Central !Kung

Central !Kung
Native to	Namibia
Region	Grootfontein
Language family	Kxʼa !Kung Central !Kung
Dialects	Grootfontein !Xuun
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	cent2300

Central !Kung (Central !Xuun), or Central Ju, is a recently distinguished variety of the !Kung dialect cluster, spoken in a small area of northern Namibia: Neitsas, in Grootfontein district, and Gaub, in Tsumeb district. It is frequently reported as Grootfontein !Xuun, as most work has been done in Grootfontein. A possibly identifying feature of Central !Kung is a distinct series of retroflex clicks. While Northern (Northwestern) and Southern (Southeastern) !Kung are not mutually intelligible, it is not yet clear to what extent Central !Kung is intermediate between them or intelligible with either.

Dialects

Two dialects are identified as being Central !Kung based on grammatical features:

(C1) Gaub (Tsumeb district, N Namibia)

(C2) Neitsas (Grootfontein district, N Namibia)

In addition, the Tsintsabis, Leeunes and Mangetti (different from Mangetti Dune) dialects of !Kung have retroflex clicks and so may belong here, though no grammatical information is available to classify them.

Phonology

Grootfontein !Kung is unusual in having true retroflex clicks, which are subapical for some speakers and have lateral release, as in the word for 'water', [‼̬ˡú] (provisionally written g‼ú). There are thus five places of articulation in Grootfontein clicks, /ǃ ǀ ǁ ǂ ‼/. These come in eight series, here represented with the retroflex articulation:

Lingual /‼ ‼ʰ ᶢ‼ ᵑ‼ ᵑ̊‼ʰ/, glottalized /ᵑ̊‼ˀ/, linguo-pulmonic /‼χ/, linguo-glottalic /‼͡kxʼ/

Otherwise, the Grootfontein inventory is similar to that of Ekoka !Kung, except that it lacks the (pre)voiced affricates dχ, dʒ, dʒʼ, dʃχʼ.

The Grootfontein !Kung language has a relatively large phonological inventory:

Consonants

Grootfontein !Kung consonant inventory

		Labial	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	t̠ʰ		k		ʔ
	vl. aspirated	pʰ				kʰ
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
	vd. aspirated	bʰ	dʰ			ɡʰ
	prenasal	(ᵐb)	(ⁿd)			(ᵑɡ)
Fricative				ʃ			χ	ɦ
Affricate	voiceless			tʃ
	aspirated			tʃʰ
	ejective			tʃʼ
Nasal	voiced	m	n		ɲ	ŋ
	aspirated	mʰ	nʰ
Lateral			l
Approximant		w			j
Clusters
Plain + /χ/			tχ	tʃχ
Plain + /χʼ/						kχʼ

Grootfontein !Kung click consonant inventory

	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Lateral
Voiceless	ǀ	!	‼	ǂ	ǁ
Vl. Aspirated	ǀʰ	!ʰ	‼ʰ	ǂʰ	ǁʰ
Voiced	ᶢǀ	ᶢ!	ᶢ‼	ᶢǂ	ᶢǁ
Vd. Aspirated	ᶢǀʰ	ᶢ!ʰ	ᶢ‼ʰ	ᶢǂʰ	ᶢǁʰ
Nasal	ᵑǀ	ᵑ!	ᵑ‼	ᵑǂ	ᵑǁ
Nl. Aspirated	ᵑǀʰ	ᵑ!ʰ	ᵑ‼ʰ	ᵑǂʰ	ᵑǁʰ
Fortis		ᵏ!			ᵏǁ
Ejective	ǀʼ	!ʼ	‼ʼ	ǂʼ	ǁʼ
Ej. Aspirated	ǀʼʰ	!ʼʰ	‼ʼʰ	ǂʼʰ	ǁʼʰ
Clusters
Plain + /χ/	ǀχ	!χ	‼χ	ǂχ	ǁχ
Plain + /χʼ/	ǀχʼ	!χʼ	‼χʼ	ǂχʼ	ǁχʼ
Voiced + /χʼ/	ᶢǀχʼ	ᶢ!χʼ	ᶢ‼χʼ	ᶢǂχʼ	ᶢǁχʼ

Vowels

Five vowel sounds in the !Kung languages are realized as [i e a o u]. The sounds may be articulated with nasalisation [ĩ ẽ ã õ ũ], breathy voice [iʱ eʱ aʱ oʱ uʱ], or pharyngealisation [iˤ eˤ aˤ oˤ uˤ]. Some nasal vowels with diacritics may have combinations such as breathy + nasal [ãʱ õʱ], and pharyngeal + nasal [ãˤ õˤ ũˤ].

Sample

Following are sample sentences in Central !Kung.

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 [lit. he was held by TB sickness]

hȁ má kò ǁáúlè !xō

he is supposed to hunt elephants but he didn't

mí má kā ǁàȅ n!ùm̀ 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.

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 !Xung" (Grootfontein and Ekoka)
• Amanda Miller, 2009. "Contrastive Coronal Click Types in !Xung" (Grootfontein)

External links

• Grootfontein !Kung basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database