Tumʔi: A Phonetic & Phonological Analysis of a Khoisan Variety
Date
2020-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
As part of a linguistic research team I recorded a Khoisan language currently spoken by a linguistic community of three in the northern cape of South Africa. As the location in which this language was discovered is situated geographically close to varieties of both the Khoekhoe and Tuu language families, the question of genetic affiliation and typological similarity within the Khoisan lineages becomes significant. This will be addressed through the analysis of phonetic, phonological and lexical similarities and oppositions between Tumʔi and representative Tuu and Khoekhoe languages (Beach 1938; Bleek 1930; Ladefoged & Traill 1994; Miller et al. 2007). Overall this project attempts to answer the question, how unique is this undocumented language Tumʔi in comparison to varieties of geographically neighboring Khoisan languages? The analysis is comprised of a detailed description of the vowel and consonant systems, as well as evidence of any contrastive phonetic and phonological features. The clear focus on the analysis of sound contrasts is a consequence of limited data due to speaker competence (Grinevald, 2007). As a result of incomplete acquisition and generational linguistic attrition, the recorded utterances constitute Khoisan content words produced within an Afrikaans framework (Killian 2009). Specific research questions include:
• What is the sound inventory of this language?
• Are there phonation or glottalization contrasts between vowels?
• What click types and accompaniments make up the inventory?
• Are there laryngeal contrasts between consonants?
Results of the analyses indicate the following; Tumʔi shows traces of a phonation contrast, uvular click accompaniment, and evidence of laryngeally marked stops. The phonological typology shares more similarities with the Southern Khoisan varieties of the Tuu family than with varieties of the central Khoekhoe family. Direct implications for this project include contribution to the current areal typological isoglosses separating the varieties of Khoisan located in southern Africa (Güldemann 2006). The final contribution of this work is the documentation of a moribund Khoisan dialect which has undergone no prior linguistic or anthropological investigation.
Description
Keywords
phonetics, phonology, African linguistics, Khoisan
Citation
Kilian, K. (2020). Tumʔi: A Phonetic & Phonological Analysis of a Khoisan Variety (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.