Kgalagadi is a Bantu language spoken in Botswana, along the South African border. It is spoken by about 40,000 people.[3] In the language, it is known as Shekgalagari.
| Kgalagadi | |
|---|---|
| Kalahari | |
| 'SheKgalagadi | |
| Native to | Botswana |
| Ethnicity | Kgalagadi |
Native speakers | 65,400 (2015)[1] |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | xkv |
| Glottolog | kgal1244 |
S.311 (ex-S.31d)[2] | |
| ELP | Kgalagadi |
| Linguasphere | 99-AUT-eh incl. varieties 99-AUT-eha to 99-AUT-ehc |
Classification edit
Kgalagadi (also rendered Kgalagari, Kgalagarhi, Kgalagari, Khalagari, Khalakadi, Kxhalaxadi, Qhalaxarzi, Shekgalagadi, Shekgalagari, Kqalaqadi) is most closely related to Tswana, and until recently was classified as a dialect of Tswana.[2]
Dialects include Shengologa, Sheshaga, Shebolaongwe, Shelala, Shekhena, Sheritjhauba and Shekgwatheng.
Phonology edit
Vowels edit
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u | |
| Close-mid | e ~ ɪ | o ~ ʊ | |
| Open-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
| Open | a |
- Close-mid vowels /e, o/ are frequently heard as near-close sounds [ɪ, ʊ] among speakers in free variation.
Consonants edit
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar |
Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | lab. | plain | lab. | plain | lab. | |||||||
| Stop | voiceless | p | t̪ | c | cʷ | k | q | |||||
| aspirated | pʰ | t̪ʰ | cʰ | cʰʷ | kʰ | qʰ | ||||||
| voiced | b | d̪ | ɟ | g | ||||||||
| Affricate | voiceless | t͡s | t͡sʷ | t͡ʃ | t͡ʃʷ | |||||||
| aspirated | t͡sʰ | t͡sʰʷ | t͡ʃʰ | t͡ʃʰʷ | ||||||||
| voiced | (d͡z) | d͡ʒ | ||||||||||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | ʃ | ʃʷ | χ | h | ||||||
| voiced | z | ʒ | ʒʷ | (ɦ) | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n̪ | ɲ | ŋ | ||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||||
| Approximant | l | j | w | |||||||||
- Click sounds /ʘ, ǀŋ, ǃŋ/ are also said to occur, but mostly in rare cases.[4]
- A voicelss trill [r̥] may also occur phonemically among dialects, and may also be pronounced as breathy [r̤] in intervocalic positions.
- /r/ may also be heard as a flap [ɾ].
- /qʰ/ may also be heard as [q͡χʰ] in free variation.
- Sounds /z, ʒ/ can be pronounced in free variation as affricates [d͡z, d͡ʒ] in the Bolaongwe dialect
- /h/ is can be heard as voiced [ɦ] when in intervocalic positions.[5]
Notes and references edit
- ^ "Kgalagadi". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
- ^ a b Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
- ^ Kgalagadi language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
- ^ Solé, Maria-Josep; Hyman, Larry M.; Monaka, Kemmonye C. (2009). More on Post-nasal Devoicing: The Case of Shekgalagari. UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report, 5. pp. 299–320.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Dickens, Patrick J. (1986). Qhalaxarzi phonology. University of the Witwatersrand.
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