Juǀʼhoan
| Juǀʼhoan | |
|---|---|
| Zhuǀʼhõasi | |
| Southeastern ǃXuun | |
| Native to | Namibia, Botswana |
| Region | near border with Angola |
|
Native speakers
|
4,000 (2003) |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | juho1239 |
Juǀʼhoan (also rendered Zhuǀʼhõasi, Dzuǀʼoasi, Zû-ǀhoa, JuǀʼHoansi), or Southeastern ǃXuun (Southeastern Ju), is the southern variety of the !Kung dialect continuum spoken by about 30,000 people in the northeast of Namibia and by another 5,000 in the Northwest District of Botswana. Four regional (sub)dialects are distinguished: Epukiro, Tsumkwe, Rundu, and Omatako, with Tsumkwe being the best described; ǂKxʼauǁʼein may be another.
Juǀʼhoan has four tones. There are five vowel qualities, /i e a o u/. However, these may be nasalized, glottalized, murmured, or combinations of these, and most of these possibilities occur both long and short. The qualities /a/ and /o/ may also be pharyngealized and strident (epiglottalized). Thus, there are a good 30 vowel phonemes, perhaps more, depending on one's analysis. There are, in addition, many vowel sequences and diphthongs.
Juǀʼhoan has an unusually large number of consonants, even for a !Kung language. The following occur at the beginnings of roots. For brevity, only the alveolar clicks are listed with the other consonants; the complete set of clicks is found below.
Tenuis and modally voiced consonants (blue) may occur with any vowel quality. However, other consonants (grey, transcribed with a superscript diacritic to their right) do not occur in the same root as murmured, glottalized, or epiglottalized vowels.
The voiced aspirated and ejective consonants, both pulmonic and clicks, contain a voiceless interval, which Miller (2003) attributes to a larger glottal opening than is found in Hindustani breathy-voiced consonants. Phonetically, however, they are voice contours, starting out voiced but becoming voiceless for the aspiration or ejection.
The phonemic status of [ʔ], [dz] and [dʒ] is uncertain. [ʔ] may be epenthetic before vowel-initial words; alternatively, it may be that no word may begin with a vowel. /mʱ/ occurs only in a single morpheme, the plural diminutive enclitic /mʱi/. /f/ and /l/ (not shown) only occur in loan words, and some accounts posit a /j/ and /w/. Labials (/p, pʰ, b, bʱ, m/) are very rare initially, though common between vowels. Velar stops (oral and nasal) are rare initially and very rare medially.
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