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ǀXam language

January 01, 1970

ǀXam (pronounced [ǀ͡xam] ⓘ, in English as /ˈkɑːm/ KAHM) is an extinct language (or possibly cluster of languages) of South Africa formerly spoken by the ǀXam-ka ǃʼē. It is part of the ǃUi branch of the Tuu languages and closely related to the moribund Nǁng language. Much of the scholarly work on ǀXam was performed by Wilhelm Bleek, a German linguist of the 19th century, who studied a variety of ǀXam spoken at Achterveld, and (with Lucy Lloyd) another spoken at Strandberg and Katkop while working with ǁKabbo, Diaǃkwāin, ǀAǃkúṅta, ǃKweiten-ta-ǁKen, ǀHaṅǂkassʼō and other speakers.[1] The surviving corpus of ǀXam comes from the stories told by and vocabulary recorded from these individuals in the Bleek and Lloyd Collection.

ǀXam
Native toSouth Africa, Lesotho
Extinct1910s
Tuu
  • ǃKwi
    • ǀXam
Language codes
ISO 639-3xam
Glottologxamm1241

Name edit

The pipe at the beginning of the name "ǀXam" represents a dental click, like the English interjection tsk, tsk! used to express pity or shame. The ⟨x⟩ denotes a voiceless velar fricative click accompaniment.

Compared to other Khoisan languages, there is little variation in rendering the name, though it is sometimes seen with the simple orthographic variant ǀKham, as well as a different grammatical form, ǀKhuai.

Doculects edit

Güldemann (2019) lists the following doculects as being well-enough attested to identify as ǀXam.[2]

Label Researcher Date Origin Notes
Nǀuusaa Krönlein 1850s Lower Orange River = D. Bleek label SVIa.
Nǀusa Lloyd 1880 Middle Orange River
ǀXam W. Bleek 1866 Achterveld = Bleek label SI.
ǀXam W. Bleek/Lloyd 1870s Karoo (Strandberg-Katkop) = Bleek label SI.
ǃUi W. Bleek 1857 Colesberg
ǃUi W. Bleek 1857 Burghersdorp
ǃUi Lloyd 1880 Aliwal North

Nǀusa is clearly ǀXam, but Güldemann includes the three eastern ǃUi doculects (extending to Lesotho) under the term "Wider ǀXam".[2]

Phonology edit

Consonants edit

Compared to other Tuu languages like Taa, ǀXam has a more restricted inventory of consonants particularly the clicks, where there are only 8 series of click accompaniments, far fewer than East ǃXoon Taa's 18.[3] A preliminary consonant inventory of ǀXam, including egressive stops, fricatives, and affricates as well as ingressive clicks, is listed below.

Vowels edit

The five vowel sounds are noted as [i e a o u] and are found with nasalization [ĩ ẽ ã õ ũ], pharyngealization [ḭ ḛ a̰ o̰ ṵ], and glottalization [iˀ eˀ aˀ oˀ uˀ].[4]

Speech of mythological characters edit

See also: ǀKaggen and ǂKá̦gára

Bleek notes that particular animal figures in ǀXam mythology have distinctive speech patterns. For example, Tortoise substitutes clicks with labial non-clicks, Mongoose replaces clicks with ts, tsy, ty, dy etc., and Jackal makes use of a "strange" labial click, "which bears to the ordinary labial click ʘ, a relation in sound similar to that which the palatal click ǂ bears to the cerebral click ǃ". The Moon, and perhaps Hare and Anteater, even use "a most unpronounceable" click in place of all clicks save the bilabial. Other changes noted include the Blue Crane's speech, who ends the first syllable of almost every word with a /t/.[5]

"Fragment about the animal clicks and ways of speaking Bushman" edit

  • The jackal has a flat lip click.
  • A kind of side click in the middle of the mouth. (referring to the jackal?)
  • The moon has the joint of the tongue being turned up and back to the roof of the mouth. This click has a kind of palatal click with it.
  • The lion talks with a (?) side click and a (?) guttural with it.
  • The hyena has a flat click.[6]

Motto of South Africa edit

 
The coat of arms of South Africa, with the motto in ǀXam

ǀXam is used for the South African motto on the coat of arms adopted on 27 April 2000:

ǃke e꞉ ǀxarra ǁke

The intended meaning is Diverse people unite or, on a collective scale, Unity in Diversity. The word-for-word translation is people who are different meet.[7] However, it is not known if that phrase would have been idiomatic in ǀXam.[8] Because it is extinct, ǀXam is not one of the twelve official languages of South Africa. Its last speakers died in the 1910s.[9]

References edit

  1. ^ Güldemann (2011)
  2. ^ a b Güldemann, Tom (8 January 2019). Toward a subclassification of the ǃUi branch of Tuu. Afrikalinguistisches Forschungskolloquium. Humboldt Universiät zu Berlin.
  3. ^ a b Vossen, Rainer, ed. (2013). The Khoesan Languages. Psychology Press. p. 210. ISBN 9780700712892.
  4. ^ Vosseler, Annika (26 November 2013). (PDF). Linguistisches Kolloquium des Seminars für Afrikawissenschaften. Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 August 2019.
  5. ^ Bleek, W. H. I. (1875). A brief account of Bushman folklore and other texts. Cape Town: Juta. hdl:2263/12485.
  6. ^ "A2_1_43_03356.JPG". The Digital Bleek and Lloyd. Center for Curating the Archive, University of South Africa. 15 October 1873.
  7. ^ Bleek, Dorothea Frances (1956). Bushman dictionary. New Haven: American Oriental Society. pp. 36, 363, 419, 566.
  8. ^ Bleek's Bushman Dictionary records ǃkʼe e꞉ ǀxarra with the meaning 'strangers'.
  9. ^ Traill, Anthony (1995). "Interpreting ǀXam phonology: the need for typological cleansing". In Traill, Anthony; Voßen, Rainer; Biesele, Megan (eds.). The complete linguist: papers in memory of Patrick J. Dickens. Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. pp. 509–523.

External links edit

  • Bleek and Lloyd Archive of ǀxam and ǃkun texts online
  • The Bleek and Lloyd Collection
  • South African coat of arms 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine

January 01, 1970
ǀxam, language, ǀxam, pronounced, english, ɑː, kahm, extinct, language, possibly, cluster, languages, south, africa, formerly, spoken, ǀxam, ǃʼē, part, ǃui, branch, languages, closely, related, moribund, nǁng, language, much, scholarly, work, ǀxam, performed, . ǀXam pronounced ǀ xam in English as ˈ k ɑː m KAHM is an extinct language or possibly cluster of languages of South Africa formerly spoken by the ǀXam ka ǃʼe It is part of the ǃUi branch of the Tuu languages and closely related to the moribund Nǁng language Much of the scholarly work on ǀXam was performed by Wilhelm Bleek a German linguist of the 19th century who studied a variety of ǀXam spoken at Achterveld and with Lucy Lloyd another spoken at Strandberg and Katkop while working with ǁKabbo Diaǃkwain ǀAǃkuṅta ǃKweiten ta ǁKen ǀHaṅǂkassʼō and other speakers 1 The surviving corpus of ǀXam comes from the stories told by and vocabulary recorded from these individuals in the Bleek and Lloyd Collection ǀXamNative toSouth Africa LesothoExtinct1910sLanguage familyTuu ǃKwiǀXamLanguage codesISO 639 3 a href https iso639 3 sil org code xam class extiw title iso639 3 xam xam a Glottologxamm1241 Contents 1 Name 2 Doculects 3 Phonology 3 1 Consonants 3 2 Vowels 3 3 Speech of mythological characters 3 3 1 Fragment about the animal clicks and ways of speaking Bushman 4 Motto of South Africa 5 References 6 External linksName editThe pipe at the beginning of the name ǀXam represents a dental click like the English interjection tsk tsk used to express pity or shame The x denotes a voiceless velar fricative click accompaniment Compared to other Khoisan languages there is little variation in rendering the name though it is sometimes seen with the simple orthographic variant ǀKham as well as a different grammatical form ǀKhuai Doculects editGuldemann 2019 lists the following doculects as being well enough attested to identify as ǀXam 2 Label Researcher Date Origin Notes Nǀuusaa Kronlein 1850s Lower Orange River D Bleek label SVIa Nǀusa Lloyd 1880 Middle Orange River ǀXam W Bleek 1866 Achterveld Bleek label SI ǀXam W Bleek Lloyd 1870s Karoo Strandberg Katkop Bleek label SI ǃUi W Bleek 1857 Colesberg ǃUi W Bleek 1857 Burghersdorp ǃUi Lloyd 1880 Aliwal North Nǀusa is clearly ǀXam but Guldemann includes the three eastern ǃUi doculects extending to Lesotho under the term Wider ǀXam 2 Phonology editConsonants edit Compared to other Tuu languages like Taa ǀXam has a more restricted inventory of consonants particularly the clicks where there are only 8 series of click accompaniments far fewer than East ǃXoon Taa s 18 3 A preliminary consonant inventory of ǀXam including egressive stops fricatives and affricates as well as ingressive clicks is listed below ǀXam consonants 3 Egressive Ingressive Labial Alveolar Dorsal Glottal Labial Dental Lateral Alveolar Palatal Nasal plain m n ŋ ᵑʘ ᵑǀ ᵑǁ ᵑǃ ᵑǂ Glottalized ᵑʘˀ ᵑǀˀ ᵑǁˀ ᵑǃˀ ᵑǂˀ Delayed aspiration ᵑʘh ᵑǀh ᵑǁh ᵑǃh ᵑǂh Plosive tenuis p t k ʔ ᵏʘ ᵏǀ ᵏǁ ᵏǃ ᵏǂ voiced b d ɡ ᶢʘ ᶢǀ ᶢǁ ᶢǃ ᶢǂ Affricate Aspirated t sʰ k x ʘ kʰ ǀ kʰ ǁ kʰ ǃ kʰ ǂ kʰ Velar frication tx t sx ʘ kx ǀ kx ǁ kx ǃ kx ǂ kx Ejective Ejective contour tʼ t sʼ k xʼ ʘ kxʼ ǀ kxʼ ǁ kxʼ ǃ kxʼ ǂ kxʼ Fricative s x h Sonorant w ɾ l j Vowels edit The five vowel sounds are noted as i e a o u and are found with nasalization ĩ ẽ a o ũ pharyngealization ḭ ḛ a o ṵ and glottalization iˀ eˀ aˀ oˀ uˀ 4 Speech of mythological characters edit See also ǀKaggen and ǂKa gara Bleek notes that particular animal figures in ǀXam mythology have distinctive speech patterns For example Tortoise substitutes clicks with labial non clicks Mongoose replaces clicks with ts tsy ty dy etc and Jackal makes use of a strange labial click which bears to the ordinary labial click ʘ a relation in sound similar to that which the palatal click ǂ bears to the cerebral click ǃ The Moon and perhaps Hare and Anteater even use a most unpronounceable click in place of all clicks save the bilabial Other changes noted include the Blue Crane s speech who ends the first syllable of almost every word with a t 5 Fragment about the animal clicks and ways of speaking Bushman edit The jackal has a flat lip click A kind of side click in the middle of the mouth referring to the jackal The moon has the joint of the tongue being turned up and back to the roof of the mouth This click has a kind of palatal click with it The lion talks with a side click and a guttural with it The hyena has a flat click 6 Motto of South Africa edit nbsp The coat of arms of South Africa with the motto in ǀXam ǀXam is used for the South African motto on the coat of arms adopted on 27 April 2000 ǃke e ǀxarra ǁke The intended meaning is Diverse people unite or on a collective scale Unity in Diversity The word for word translation is people who are different meet 7 However it is not known if that phrase would have been idiomatic in ǀXam 8 Because it is extinct ǀXam is not one of the twelve official languages of South Africa Its last speakers died in the 1910s 9 References edit Guldemann 2011 a b Guldemann Tom 8 January 2019 Toward a subclassification of the ǃUi branch of Tuu Afrikalinguistisches Forschungskolloquium Humboldt Universiat zu Berlin a b Vossen Rainer ed 2013 The Khoesan Languages Psychology Press p 210 ISBN 9780700712892 Vosseler Annika 26 November 2013 Eine Analyse des Achterveld Xam Korpus von W Bleek 1866 PDF Linguistisches Kolloquium des Seminars fur Afrikawissenschaften Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin Archived from the original PDF on 9 August 2019 Bleek W H I 1875 A brief account of Bushman folklore and other texts Cape Town Juta hdl 2263 12485 A2 1 43 03356 JPG The Digital Bleek and Lloyd Center for Curating the Archive University of South Africa 15 October 1873 Bleek Dorothea Frances 1956 Bushman dictionary New Haven American Oriental Society pp 36 363 419 566 Bleek s Bushman Dictionary records ǃkʼe e ǀxarra with the meaning strangers Traill Anthony 1995 Interpreting ǀXam phonology the need for typological cleansing In Traill Anthony Vossen Rainer Biesele Megan eds The complete linguist papers in memory of Patrick J Dickens Koln Rudiger Koppe pp 509 523 External links editBleek and Lloyd Archive of ǀxam and ǃkun texts online The Bleek and Lloyd Collection South African coat of arms Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title ǀXam language amp oldid 1219966814, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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