!Kung language
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ǃKung or ǃʼOǃKung is a group of northern dialects of the Juu dialect continuum, which is sometimes classified as part of a Khoisan language family. ǃKung is spoken in northern Namibia and southern Angola by perhaps 15,000 Saan, though this number is uncertain due to the possibility of double counting populations that go by more than one name. It is primarily spoken by the ǃKung people.

Alternate names

(ǃʼO)ǃKung is also spelled Qxü, ǃXû(n), ǃKu, ǃHu, ǃKhung, ǃXung, ǃOǃung, and regionally called Maligo or ǃXu-Angola, ǃKung-Ekoka, ʼAkhoe, and Vasekela.

Geographic distribution

ǃKung is spoken in Namibia and Angola, generally around the Okavango River and Ovamboland Territory.

Current status

ǃKung is endangered, along with most other Khoisan languages, because of encroaching Bantu and Khoi cultures. The Herero and Nama languages are becoming more commonly spoken among the Kung-ekoka, and the hunter-gatherer way of life that is typical of the Khoisan-speaking peoples is being eroded by Bantu and Khoi farming settlements.

Sounds

ǃKung is famous for having one of the largest sound inventories in the world. The exact number depends upon how one classifies a click's onset and releases, but some authorities place the number at up to 48 distinct click sounds¹.

For the complete sound inventory of a related Ju dialect, see Juǀʼhoan.

Phonemic contrasts in ǃKung include:

• Pulmonic - click - twa to finish vs ǂwa to imitate
  • Pulmonic consonants
    • Voiced - voiceless unaspirated - voiceless aspirated stop: da skin, ta wild orange, tʰa bee sting
    • Voiced - voiceless unaspirated - voiceless aspirated - ejective affricate: djau expression of surprise, tca to fetch, ʦʰe week, tcʼa to pour
    • Voiced - voiceless fricative: za to sexually insult, se to see
  • Click consonants
    • Voiced unaspirated - voiced aspirated: ɡǃaĩ puff adder, ɡǃʰeĩ tree
    • Voiceless unaspirated - voiceless aspirated: ǃẽ noise, ǃʰã to know
    • Unaffricated - affricated release: ǃo behind, ǃxo elephant
    • Plain - glottalised release: ǃábí to roll up a blanket, ǃˀàbú rifle
    • Plain - nasalised: ǀi rhinoceros, nǀi to sit
• Vowels
  • Plain - nasalised: ɡǃa rain, ɡǃã red
  • Plain - pharyngealised: nǀom springhare, nǀo̱m big talker
  • Short - long: ǀu to throw, ǀuː to put in

ǃKung also distinguishes three to five tones.

Grammar

Linguistically, ǃKung is generally termed isolating; what this means is that words' meanings are changed by the addition of other, separate words, rather than by the addition of affixes or the changing of word structure. A few suffixes exist - for example, distributive plurals are formed with the noun suffix -si or -mhi, but in the main meaning is given only by series of words rather than by grouping of affixes.

ǃKung distinguishes no formal plural, and the suffixes -si and -mhi are optional in usage. The language's word order is Adverb-Subject-Verb-Object, and in this it is similar to English: "the snake bites the man" is represented by ǂʼaama nǃei zhu (ǂʼaama - snake, nǃei - to bite, zhu - man). Kung-ekoka uses word and sentence tone contours, and has a very finely differentiated vocabulary for the animals, plants and conditions native to the Kalahari Desert, where the language is spoken. For example, the plant genus Grewia is referred to by five different words, representing five different species in this genus.

See also

• ǃXu (god)

References

1. ^ Glenn R. Mortan (2002-09). "Language at the Dawn of Humanity" (PDF). asa3.org. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.

• Snyman, Jan Winston. 1980. The relationship between Angolan ǃXu and Zuǀʼõasi. In Bushman and Hottentot linguistic studies 1979, pp. 1-58. Ed. J. W. Snyman. University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria.

External links

• The Ethnologue Report for ǃKung-ekoka
• The Ethnologue Report for ǃOǃung
• The Ethnologue Report for Maligo
• Swadesh word list for ǃKung-ekoka
• Alternate names and classification from Göteborg University.
• Audio of !Kung speakers reading religious passages on Global Recordings Network