_3',147,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-omniglot_com-large-mobile-banner-1-0_1'); .large-mobile-banner-1-multi-147{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:7px !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-top:7px !important;max-width:100% !important;min-height:50px;padding:0;text-align:center !important;}. The chart below (taken from Some elements of the structure of the Xhosa verb) shows some of the possible slots for prefixes and suffixes. Songe, In Nguni. 2 is- and iz- replace isi- and izi- respectively before stems beginning with a vowel, e.g. Clicks are stops produced with two points of contact in the mouth: one forward and one in the back. South African Culture and Tradition Explored. Kiga, In this view Khoisan hunters might have developed clicks to camouflage their presence as they stalked their prey in an environment of insect and other noises or might have responded to various situations with onomatopoetic vocalizations containing clicks. In the International Phonetic Alphabet, clicks are represented by placing the assigned symbol for the place of click articulation to the left of a symbol for a nonclick sound at the same place of articulation. The red letters are orthographic representations of the sounds. 1. Unfortunately, many of these languages have left behind no written records, so their loss is permanent. Xhosa is rich in uncommon consonants. https://www.memrise.com/course/1572/xhosa-an-intro/ Several radio stations and one TV station broadcast in Xhosa. She hypothesizes that this took place within efforts to prevent the spread of English during European colonization and prevent the entrance of the majority into the middle class.[7]. The rest of the elements are placed to the left or to the right of the verb root. The Khoisan people have a unique language that is characterized by clicking sounds made with the tongue and mouth. However, not all noun classes can be so easily defined. Xhosa language, Xhosa formerly spelled Xosa, a Bantu language spoken by seven million people in South Africa, especially in Eastern province. 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. The orthographic b in mb is the voiced plosive [mb]. There is also the South Cushitic language Dahalo in Kenya, which has dental clicks in a few score words, and an extinct and presumably artificial Australian ritual language called Damin, which had only nasal clicks. These famous click sounds are found in Khoisan languages (alternative names include Khoesaan or Khoesan). 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. In, Honken, Henry. Both Xhosa and Zulu are an official languages in South Africa and Lesotho. Bemba, See Khoe languages for speculations on the linguistic history of the region. In contrast to the San who spoke highly divergent languages, the Khoikhoi spoke closely related dialects of the same language. 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. 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 . A certain headdress will be a worn by a newly married girl, while a woman who has just given birth to her first child will wear a differently styled headdress. Its speakers and people belonging to the group are called isiXhosa. Includes English and Italian translations with pronuncation guide. In Voeltz, Erhard Friedrich Karl (ed.). Updates? Tshiluba, Learn more about the Nilo-Saharan language family on Ethnologue. Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika is part of the national anthem of South Africa, national anthem of Tanzania and Zambia, and the former anthem of Zimbabwe and Namibia. On commence, ce tour d'horizon des onze langues officielles en Afrique du Sud par le xhosa. [12] However, this classification is not widely accepted. isandla/izandla (hand/hands). Mushungulu, Xhosa, which is also known as Xosa or Koosa, is a clicking language. What I love most about uTalk is that you can jump around their extensive library of topics and choose what you want to learn, when you want, and at your own pace. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by 8.2 million people and by 11 million as a second language in South Africa, mostly in Eastern Cape Province and Transkei. Kirundi, The verb is modified by affixes to mark subject, object, tense, aspect and mood. Terms of Use Family words | Although mutually intelligible, they are considered to be separate languages for political and cultural reasons. There is a series of six dental clicks, represented by the letter c, similar to the sound represented in English by "tut-tut" or "tsk-tsk"; a series of six alveolar lateral clicks, represented by the letter x, similar to the sound used to call horses; and a series of alveolar clicks, represented by the letter q, that sound somewhat like a cork pulled from a bottle. Translate files. "Khoisan." It is a national of Namibia, along with English and a number of other regional languages. Southern Khoisan has a fifth click, the bilabial . They are called upon for guidance, support, or to turn the tide of fortune. Its great for beginners getting started in a language and invaluable for intermediates looking to fill in gaps in their vocabulary and pronunciation. Mwani, On external genealogical relationships of the Khoe family. Xhosa has the following clicks consonants which can be modified in a variety of ways, such as aspirated, breathy-voiced or nasalized. Tsonga, How difficult is it to learn Xhosa? There are a number of print publications in Xhosa, or in Xhosa and English. The branches that were once considered part of so-called Khoisan are now considered independent families, since it has not been demonstrated that they are related according to the standard comparative method. The Xhosa people, or Xhosa-speaking people (/ k s , k o s /; Xhosa pronunciation: [ksa] ()) are a Nguni ethnic group whose traditional homeland is primarily the Cape Provinces of South Africa.They are the second largest ethnic group in Southern Africa and are native speakers of the IsiXhosa language. Northern Ndebele (South Africa), This distinctive linguistic characteristic was adopted by a number of neighbouring Bantu languages, such as Xhosa and Zulu in South Africa. The Khoe family appears to have migrated to southern Africa not long before the Bantu expansion. Nguni languages of southern Africa, which include Zulu and Xhosa, are believed to have borrowed their clicks from Khoisan languages. Bonke abantu banesiphiwo sesazela nesizathu These are typically written with characters such as and . Clicks are quite versatile as consonants, as they involve two articulations of the tongue which can operate partially independently. In all of the Southern African Khoisan languages, a simple rule applies to using the sound. Beadwork similar to the Ndebele is an integral aspect of Xhosa tradition. The language of instruction at universities in South Africa is English or Afrikaans (to a diminishing extent[21]), and Xhosa is taught as a subject, both for native and for non-native speakers. [1] [2] Khoisan is defined as those languages that have click consonants and do not belong to other African language families. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The 15 clicks (which learners tend to battle with the most) are divided into three categories. Xhosa has three basic clicks . When plain voiceless clicks (c, x, q) are prenasalized, they become slack voiced nasal (ngc, ngx, ngq). Kuria, The following three are languages from the Khoe family, the Kxa family, and the Tuu family, respectively. 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. Grazie! 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. Bonke abantu bazalwa bekhululekile belingana ngesidima is awesome for learning key words and phrases in Xhosa, especially if you want to use it for travel purposes. Do you think English would be more interesting with similar click sounds? Let us know where you'll be watching this weekend. All rights reserved. This offer isnt available anywhere else! When visiting the Eastern Cape be sure to ask an amaXhosa to teach you a few phrases, they are certain to be willing to share their unique language with you. There are five vowel phonemes, i.e., sounds that distinguish word meaning. 1998. 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. [3] Ethnically, their speakers are the Khoikhoi and the San (Bushmen). Long vowels are phonemic but are usually not written except for and , which are each sequences of two vowels with different tones that are realized as long vowels with contour tones ( highlow = falling, lowhigh = rising). . used as a language of instruction in primary schools, and in some Because Xhosa and Zulu are both classed as Bantu languages, they are quite similar. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. http://ilanguages.org/xhosa.php Rafiki, the sagely mandrill chants Xhosa on The Lion King and its reboot. The sustainability village focused on boo https://t.co/BDeRnlGHot, Experience the most exciting electric street racing here in Cape Town as the world's best street racers battle. https://t.co/ZihxkpWwe7, Undoubtedly the best spots to experience unbridled views of the Mother City. 1991). When consonants are prenasalised, their pronunciation and spelling may change. De Aar is the commercial center for the wool production and livestock farming industry in this semi-arid region of South Africa. Digo, Gusii, Breathy-voiced consonants are produced when the vocal cords vibrate, as they do in normal voicing, but are held further apart, so that a volume of air escapes between them. Breathy-voiced consonants The first is dental clicks with the tongue pressing against the back of the teeth. Pair them with vowels, tones, and other constants and you've got a wide variety of sounds and meanings. Can you reproduce these click types? No idea what a clicking language is? Xhosa, Zulu, Ndelebele and Swati share most of their basic vocabulary as well as grammar. The first two columns include words from the two Khoisan language isolates, Sandawe and Hadza. The term is a compound adapted from the words khoekhoe person and saan bush dweller in Nama, one of the Khoisan languages, and scholars have applied the wordseither separately or conjoinedto refer to economic, social, physical, and linguistic features of certain aboriginal groups of southern and eastern Africa. Vowels can be either short or long. "Names of Khoisan languages and Their Variants." Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Subscribe using the form below to have all of my posts delivered directly to your email. 4 Before monosyllabic stems in some words. 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. Lozi, This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Interestingly, the word Xhosa is from the Khoisan language and means "The angry men". is that you can jump around their extensive library of topics and choose what you want to learn, when you want, and at your own pace. Konjo, Agreements usually reflect part of the original class with which the word agrees. Xhosa (formerly spelled Xosa) is an official language of South Africa, natively spoken by around 7.9 million people which is about around 16% of the population of South Africa. Damin is an invented ritual language, and has nothing to do with Khoisan. Want my "9 Steps to Reach Fluency Faster" playbook? Anthony Traill noted the Khoisan languages' extreme variation. #CapeTownEPrix The word order is subjectverbobject, like in English. This site is not affiliated with any government entity associated with a name similar to the site domain name. The /i/ vowel is long in the penultimate syllable and short in the last syllable.[16]. Starostin (2013) gives the following classification of the Khoisan "macrofamily," which he considers to be a single coherent language family. English. Thus their language is variously said to be extinct or to have 18,000 speakers, to be Ju or to be Khoe. In, Khler, O. 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. However, linguists who study Khoisan languages reject their unity, and the name "Khoisan" is used by them as a term of convenience without any implication of linguistic validity, much as "Papuan" and "Australian" are. Author of. 0 characters. They are descended from the Nguni, who began migrating south from central and northern Africa more than a thousand years ago. [13] There is a small but significant Xhosa community of about 200,000 in Zimbabwe. The Khoisan language family is the smallest of the language families of Africa. Elsewhere many bilingual Khoisan speakers have tended to shift rapidly to the dominant language, thus ceasing transmission of the mother tongue to children and leaving it to contract and die, sometimes quite abruptly. Comorian, http://www.southafricalogue.com/travel-tips/south-african-phrases-xhosa.html, Basaa, A palatal click is a sharp pop made by drawing the tongue down quickly from the roof of the mouth. Some scholars speculate that they might represent an earlier stage in the evolution of human language. are about 8.2 million native speakers of Xhosa, and another 11 million By creating an account, I agree to theTerms of service and Privacy policy. The following table gives an overview of Xhosa noun classes, arranged according to singular-plural pairs. Densely populated with uncommon consonants, Xhosa consists of the usual pulmonic egressive sounds (used in English), ejectives, 15 clicks and an implosive. Bukusu, Xhosa is a tonal language with two inherent phonemic tones: low and high. 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. Xhosa is part of the branch of Nguni languages, which also include Zulu, Southern Ndebele and Northern Ndebele, called the Zunda languages. Clicks are spreading to a few additional neighboring languages. Occasionally other languages are said by laypeople to have "click" sounds. Omissions? However, there is no scientific proof to support this hypothesis since all languages use sound symbolism to a lesser or greater extent. Like what you see? . "Types of sound correspondence patterns in Khoisan languages." The palatalization process only applies once, as evidenced by ukuphuphumisa+wa -> ukuphuphunyiswa "to be made to overflow", instead of the illicit alternative, *ukuphutshunyiswa. Clicks Release of the forward closure results in a pop-like sound. Accent I'm fluent in Xhosa. High tone is represented in writing by an acute accent over the vowel, i.g., , low tone is indicated by by a grave accent, i.g., . In Haacke, Wilfrid and Elderkin, Edward Derek (eds. There are several places of articulation at which click consonants occur, as shown in the table below. "Die Khoe-sprachigen Buschmnner der Kalahari." (Their numbers have been included under Nama above.) But those simple 5 clicks can add a lot to a sentence. The language is also rich in idioms. New Haven: Compass Publishing Company. They are typologically very similar to the Kxa languages (below), but have not been demonstrated to be related to them genealogically (the similarities may be an areal feature). Northern Ndebele (Zimbabwe), Traill demonstrated this linguistic diversity in the data presented in the below table. Luchazi, It is spoken by the Xhosa people in South Africa, and has around 8 million speakers. Khoisan languages, characterised by implosive consonants or 'clicks', belonged to a totally different language family from those of the Bantu speakers. 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]. Most syllables end in a vowel, and there are no consonant clusters. Maore, Mpondo (Pondo), Xesibe, Bomwana, Gaika, Gcaleka, Thembu, Mpondomise, Ndlambe (Ethnologue). The origin of Khoisan click consonants and their peculiarly African provenance therefore remains a mystery. In, Sands, Bonny. Xhosa, A certain amount of intermarriage with the Khoisan people they found here also gave rise to clans like the Gqunkhwebe. As an example, the composition of the verb In the sentence Un-ntwana u-ya-wa-sel-a ama-nzi One child drinks water is shown below. [11] Zunda languages effectively form a dialect continuum of variously mutually intelligible varieties. Nyemba, Ronga, You can unsubscribe at any time. The language is marked by the large number of click consonant sounds used. ), Khoisan Linguistic Studies . Although all the Khoisan languages use click sounds, Sandawe and Hatsa are . 'The adaptation of non-click consonants in Xhosa'. uku-sebenz-is-el + wa -> ukusetyenziselwa "be used for"), but does not affect morpheme-initial consonants (i.e. Tones are rarely marked in the written language, but they can be indicated a [], [], [], []. What separates her from other instructors is her ability to explain complex grammar in a no-nonsense, straightforward manner using her unique 80/20 method. (Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights), Some corrections to this page by Michael Peter Fstumum, Information about Xhosa | . Tower of Babel | Other figures are the huge lightning bird (. 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. Today, the Khoisan languages are spoken only in southwestern Africa, in the region around the Kalahari Desert extending from Angola to South Africa, and in one small area of Tanzania. Clicks are stops produced with two points of contact in the mouth: one forward and one in the back. Xhosa is an unusual and attractive sounding language, though difficult to master. Some languages have become extinct and others are endangered. Punu, The Xhosa language is properly referred to as isiXhosa. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. People who speak Xhosa as their second language number about 11 million. Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people. Those who speak this language typically form part of the ethnic group called the amaXhosa and refer to their language as isiXhosa. Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Free State and Northern Cape. #VisitSouthAfrica https://t.co/A4fSLf2jvP, Hello Cape Town This produces an audible noise. No change when the following consonant is itself a nasal. That is, da may be pronounced [da] (or, equivalently, [da]). Besides clicks, Khoisan languages have non-click consonants, giving rise to very complex consonantal systems which are amongst the largest in the world.