Kgalagadi_language

Kgalagadi language

Sotho–Tswana language of southern Botswana

Kgalagadi is a Bantu language spoken in Botswana, along the South African border. It is spoken by about 40,000 people.^[3] In the language, it is known as Shekgalagari.

Quick Facts Native to, Ethnicity ...

Kgalagadi
Kalahari
'SheKgalagadi
Native to	Botswana
Ethnicity	Kgalagadi
Native speakers	65,400 (2015)^[1]
Language family	Niger-Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Sotho–Tswana Kgalagadi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	`xkv`
Glottolog	`kgal1244`
Guthrie code	`S.311 (ex-S.31d)`^[2]
ELP	Kgalagadi
Linguasphere	`99-AUT-eh incl. varieties 99-AUT-eha to 99-AUT-ehc`

Classification

Kgalagadi (also rendered Kgalagari, Kgalagarhi, Kgalagari, Khalagari, Khalakadi, Kxhalaxadi, Qhalaxarzi, Shekgalagadi, Shekgalagari, Kqalaqadi) is most closely related to Tswana, and until recently was classified as a dialect of Tswana.^[2]

Dialects include Shengologa, Sheshaga, Shebolaongwe, Shelala, Shekhena, Sheritjhauba and Shekgwatheng.

Phonology

Vowels

More information Front, Central ...

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e ~ ɪ		o ~ ʊ
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Close-mid vowels /e, o/ are frequently heard as near-close sounds [ɪ, ʊ] among speakers in free variation.

Consonants

More information Labial, Dental ...

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar	Uvular	Glottal
		Labial	Dental	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stop	voiceless	p	t̪					c	cʷ	k	q
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ					cʰ	cʰʷ	kʰ	qʰ
	voiced	b	d̪					ɟ		g
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡sʷ	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ
	aspirated			t͡sʰ	t͡sʰʷ	t͡ʃʰ	t͡ʃʰʷ
	voiced			(d͡z)		d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless			s		ʃ	ʃʷ				χ	h
Fricative	voiced			z		ʒ	ʒʷ					(ɦ)
Nasal		m	n̪					ɲ		ŋ
Trill				r
Approximant				l				j		w

Click sounds /ʘ, ǀŋ, ǃŋ/ are also said to occur, but mostly in rare cases.^[4]
A voicelss trill [r̥] may also occur phonemically among dialects, and may also be pronounced as breathy [r̤] in intervocalic positions.
/r/ may also be heard as a flap [ɾ].
/qʰ/ may also be heard as [q͡χʰ] in free variation.
Sounds /z, ʒ/ can be pronounced in free variation as affricates [d͡z, d͡ʒ] in the Bolaongwe dialect
/h/ is can be heard as voiced [ɦ] when in intervocalic positions.^[5]

Notes and references

[1]
"Kgalagadi". Ethnologue. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
[2]
Jouni Filip Maho, 2009. New Updated Guthrie List Online
[3]
Kgalagadi language at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
[4]
Solé, Maria-Josep; Hyman, Larry M.; Monaka, Kemmonye C. (2009). More on Post-nasal Devoicing: The Case of Shekgalagari. UC Berkeley PhonLab Annual Report, 5. pp. 299–320.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link) CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
[5]
Dickens, Patrick J. (1986). Qhalaxarzi phonology. University of the Witwatersrand.

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