Central ǃKung (Central ǃXun), or Central Ju, is a language of the
ǃKung dialect cluster, spoken in a small area of northern Namibia: Neitsas, in
Grootfontein
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, motto = Fons Vitæ
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district, and Gaub, in
Tsumeb
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, motto = ''Glück Auf'' (German for ''Good luck'')
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district. It is frequently reported as Grootfontein ǃXuun, as most work has been done in Grootfontein. An identifying feature of Central ǃKung is a fifth series of clicks that are often
retroflex
A retroflex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈɹɛtʃɹoːflɛks/), apico-domal (Help:IPA/English, /əpɪkoːˈdɔmɪnəl/), or cacuminal () consonant is a coronal consonant where the tongue has a flat, concave, or even curled shape, and is articulated betw ...
. While Northern (Northwestern) and Southern (Southeastern) ǃKung are not mutually intelligible, it is not yet clear to what extent Central ǃKung is intermediate between them or intelligible with either.
Dialects
Two dialects are identified as being Central ǃKung based on grammatical features:
:(C1) Gaub (Tsumeb district, N Namibia)
:(C2) Neitsas (Grootfontein district, N Namibia)
In addition, the ǃKung dialects of Tsintsabis, Leeunes and Mangetti (different from Mangetti Dune) have retroflex clicks and so may belong here, though no grammatical information is available to classify them.
In Grootfontein ǃKung words which Doke (1926) and others have described as having
retroflex clicks, Vedder (1910/1911) described a second series of lateral clicks in Gaub ǃKung.
Phonology
Grootfontein ǃKung is unusual in having true
retroflex click
The retroflex clicks are a family of click consonants known only from the Central !Kung dialects of Namibia. They are sub-apical retroflex and should not be confused with the more widespread postalveolar clicks, which are sometimes mistakenly ...
s, which are
subapical for some speakers and have lateral release, as in the word for 'water', (provisionally written ''g‼ú''). There are thus five places of articulation in Grootfontein clicks, . These come in eight series, here represented with the retroflex articulation:
:Lingual ,
glottalized
Glottalization is the complete or partial closure of the glottis during the articulation of another sound. Glottalization of vowels and other sonorants is most often realized as creaky voice (partial closure). Glottalization of obstruent consona ...
,
linguo-pulmonic
Pulmonic-contour clicks, also called sequential linguo-pulmonic consonants, are consonants that transition from a click to an ordinary pulmonic sound, or more precisely, have an audible delay between the front and rear release of the click. Al ...
,
linguo-glottalic
Otherwise, the Grootfontein inventory is similar to that of
Ekoka ǃKung, except that it lacks the (pre)voiced affricates ''dχ, dʒ, dʒʼ, dʃχʼ.''
The Grootfontein ǃKung language has a relatively large phonological inventory:
Consonants
Vowels
Five vowel sounds in the ǃKung languages are realized as . The sounds may be articulated with nasalisation , breathy voice , or pharyngealisation . Some nasal vowels with diacritics may have combinations such as breathy + nasal , and pharyngeal + nasal .
Sample
Following are sample sentences in Central ǃKung.
[''Perception and Cognition in Language and Culture''. Alexandra Aikhenvald, Anne Storch, 2013]
:''mí má kȍhà hŋ́ gǀȕì ō ǁȁhìn-ā ō hȁ ō gǀè gù ǀxūúnnu''
:I must see the hyena to tell it to come catch the crocodile lying there
:''mtícē kwá bà ǀōā kē gǀè-ā g‼ȍhò''
:why didn't you come to work?
:''hȁ má kò kē ǁȁn̏ kú cŋ̏ djūí kā hȁ ǁàȅ-ā tí kē TB ǁ'à-ān tí''
:he was not supposed to drink beer anymore because he had tuberculosis
it. he was held by TB sickness
:''hȁ má kò ǁáúlè ǃxō''
:he is supposed to hunt elephants but he didn't
:''mí má kā ǁàȅ nǃùm̀ kā ŋ̄ŋ̀ kā-è cālā n‼á'm̀ g‼à è-tcā
:I hold this rock so that it cannot fall down and kill us.
References
Further reading
* Amanda Miller, 2011. "The Representation of Clicks". In Oostendorp et al. eds., ''The Blackwell Companion to Phonology.''
* Miller, Sands, et al., 2010. "Retroflex Clicks in Two Dialects of ǃXung" (Grootfontein and Ekoka)
* Amanda Miller, 2009. "Contrastive Coronal Click Types in ǃXung" (Grootfontein)
External links
Grootfontein ǃKung basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{Khoisan
Kx'a languages