Xhosa language
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Xhosa (IPA: [ˈkǁʰoːsa]) is one of the official languages of South Africa. It is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, about 18% of the South African population. Click consonants feature prominently in the sounds of this language. Even the name, "Xhosa", begins with a click.
Overview
History
The name Xhosa refers to one of their legendary chieftains. The members of the ethnic group that speaks Xhosa refer to themselves as the amaXhosa and call their language isiXhosa. Almost all languages with clicks are Khoisan languages and the presence of clicks in Xhosa demonstrates the strong historical interaction with its Khoisan neighbors. The name Xhosa is Khoisan meaning "The angry men".
Geographic distribution
The language represents the most southwestern branch of the Nguni subfamily of the Bantu languages. As mentioned, Xhosa is natively spoken in South Africa, mostly in the Eastern Cape Province. The Zulu name for the Eastern Cape Province is in fact KwaXhosa, meaning 'place of the Xhosa' (KwaZulu of course has the same meaning - 'place of the Zulu'). Xhosa is also spoken in the Western Cape - including Cape Town - and in Johannesburg. Xhosa is the second most common home language in South Africa as a whole.
Dialects
In addition to being mostly mutually intelligible with Zulu and closely related Bantu languages, Xhosa has several dialects. There is debate among scholars as to what exactly the divisions between the dialects are. One such grouping is: (original) Xhosa, Ngqika (which is considered "standard"), Bhaca, Mpondo, Gcaleka, Mfengu, Thembu, Bomvana, and Mpondomise.
Language
Sounds
Xhosa has a simple set of vowels, but it is rich in uncommon consonants. Besides normal pulmonic egressive sounds, as in English, it has twelve clicks, plus ejectives and an implosive. The four dental clicks are made with the tongue on the back of the teeth, and are similar to the sound represented in English by "tut-tut" or "tsk-tsk" to reprimand someone. The second four are lateral, made by the tongue at the sides of the mouth, and are similar to the sound used to call horses. The remaining four are alveolar, made with the tip of the tongue at the roof of the mouth, and sound something like a cork pulled from a bottle. Xhosa is also a tone language with two inherent tones, low and high, and has both long and short vowels. Vowels are murmured after some consonants.
The phonemic distinctions of Xhosa are listed along with its orthography below.
Grammar
The grammar of Xhosa is of a type called agglutinative: suffixes and prefixes are attached to root words and stems to convey grammatical information. Xhosa also has the characteristic noun class, or "gender" system, which is common to all Bantu languages. There are many more classes than the masculine, feminine, and neuter genders of familiar Indo-European languages. The nouns in each class are roughly related in meaning. For example, there are classes for people, relatives, animals, plants, objects, abstract concepts, etc.
Writing system
Xhosa is written using the Latin alphabet. Clicks are written using c for the dental clicks, x for the lateral clicks, and q for the alveolar clicks.
Tones are usually not written, but when they are, they are a [à], á [á], â [áà]. Long vowels are phonemic, but are usually not written, except for â.
Many Xhosa consonants are murmured, aspirated, and ejective. There is also an implosive b, [ɓ].
| orthography | IPA | notes |
|---|---|---|
| a | ||
| b | ||
| bh | (written b after m) | |
| c | (written kc after n) | |
| ch | ||
| d | ||
| dl | n) | |
| dy | ||
| dz | (perhaps only found after n?) | |
| e | ||
| f | ||
| g | ||
| gc | ||
| gq | ||
| gr | ||
| gx | ||
| h | ||
| hh | (often written h) | |
| hl | tl and pronounced after n) | |
| i | ||
| j | ||
| k | ||
| kh | ||
| kr | ||
| l | ||
| lh | ||
| m | ||
| mh | ||
| n | k) | |
| n’ | ||
| nc | ||
| ngc | ||
| ngq | ||
| ngx | ||
| nh | ||
| nq | ||
| nx | ||
| ny | ||
| nyh | ||
| o | ||
| p | ||
| ph | ||
| q | (written kq after n) | |
| qh | ||
| r | (only found in borrowings) | |
| rh | ||
| s | ||
| sh | ||
| t | ||
| th | ||
| ths | (sometimes written tsh) | |
| tl | (variant of hl after n) | |
| ts | ||
| tsh | thsh) | |
| ty | ||
| tyh | ||
| u | ||
| v | ||
| w | ||
| wh | ||
| x | (written kx after n) | |
| xh | ||
| y | ||
| yh | ||
| z |
With breathy voiced clicks, plosives, and affricates, indicated with a [ʱ] in the IPA transcription above, the following vowel is murmured. That is, da is pronounced [da̤].
Changes with prenasalization
When consonants are prenasalized, their pronunciation and spelling may change. Murmur no longer shifts to the following vowel. ASamples
An example of the written language is the first section of the national anthem of South Africa:
- Nkosi, sikelel' iAfrika;
- Malupakam'upondo lwayo;
- Yiva imithandazo yethu
- Usisikelele.
- Lord, bless Africa;
- May her horn rise high up;
- Hear Thou our prayers And bless us.
Another example is Qongqothwane, a song traditionally sung when a young girl is married and well known as performed by Miriam Makeba. It is known in English as "The Click Song":
- Igqira lendlela nguqongqothwane
- Igqira lendlela kuthwa nguqongqothwane
- Sebeqabele gqithapha bathi nguqongqothwane
- Sebeqabele gqithapha bathi nguqongqothwane.
- The diviner of the roadways is the knock-knock beetle
- The diviner of the roadways is said to be the knock-knock beetle
- It has passed up the steep hill, the knock-knock beetle
- It has passed up the steep hill, the knock-knock beetle
See also
- The music album Amarok by Mike Oldfield, whose "Sondela" chorus finale is sung in Xhosa.
- Henry Hare Dugmore, the first translator of the Scriptures into Xhosa
- U-Carmen eKhayelitsha, a 2005 Xhosa film adaptation of Bizet's Carmen
External links
- [Xhosa language profile (UCLA language materials)]
- [Ethnologue report for Xhosa]This page contains some inaccuracies.
- [A very short Xhosa -> English dictionary]
- [Project translating Free Software into Xhosa]
- [Encouraging awareness of Xhosa culture and language]
| Official languages of the Republic of South Africa |
| |
|---|---|---|
| Afrikaans | English | isiNdebele | Sepedi | Sesotho Setswana | Siswati | Xitsonga | Tshivenda | isiXhosa | isiZulu | ||
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