Sekele is the northern

language Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...

of the ǃKung

dialect continuum A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated varie ...

. It was widespread in southern

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

before the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...

, but those varieties are now spoken principally among a diaspora in northern

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. There are also a number of

dialect The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena: One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...

s spoken in far northern Namibia. Sekele is known by a number of names. "Sekele" itself derives from ''Vasekele'', the Angolan

Bantu Bantu may refer to: *Bantu languages, constitute the largest sub-branch of the Niger–Congo languages *Bantu peoples, over 400 peoples of Africa speaking a Bantu language * Bantu knots, a type of African hairstyle *Black Association for National ...

name. It is also known as Northern ǃKung, Northern ǃXuun, and Northern Ju. Two of the Angolan varieties have gone by the outdated term ǃʼOǃKung (or ''ǃʼO ǃuŋ'' , "Forest ǃKung") and Maligo (short for "Sekele Maligo"). There are several Namibian dialects, of which the best-known is Ekoka.

Dialects

There is a division between the northernmost dialects, formerly known as Angolan ǃKung or Northern ǃKung, and the more southern dialects of northernmost Namibia, which are known as Western ǃKung or North-Central ǃKung, as well as between them and the eastern dialect of Kavango ǃKung. These northern dialects include: *Angolan (Northern) ǃKung, originally of Southern Angola, which is situated around the Cunene, Cubango, Cuito, and

Cuando River The Cuando River (or Kwando in the non-colonial spelling) is a river in south-central Africa flowing through Angola and Namibia's Caprivi Strip and into the Linyanti Swamp on the northern border of Botswana. Below the swamp, the river is called t ...

s; ::(N1) Maligo (''ǃxuun, kúándò ǃxuun'' "Kwando ǃXuun", southeast Angola); ::(N2) ǃʼOǃKung (''ǃʼo ǃuŋ'' "Forest ǃXuun"; east central Angola); * Western (North-Central) ǃKung (ǃKung-Ekoka), of northern Namibia, between the Ovambo River and the Angolan border, around the tributaries of the

Okavango River The Okavango River (formerly spelled Okovango or Okovanggo), Also known as the Cubango River, is a river in southwest Africa. It is the fourth-longest river system in southern Africa, running southeastward for . It begins at an elevation of in ...

east of

Rundu Rundu is the capital and largest city of the Kavango-East Region in northern Namibia. It lies on the border with Angola on the banks of the Kavango River about above sea level. Rundu's population is growing rapidly. The 2001 census counted 36,9 ...

to the

Etosha Pan The Etosha Pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin in the north of Namibia. It is a hollow in the ground in which water may collect or in which a deposit of salt remains after water has evaporated. The 120-kilo ...

; ::(W1) — (''ǃxūún, ǃʼālè ǃxòān'' "Valley ǃXuun"; Eenhana district, northern Namibia); ::(W2) ǀʼAkhwe (''ǃxūún, ǀʼākhòè ǃxòān'' "Kwanyama ǃXuun"; Eenhana, northern Namibia); ::(W3) Tsintsabis (''ǃxūún''; Tsintsabis, Tsumeb district, northern Namibia); *(K) Kavango ǃKung (''ǃxūún'', known as ''dom ǃxūún'' "River ǃXuun" in Ekoka; Western Rundu district, northern Namibia, & Angola adjacent) The Okongo, Ovambo, and Mpunguvlei dialects may duplicate (W1) and (K) or be additional forms. A dialect of Angolan Sekele currently being investigated by

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

s has been labeled Mangetti Dune ǃKung, and is spoken by a resettled diaspora community of 500–1000 in Namibia and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in the settlements of Mangetti Dune and Omtaku, east of

Grootfontein , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = Fons Vitæ , image_skyline = Grootfontein grass.jpg , imagesize = 300px , image_caption = , image_flag = , flag_si ...

, Namibia; and in Schmidtsdrif, west of

Kimberley, South Africa Kimberley is the capital and largest city of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is located approximately 110 km east of the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The city has considerable historical significance due to its ...

Phonology

;Angolan ǃKung Mangetti Dune ǃKung has clicks with four places of articulation, . A reported distinction between dental lateral and postalveolar lateral clicks has not been confirmed by further research. These clicks come in the same eight series as in Grootfontein ǃKung, represented with the palatal 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 ;Western (North-Central) ǃKung

Footnotes

References

* *

External links

Comparative ǃKung basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

ELAR archive of A Video and Text Documentation of Mangetti Dune ǃXung
{{Languages of Namibia Kx'a languages Languages of Angola Languages of Namibia