ǃXóõ language Totally Explained

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ǃXóõ is a Khoisan language with a very large number of phonemes (speech sounds), by many counts the most of any known language, at least 74 consonants, 31 vowels, and four tones. These include fifty or more click consonants and several vowel phonations, though opinions vary as to which sounds are single segments versus clusters. As of 2002 ǃXóõ is spoken by about 4,200 people worldwide. These are mainly in Botswana (approximately 4,000 people), but some are in Namibia.

Relatives

Until the rediscovery of a few elderly speakers of Nǀu in the 1990s, ǃXóõ was thought to be the last surviving member of the Tuu language family.

Alternate names

ǀʼAuni (extinct), Kakia (extinct), Kiǀhazi (extinct), Nǀgamani (extinct), Ngǀuǁen (extinct), Nǀu-san, Xatia (Katia, Kattea, Khatia, Vaalpens, ǀKusi, ǀEikusi, Masarwa), ǃKwi.
There is much confusion with these names. For example, IʼAuni is actually a dialect of Nǀu, in the ǃKwi family, and Nguen, Nǀu-san are alternate names of that language. ǃKwi may also be a ǃKwi dialect rather than a dialect of ǃXóõ. Kakia may be a separate language in the Taʼa family, and Xatia etc may be variants of that name. Nonetheless, there's dialectal variation in ǃXóõ, which might be better described as a dialect continuum than as a single language.

Phonemes

Tones

There are 4 tones: high [á], mid [ā], low [à], and mid-falling [â].

Vowels

There are 5 vowel qualities, [ae i o u], which may be plain, murmured, or glottalized. [ao u] may also be both glottalized and murmured, as well as pharyngealized or strident. [au] may be both pharyngealized and glottalized, for 26 vowels not counting nasalization or length.
   Murmured vowels after plain consonants contrast with plain vowels after aspirated consonants, and likewise glottalized vowels with ejective consonants, so these are phonations of the vowels and not assimilation with consonant phonation.
   Vowels may be long or short, but long vowels may be sequences rather than distinct phonemes. The other vowel quality sequences (diphthongs?), disregarding the added complexity of phonation, are [ai,ae, ao, au, oi, oe, oa, ou, ui, ue, ua].
   All plain vowels may be nasalized. No other phonation may be nasalized, but nasalization occurs in combination with other phonations as the second vowel of a sequence ("long vowel" or "diphthong"). These sequences alternate dialectically with vowel plus velar nasal. That is, the name ǃXóõ may be dialectically [kǃxóŋ], and this in turn may be phonemically /kǃxóɲ/, since [ɲ] doesn't occur word-finally. However, this can't explain the short nasal vowels, so ǃXóõ has at least 31 vowels.
   A long, glottalized, murmured, nasalized o with falling tone is written <ôʼhõ>. A long, strident nasalized o with low tone is written <òqhõ>, since Traill analyzes stridency as phonemically pharyngealized murmur. (Note that phonetically these are distinct phonations.)

Consonants

ǃXóõ is unusual in allowing mixed voicing in its consonants. These have been called "prevoiced", but they actually appear to be consonant clusters. When homorganic, as in [dt], such clusters are listed in the chart below.

non-click consonants		labial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar	corresponding clicks?	uvular	corresponding clicks?	glottal
oral stop	voiced	b ~ v	d	ʣ		ɡ	ɡǃ etc.	ɢ ~ ɴɢ	ɢǃ ~ ɴɢǃ etc.
	tenuis		t	ʦ		k	kǃ etc.	q	qǃ etc.	ʔ
	aspirated		tʰ	ʦʰ		kʰ	kǃʰ etc.	qʰ
	ejective			ʦʼ		kxʼ	kǃʼqʼ etc.	(qʼ)	qǃʼ etc.
	aspirated cluster		dtʰ	dʦʰ			ɡǃh etc.	ɢqʰ ~ ɴɢqʰ	ɢǃh etc.
	ejective cluster			dʦʼ		ɡkxʼ	ɡ!qʼ etc.
fricative	voiceless			s		x	kǃx etc. ?
nasal	voiced	m		n	ɲ	(ŋ)	ŋǃ etc.
nasal	glottalized	mˀ		nˀ			ʔŋǃ etc.
other			(l)		dʲ ~ j

The nasal [ɲ] only occurs between vowels, and [ŋ] only word finally (and then only in some dialects), so these may be allophones.
   There are additional consonant clusters: [tx,dtx, ʦx, dʦx, tkxʼ, dtkxʼ, ʦʼkxʼ, dʦʼkxʼ]. The click accompaniments seen in [ŋ̊ǃ,ŋ̊ǃʰ, kǃˀ, ɡǃkx] also don't fit into the chart.
   ǃXóõ has 83 click sounds. Given the intricate clusters seen in the non-click consonants, it isn't surprising that many of the ǃXóõ clicks should be analyzed as clusters. However, while some are clearly simplex and some clearly complex, there's debate over others.
   There are five click releases: bilabial, dental, lateral, alveolar, and palatal. There are seventeen accompaniments, both velar and uvular. These are perfectly normal consonants in ǃXóõ, and indeed are preferred over non-clicks in word-initial position.

affricated clicks			'sharp' clicks		accompaniment, along with speaker or dialect variation
labial clicks	dental clicks	lateral clicks	alveolar clicks	palatal clicks	accompaniment, along with speaker or dialect variation
kʘ	kǀ	kǁ	kǃ	kǂ	Tenuis (k)
qʘ	qǀ	qǁ	qǃ	qǂ	Tenuis uvular (q)
ŋ̊ʘ	ŋ̊ǀ	ŋ̊ǁ	ŋ̊!	ŋ̊ǂ	Voiceless nasal (ŋ̊)
ɡʘ	ɡǀ	ɡǁ	ɡǃ	ɡǂ	Voiced (ɡ)
ɢʘ	ɢǀ	ɢǁ	ɢǃ	ɢǂ	(Prenasalized) voiced uvular (ɢ, ɴɢ)
ŋʘ	ŋǀ	ŋǁ	ŋǃ	ŋǂ	Voiced nasal (ŋ)
kʘʰ	kǀʰ	kǁʰ	kǃʰ	kǂʰ	Aspirated (kʰ)
↓ŋ̊ʘʰ	↓ŋ̊ǀʰ	↓ŋ̊ǁʰ	↓ŋ̊ǃʰ	↓ŋ̊ǂʰ	Ingressive voiceless nasal with delayed aspiration (↓ŋ̊ʰ)
kʘˣ	kǀˣ	kǁˣ	kǃˣ	kǂˣ	Voiceless affricate (kˣ)
ˀŋʘ	ˀŋǀ	ˀŋǁ	ˀŋǃ	ˀŋǂ	Preglottalized nasal (ˀŋ)
qʘʼ	qǀʼ	qǁʼ	qǃʼ	qǂʼ	Uvular ejective (qʼ)
kʘˀ	kǀˀ	kǁˀ	kǃˀ	kǂˀ	Glottalized plosive (kˀ)
ɡʘx	ɡǀx	ɡǁx	ɡǃx	ɡǂx	Voiced velar plosive followed by voiceless velar fricative (ɡx, ɡkx)
kʘʼqʼ	kǀʼqʼ	kǁʼqʼ	kǃʼqʼ	kǂʼqʼ	Velar ejective followed by uvular ejective (kʼqʼ, dialectically kxʼ)
ɡʘqʼ	ɡǀqʼ	ɡǁqʼ	ɡǃqʼ	ɡǂqʼ	Voiced velar plosive followed by uvular ejective (ɡqʼ, dialectically ɡkxʼ)
ɡʘh	ɡǀh	ɡǁh	ɡǃh	ɢǂh	Voiced velar plosive followed by aspiration (ɡh, ɡkʰ)
	ɢǀh		ɢǃh	ɢǂh	Voiced (prenasalized) uvular plosive followed by aspiration, velar frication, or uvular trill (ᴺɢh, ᴺɢx, ᴺɢʀ)

Peter Ladefoged analyses the first ten accompaniments (through the ʔŋǃ series) as simplex, and the last seven as complex. This would mean that ǃXóõ has 50 simple clicks. However, it isn't clear that the uvular ejective click series (qǃ’, etc) are consonant clusters, since the double-ejective clicks (kǃʼqʼ etc) are analysed as two segments, not three. Also, glottalized clicks similar to the kǃˀ series are analysed as simple consonants in other Khoisan languages. Recent work on ǃXóõ's sister language Nǀuu suggests that all clicks in both languages have a uvular or rear articulation, and that the clicks considered to be uvular here are actually velo-pulmonic and velo-glottalic airstream contours. It may be that the 'prevoiced' consonants of ǃXóõ can also be analysed as contour consonants, in this case with voicing contours.
All nasal clicks have twin airstreams, since the air passing through the nose bypasses the tongue. Usually this is pulmonic egressive. However, the ↓ŋ̊ʰ series in ǃXóõ is characterized by pulmonic ingressive nasal airflow. Ladefoged (SOWL p 268) states that "This ǃXóõ click is probably unique among the sounds of the world's languages that, even in the middle of a sentence, it may have ingressive pulmonic airflow."

Grammar

ǃXóõ is a Subject Verb Object language, and grammar is prepositional. Genitives, adjectives, relative clauses, and numbers come after the nouns they apply to. Reduplication is used to form causatives. Like some other Khoisan languages, ǃXóõ has a tendency to put the question word at the beginning of sentences. Anthony Traill did extensive research concerning the language and its various aspects. He even wrote a dictionary of the ǃXóõ language, named A ǃXóõ Dictionary, as well as a book on the phonetics of the language.

Example phrases

These example phrases are from the Eastern ǃXóõ dialect and were compiled by Anthony Traill. �

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