In South Africa, 19.1 million speak the language, with 8.1 million speaking it as their first language. 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. Kinyarwanda, You can unsubscribe at any time. The name Khoisan is a compound word formed with the native words khoiperson and sanforager, meaning persons who forage in the bush or bushmen. If you want detailed destinations guides, languages learning tips, and travel phrase guides, then you've come to the right place! Believed to be the oldest of the four language families, it is the smallest of the four and is found mainly in Southern Africa. The pocket of air produced by the resulting enclosure is rarefied by the sucking action of the tongue. Xhosa is closely related to Zulu, are about 8.2 million native speakers of Xhosa, and another 11 million Nyemba, The 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, however, have witnessed the death of many of the recorded languages and dialects, and their distribution is now largely confined to Botswana and Namibia. They are descended from the Nguni, who began migrating south from central and northern Africa more than a thousand years ago. The sound system of Xhosa contains three types of click sounds borrowed from the neighbouring Khoisan languages. Janina Brutt-Griffler claims, "given that such colonial borders were generally arbitrarily drawn, they grouped large numbers of ethnic groups that spoke many languages." Copyright The Intrepid Guide Ltd 2022. 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). Tribal Wars and European Persecution . Grazie! The Khoesan Languages (Chapter 2) - Language in South Africa The Origins of the Xhosa Language The Xhosa Language has its roots in South Africa from an ethnic group known as the amaXhosa. Xhosa people - Wikipedia Southern Sotho, XHOSA - South African Language Xhosa - SA-Venues.com Makhuwa, . The sound system of Nama is characterized by an abundance of click consonants. Their most distinctive linguistic characteristic is the original and extensive use of click consonants, a feature which has spread through cultural and linguistic contact into a number of Bantu (Niger-Congo) languagessuch as Xhosa, Zulu, and Sotho in South Africa and Gciriku (Diriku), Yei (Yeye), and Mbukushu in Botswana and Namibiaand into Dahalo, a Cushitic (Afro-Asiatic) language of Kenya. People who speak Xhosa as their second language number about 11 million. Emeritus Professor of African Studies; former Director, Institute for African Studies, University of Cologne. Masaaba, Fricatives become affricates. Thus, the word for people is abantu in all these languages. Kikuyu, [12] It is the second most common Bantu home language in South Africa as a whole. Planning a trip? "Types of sound correspondence patterns in Khoisan languages." Sandawe is not related to Hadza, despite their proximity. [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]. Xhosa beliefs recognise the presence of ancestral spirits and a supreme authority. #CapeTownEPrix ), Gldemann, Tom and Edward D. Elderkin (forthcoming) '. [1][2] Khoisan is defined as those languages that have click consonants and do not belong to other African language families. The Xhosa language is a member of the Bantu family and is closely related to Zulu. Tswana, See also Khoisan languages, which contains several audio clips. But without a shift in language policy and government . They are truly voiced only after nasals, but the oral occlusion is then very short in stops, and it usually does not occur at all in clicks. http://www.youtube.com/user/XhosaKhaya Xhosa is an unusual and attractive sounding language, though difficult to master. The phonology of Xhosa is characterized by a simple vowel inventory and a complex system of consonants. languages as a result of long and extensive interaction between the Verbs use the following prefixes for the subject and object: The following is a list of phrases that can be used when one visits a region whose primary language is Xhosa: Xhosa-speaking people have inhabited coastal regions of southeastern Africa since before the 16th century. Unfortunately, many of these languages have left behind no written records, so their loss is permanent. 9 reasons youre not fluentYET & how to fix it! This offer isnt available anywhere else! Indeed, the use of the term 'Khoikhoi' meaning . Archaeological evidence suggests that the Khoisan people appeared in southern Africa some 60,000 years ago. Translate files. The rest of the elements are placed to the left or to the right of the verb root. By distribution over land, Xhosa is the most widely spoken African language (while Zulu is most widely spoken in terms of population). "Die Khoisan-Familie." In, Sands, Bonny. Michele creates language learning guides and courses for travel. Xhosa - Wikipedia Christian missionaries during the early 19th century. The ceremonial slaughtering of animals is one of the many ways by which ancestors are invoked. Mushungulu, 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. No part of this site shall be reproduced, copied, or otherwise distributed without the express, written consent of SouthAfrica.com. A member of a Bantu people inhabiting the eastern part of Cape Province, South Africa. Includes English and Italian translations with pronuncation guide. With about 800 speakers in Tanzania, Hadza is no longer seen as a Khoisan language and appears to be unrelated to any other language. Some scholars speculate that they might represent an earlier stage in the evolution of human language. Below is a table of Xhosa consonants. 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. Chichewa, Khoisan - Traduo em ingls - exemplos portugus | Reverso Context women are easily recognised by their heavy dress, matching turban and coloured dots decorating their faces. Mbunda, The Zulu refer to the Eastern Cape as KwaXhosa which is translated to place of the Xhosa. Xhosa, Zulu, Ndelebele and Swati share most of their basic vocabulary as well as grammar. In keeping with many other Bantu languages, Xhosa is an agglutinative language, with an array of prefixes and suffixes that are attached to root words. Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people. Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. On external genealogical relationships of the Khoe family. Implosive consonants are produced by inhaling rather than exhaling the air. Xhosa, The Khoisan people have a unique language that is characterized by clicking sounds made with the tongue and mouth. The Khoisan I Meeting the Khoisan I Khoisan Click Language The palatalization process only applies once, as evidenced by ukuphuphumisa+wa -> ukuphuphunyiswa "to be made to overflow", instead of the illicit alternative, *ukuphutshunyiswa. Most have no written record. Sukuma, The official name of the language is isiXhosa, with the key word Xhosa being derived from the Khoisan Language. Bulu, 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. 15000 characters left today. 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. Nande, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xhosa_language Nyungwe, The original and unique use of clicks in the Khoisan languages has invited speculation that these unusual sounds might reflect an earlier stage in the evolution of language when sounds were natural vocal adaptations to the environment. 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. Only phonemic, and thus reflected orthographically, for. Although mutually intelligible, they are considered to be separate languages for political and cultural reasons. There is some indication that Sandawe (about 40,000 speakers in Tanzania) may be related to the Khoe family, such as a congruent pronominal system and some good Swadesh-list matches, but not enough to establish regular sound correspondences. 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. For instance, they can be aspirated, nasalised and glottalised. "Die Khoe-sprachigen Buschmnner der Kalahari." Mpondo (Pondo), Xesibe, Bomwana, Gaika, Gcaleka, Thembu, Mpondomise, Ndlambe (Ethnologue). But, as with any language, Xhosa had a rich history of oral traditions from which the society taught, informed, and entertained one another. so much, I reached out to them and weve teamed up to offer, across all of uTalks 140 languages! 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. Pair them with vowels, tones, and other constants and you've got a wide variety of sounds and meanings. Clicks In, Honken, Henry. Contact Us, 8.2 million people and by 11 million as a second language in South Africa, mostly in Eastern Cape Province and Transkei. The Xhosas started facing serious trouble during the 18th and 19th Centuries when they engaged in frequent conflicts with the European settlers attempting to annex their native lands. The pocket of air produced by the resulting enclosure is rarefied by the sucking action of the tongue. Zinza, 1991). Yao, "Phonetic Correspondences among Khoisan Affricates." Forms of "Nga" ##. Bonke abantu banesiphiwo sesazela nesizathu 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 . Subscribe using the form below to have all of my posts delivered directly to your email. De Aar is the commercial center for the wool production and livestock farming industry in this semi-arid region of South Africa. Kiga, . and is made by putting the tongue just behind the front teeth. Updates? Xhosa (isiXhosa) is the southernmost member of the Bantoid group of the Niger-Congo language family in Africa. second language speakers. Clicks are spreading to a few additional neighboring languages. [12] However, this classification is not widely accepted. Who are the Khoisan People? - WorldAtlas Songe, . Nyole, Khoisan Identity | South African History Online All click and most non-click consonants appear at the beginning of words and are followed by a vowel. 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). The only widespread Khoisan language is Khoekhoe (also known as Khoekhoegowab, Nm or Damara) of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, with a quarter of a million speakers; Sandawe in Tanzania is second in number with some 4080,000, some monolingual; and the Kung language of the northern Kalahari spoken by some 16,000 or so people. 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 next are the alveolar clicks with the tongue tip and palate. They are called upon for guidance, support, or to turn the tide of fortune. The word lives on, however, in the names of several African animal and plant species, such as the Hottentot Fig or Carpobrotus. Get her free guide 9 reasons youre not fluentYET & how to fix it! Xhosa Language - Dialects & Structure - MustGo Sena, Xhosa and Khoisan peoples. A Beginner's Guide Khoisan: Africa's Clicking Languages Sources Xhosa uses a system of tones to distinguish words that would otherwise sound the same. Ewondo, Fang, The Khoisan people, who at various points have been referred to using the derogatory terms 'Bushmen' and 'Hottentots', as well as Kung, Kxoe, Khoi Khoi, Ovahimba, San, Vatua and !Xu, are an ethno-linguistic group that has traditionally been marginalised throughout South African history. English. [4][5] It has been suggested that the similarities of the Tuu and Kxa families are due to a southern African Sprachbund rather than a genealogical relationship, whereas the Khoe (or perhaps KwadiKhoe) family is a more recent migrant to the area, and may be related to Sandawe in East Africa.[3]. Interestingly, the word Xhosa is from the Khoisan language and means The angry men. It is also taught in universities. Nguni languages are, in turn, classified under the much larger abstraction of Bantu languages. OshiWambo, 'The adaptation of non-click consonants in Xhosa'. In 1996[update], the literacy rate for first-language Xhosa speakers was estimated at 50%.[15]. The normal word order in Xhosa is Verb-Object (the subject is part of the verb compound). #VisitSouthAfrica https://t.co/EHxIRKzU37, RT @FIAFormulaE: The Rainbow Nation 4 Before monosyllabic stems in some words. Xhosa Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster By Mark Dingemanse [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons. The language is marked by the large number of click consonant sounds used. The best-known performer of Xhosa songs outside South Africa was Miriam Makeba, whose Click Song #1 (Xhosa Qongqothwane) and "Click Song #2" (Baxabene Ooxam) are known for their large number of click sounds. 2000. 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]. Updates? 1971. While palatalisation occurred historically, it is still productive, as is shown by palatalization before the passive suffix /-w/ and before diminutive suffix /-ana/. In, This page was last edited on 10 January 2023, at 12:02. There are books, magazines and newspapers in Xhosa, as well as TV and radio programmes, films, plays and songs. There are books, 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. Besides pulmonic egressive sounds, which are found in all spoken languages, it has a series of ejective stops and one implosive stop. Like other Bantu languages, Xhosa is rich in expressions, idioms, and proverbs. Please check your inbox to confirm your email. Xhosa is a Bantu language that is closely related to Ndebele and Swazi and is characterized by the unique click sounds for some letters. 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. 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. Corrections? The X and H languages are even more complex. Ngqika is considered to be the standard variety. 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. The language is an important part of Khois. According to this hypothesis, clicks might have originally served as onomatopoetic imitations of naturally occurring sounds. 1. (They may also be voiced between vowels in some speaking styles.) [11] Zunda languages effectively form a dialect continuum of variously mutually intelligible varieties. The Juhoan language has 48 click consonants among nearly as many non-click consonants, strident and pharyngealized vowels, and four tones. Xhosa is a Bantu language spoken in South Africa, mainly in the The Khoe family appears to have migrated to southern Africa not long before the Bantu expansion. Ancestors of the Xhosa migrated to the east coast of Africa and came across Khoisan-speaking people; "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". In Nguni. 4. The other Khoisan languages are unrecognized and marginalized, especially in South Africa. Khoisan languages - Wikipedia This distinctive linguistic characteristic was adopted by a number of neighbouring Bantu languages, such as Xhosa and Zulu in South Africa. Author of, Professor Emeritus, Department of Linguistics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Kirundi, Soga, Xhosa is, to a large extent, mutually intelligible with Zulu and with other Nguni languages to a lesser extent. In Xhosa, the verb "have" is represented by the word "nga" and its various forms. Like what you see? Luchazi, Starostin (2013) accepts a relationship between Sandawe and Khoi is plausible, as is one between Tuu and Kxa, but sees no indication of a relationship between Sandawe and Khoi on the one hand and Tuu and Kxa on the other, or between any of them and Hadza. Languages Gulper/Khoisan Peoples/About World Languages/Wikipedia/The Week. Snyman, Jan Winston. 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. MustGo.com. Xhosa verbs are highly inflected. Watch this video of Miriam Makebas singQongqothwane in Xhosa, also known as The Click Song. 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. However, not all noun classes can be so easily defined. 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. Sample basic vocabulary for Khoisan language families: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. An estimated 15% of Xhosa vocabulary is of Khoisan origin. Xhosa is listed amongst South Africa's 11 official languages and is spoken by approximately 18% of the country's population (plus-minus 7.9 million individuals). 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. Digo, Foreign language learning is real world education, /c, , , , x, , / have no equivalents in English. It has therefore been recognized that the Xhosa language formed after historical interaction with the Khoisan. Xhosa is an official language in South Africa and Zimbabe, and is used as a language of instruction in primary schools, and in some secondary schools. Download your free PDF guide with 125 Italian travel phrases. 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. Xhosa has three basic clicks . Traill demonstrated this linguistic diversity in the data presented in the below table. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The Xhosa language (Isixhosa), of which there are variations, is part of the Nguni language group. Jita, Translate English to Xhosa online | Translate.com https://www.twinkl.co.za/resources/south-africa-resources/isixhosa-foundation-phase-english-south-africa-suid-afrika/2, Online Xhosa dictionaries The Khoisan language groups are different in structure and vocabulary although the groups are closely related, unlike the Bantu languages such as the Xhosa and Zulu which are similar to one another. Language use is quite strong among the 20,000 speakers of Naro,[clarification needed] half of whom speak it as a second language. 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. 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. [12], Xhosa is the most widely distributed African language in South Africa, though the most widely spoken African language is Zulu. Tsonga, ", Commission for Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Community Rights, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Khoisan_languages&oldid=1132757639, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia articles needing clarification from July 2020, Articles with unsourced statements from April 2019, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Ehret, Christopher. There are five vowel phonemes, i.e., sounds that distinguish word meaning. Accent I'm fluent in Xhosa. The inventory is taken from Wikipedia. A palatal click is a sharp pop made by drawing the tongue down quickly from the roof of the mouth. 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. When plain voiceless clicks (c, x, q) are prenasalized, they become slack voiced nasal (ngc, ngx, ngq). All rights reserved. Although vowel length distinguishes word meaning, the length is not represented in writing, except for and . Xhosa has a complex system of consonants, including some uncommon ones. Other languages have little more than 1,000 speakers while several are known to have become extinct. In contrast to the San who spoke highly divergent languages, the Khoikhoi spoke closely related dialects of the same language. A Beginners Guide Khoisan: Africas Clicking Languages. Xhosa nouns belong to 17 different classes, roughly based on semantic categories, e.g., there are classes for human beings, animals, plants, objects of various shapes, etc. North Khoisan is spoken by hunter-gatherers mainly in Namibia. In this lesson, we will be focusing on the different uses of "nga" and how to use it correctly in different contexts. 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. Additional phonemes use sequences of multiple letters. 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. [citation needed]Presently, approximately nine million Xhosa . Xhosa, which is also known as Xosa or Koosa, is a clicking language. Breathy-voiced consonants The linguistic use of clicks, whether original or borrowed, is restricted to these few African languages, with one exception: Damin. Xhosa is rich in uncommon consonants. The status of Xhosa, like all other African languages in the Republic of South Africa, is complex. It's a wrap! They are known as the Saa by the Nama, and this is the source of the word San. The first printed The murmur no longer shifts to the following vowel. You can unsubscribe at any time. Xhosa Translation Services: Xhosa to English and - Language Scientific Gldemann, Tom. Swati, Nguni - a group of southern Bantu languages . It is a national of Namibia, along with English and a number of other regional languages. Xhosa (isiXhosa) is the southernmost member of the Bantoid group of the Niger-Congo language family in Africa. It is a Methodist hymn written in Xhosa by Enoch Sontonga in 1897. The onset cluster /kl/ from phonologized loanwords such as, The unwritten glottal stop is present in words like, In informal writing, this murmured consonant can sometimes be seen spelled as, sebenz + -is + -el +wa -> setyenziselwa [setenziselwa] (used for), This page was last edited on 25 February 2023, at 23:55. F https://t.co/s7IkqA9Utl, It feels good to have @KevinHart4real also known as Mpho here in Johannesburg, South Africa. 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. Let me know using thecomments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation. 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 to ward off evil from unnatural forces such as thetokoloshe a potentially malevolent goblin who attacks at night. 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. 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"). It is also Click consonants can be modified in a variety of ways. Xhosa - definition of Xhosa by The Free Dictionary Agreements usually reflect part of the original class with which the word agrees. The spirits of those who have passed on are honoured in rituals and ceremonies.