Andy Chebanne

Making the form fit: Repair strategies in iKalanga loanword phonology

IKalanga has borrowed extensively from English over a long period of time. The direction of borrowing is largely linked to the sociolinguistic status and role of English, which is regarded as a technologically, culturally and politically prestigious language in Africa in general and Botswana in particular. Some of the significant phonological differences between these two languages are as follows: English allows complex onsets, syllable codas and complex syllable nuclei (long vowels and diphthongs), while iKalanga, like most other Bantu languages, does not. The tense-lax distinction is phonemic in English, while in iKalanga it is not. How does iKalanga deal with these marked structures? Complex onsets and codas are repaired through vowel epenthesis, while complex syllable nuclei are simplified through glide epenthesis. Drawing insights from the constriction-based Feature Geometry (FG) model, it is shown that epenthetic vowels and glides are products of spreading. Our overall analysis employs analytical tools from classical Optimality Theory (OT), the central idea of which is that surface forms of language reflect resolutions of conflicts between competing constraints. OT provides us with descriptive terminology and a theoretical mechanism for a principled and systematic expression of the generalisations presented in this article. We demonstrate the constraint interaction that determines the phonological structure of loanwords in iKalanga.

High tone lowering and raising in Tsua

The Tsua language is an Eastern Kalahari Khoe language of Botswana (Chebanne 2014). Tsua tone production displays complex Fundamental Frequency (F0) trajectories. Lexical data show that this language has three tone levels: High (H), Mid (M), and Low (L), with the following surface tone melodies: [HH, HM, HL, MM, MH, ML]. High tones may be lowered when they occur following voiced obstruents, aspirated obstruents or the glottal fricative /h/ in root-initial position, a typologically rare pattern. This results in two depressed melodies: depressed HM [DH-M] and depressed HL [DH-L]. Both clicks and non-clicks participate in this interaction. We refer to this tonal depression pattern as High Tone Lowering (HTL). HTL may be formally accounted for via the Low tone insertion rule: ∅ → L / [-sonorant, +slack] ___ H [-H] #. Recent analysis suggests that Super High (SH) tones are derived from /H/ when docked to the high vowels [i], [u] and are not phonemic. For example, underlying /HL/ tuu “to collect and remove ash” is produced with SH-L tones on the surface. We refer to this as High Tone Raising (HTR). Elderkin (1988) reports a similar finding in Ju|ʼhoan in which a sequence of successive extra-high tones is only found in click-initial morphs when the final vowel is [i] or [u]. It may be that an Intrinsic F0 (IF0) effect from the Tsua high vowels was a historical factor that led to the genesis of HTR. Given that voiced, aspirated and /h/ consonant types depress a root-initial H tone and the high vowels [i], [u] raise H tones, the paper considers phonetically-driven origins of these patterns.

An SS ANOVA (Smoothing Spline Analysis of Variance) study of high tone lowering in Tsua

This article examines the acoustic phonetic properties of consonant-tone interaction in the Khoisan language, Tsua, using speech production data from original field research in Botswana. The Tsua tonal melodies with Fundamental Frequency (F0) shapes having the most extreme excursions are the result of a rare consonant-tone interaction pattern with depressor types found in both African and East Asian tone languages. The Tsua depressor types are voiced obstruents, aspirated obstruents and the glottal fricative /h/. Statistical analysis via Smoothing Spline Analysis of Variance (SS ANOVA) reveals two striking generalisations: (i) only root-initial High tones followed by a non-High tone are depressed; and (ii) the overall shapes of the F0 curves are more important for tone melody identification than whether they are produced at a slightly higher or lower Hertz value, even if the difference is statistically significant. The first finding reflects the context-dependent nature of Tsua tonal depression. The second stands in contrast to studies of other tone systems that suggest the relative Hertz differential between adjacent tones is more important for identification. These findings expand our knowledge of tonal phonetics by showing what is possible in a typologically rare tone system, and highlight the importance of statistical methods in phonetic fieldwork.

Khoisan Languages of Botswana

The Khoisan (Khoesan) languages are spoken by various indigenous population groups that historically issue from hunter-gather mode of subsistence. In the modern setup, they are talked about under the label San (which translates hunter-gatherer), and this sociocultural label has resulted in their marginalization in contact situation with other languages. Khoisan Southern Africa has essentially two language families, the Khoe (Nama, Naro, Gana, Gui, Shua, Buga, Cua) and the San (ǃxoon, ǃxung, ǂHoan). Generally, Khoisan languages have been under-researched, and this explains some misunderstanding and misrepresentation, and even neglect that is associated with them. Socially, they have been mistreated by their neighbours, and the current situation of marginalization and language endangerment they are experiencing is due to social-cultural domination by their neighbours (Batswana, Bakalanga, Wayeyi, etc.). In contact situation, most Khoisan speakers opt to neglect their languages and cultures and thus bring themselves under subordination of their neighbours. Their languages, which are characterized by click sounds, have been less tolerated by the encroaching settler populations around them. Research in all domains is gaining momentum, but most of it is done by expatriate scientists and rarely empowers the Khoisan to revitalize their languages which also present serious challenges in orthography. The presentation of their language names followed by a brief discussion is important for their identification as speech entities and the linguistic and sociolinguistic situations they are currently experiencing. It is imperative that linguists, anthropologists and language planners appreciate the critical areas of intervention for the preservation of these indigenous languages that are endangered and are not passed on to future generations.

Hiatus resolution and /mu/ prefix reduction in iKalanga

This article examines two aspects of iKalanga phonology: hiatus resolution and /mu/ prefix reduction. Within Prosodic Words, hiatus is repaired through one of four ways: glide formation, secondary articulation, elision, and glide epenthesis. Coalescence occurs across Prosodic Word boundaries in grammaticalised and encliticised forms. /mu/ prefix reduction, which threatens to create complex onsets (NCs), is repaired through resyllabifying the remaining nasal as a separate syllable. It is not blocked by monosyllabic stems and the resultant syllabic nasal does not trigger postnasal hardening, is moraic and is homorganic to the immediately following consonant. These repair strategies, which are quite regular and typical of Bantu languages in general, ensure that the CV syllable structure of iKalanga is maintained. We argue that a single constraint hierarchy is responsible for these seemingly disjointed repair strategies. This paper provides new data that has not been discussed in previous studies, and it is the first study to present a detailed and consolidated formal analysis of repair strategies in iKalanga using Optimality Theory.

Tsua lexical borrowing from Setswana

The sociolinguistic dynamics of the situation of the Tsua (an endangered Eastern Central Kalahari Khoe language) has resulted in the language being spoken in limited social communication domains, such as with family and close friends. The use of Setswana now pervades all communication domains. Those that still have knowledge of Tsua code-switch and code-mix often. Certain basic concepts are readily expressed in Setswana. The use of borrowed words from Setswana is characterised by adoption of Setswana terms and translation of Setswana concepts into Tsua, resulting in phrasal concepts and new terms that are not in the Khoisan lexical stock or phonology. This article firstly characterises the language-use constraints that Tsua speakers experience. Secondly the situations that oblige them to borrow from Setswana are demonstrated. Further, the article discusses Tsua lexical data that show the nature, domains and phonological characteristics of this borrowing. The hypothesis made in the discussion is that lexical borrowings fulfil two important linguistic roles, namely to fill the sociocultural and linguistic gaps that exist in Tsua and Setswana and to typify the rate of endangerment of Tsua.

Christa Kilian-Hatz: Khwe Dictionary

Before an assessment of this dictionary is made, it is important to place the Khwe language in its historical and social context. Khwe dam (language of the Khwe), as its speakers would prefer to call it, is a Khoisan language belonging to the Southern African Central-Khoisan under the Khoe cluster (Guldemann and Vossen 2000). It is spoken in Northern Botswana and in the Western Capri-vi Strip of Namibia in the Kavango region. As the compiler correctly observes, there are about 10 000 Khwe-speaking people who live in the Caprivi Strip of North-Western Namibia, Angola, Botswana and Zambia, and at Schmidtsdrift, South Africa. As can be expected from a speech community such as the Khwe, who prefer living in small communities, there are dialects within the Khwe dam. In Botswana, the notable varieties are the Buga (Sand Khwe) and the ≤Ani (River Khwe), which exhibit discernable linguistic differences at the lexical and grammatical levels. However, linguists agree, as Kilian-Hatz also indicates, that the Khwe dam dialectal varieties are definitely related and mutually fairly intelligible (cf. Guldemann and Vossen 2000). As a language that has not been elaborately codified, it is difficult to speak about a standard Khwe dam form. Many other social and linguistic activities need to be carried out to resolve the question of standard Khwe dam (cf. WIMSA 2001).