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Shua language

{{Short description|Khoe language spoken in Botswana}}

{{distinguish|Shuar language}}

{{Infobox language

|name=Shua

|nativename=

|states=Botswana

|speakers=2,000

|date=2013

|ref={{Cite news|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/shg|title=Shua|work=Ethnologue|access-date=2018-05-22|language=en}}

|familycolor=Khoisan

|fam1=Khoe–Kwadi

|fam2=Khoe

|fam3=Kalahari (Tshu–Khwe)

|fam4=East

|iso3=shg

|glotto=shua1254

|glottorefname=Shua

}}

Shua {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ʃ|uː|ə}} {{respell|SHOO|ə}}, or Shwakhwe, is a Khoe language (Central Khoisan) of Botswana. It is spoken in central Botswana (in Nata and its surroundings), and in parts of the Chobe District in the extreme north of Botswana. There are approximately 6,000 speakers (Cook 2004) and approximately 2,000 out of those 6,000 speakers are native speakers.{{Cite web |title=Shua |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/language/shg |access-date=2022-11-03 |website=Ethnologue.com}} The linguistic variety spoken in the township of Nata in northeast Botswana is highly endangered and spoken fluently only by adults over about thirty years of age.{{Cite journal |last=McGregor |first=William B. |author-link=William B. McGregor |title=Unusual manner constructions in Shua (Khoe-Kwadi, Botswana) |doi=10.1515/ling-2017-0013|journal=Linguistics|year=2017 |volume=55 |issue=4 |page=859 |s2cid=148649962 |language=English}} The term Shwakhwe means people (khwe) from the salty area (shwa).

Phonology

= Consonants =

class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

! colspan="2" |

!Labial

!Dental

!colspan="2"|Alveolar

!Lateral

!Post-
alveolar

!colspan="2"|Velar

!Glottal

rowspan="7" |Click

!nasal

|

|{{IPA link|ᵑǀ}}

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ᵑǃ}}

|{{IPA link|ᵑǁ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

voiceless

|

|{{IPA link|ᵏǀ}}

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ᵏǃ}}

|{{IPA link|ᵏǁ}}

|{{IPA link|ᵏǂ}}

|colspan="2"|

|

voiced

|

|{{IPA link|ᶢǀ}}

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ᶢǃ}}

|{{IPA link|ᶢǁ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

aspirated

|

|{{IPA link|ǀʰ}}

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ǃʰ}}

|{{IPA link|ǁʰ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

ejective

|

|{{IPA link|ǀʼ}}

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ǃʼ}}

|{{IPA link|ǁʼ}}

|{{IPA link|ǂʼ}}

|colspan="2"|

|

uvular

|

|{{IPA|ǀq}}

|colspan="2"|

|{{IPA|ǁq}}

|{{IPA|ǂq}}

|colspan="2"|

|

prenasal

|

|{{IPA link|ᵑǀᶢ}}

|colspan="2"|

|{{IPA link|ᵑǁᶢ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

colspan="2" |Nasal

|{{IPA link|m}}

|

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|n}}

|

|{{IPA link|ɲ}}

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ŋ}}

|

rowspan="5" |Plosive/
Affricate

!voiceless

|{{IPA link|p}}

|

|{{IPA link|t}}

|{{IPA link|ts}}

|

|

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|k}}

|{{IPA link|ʔ}}

voiced

|{{IPA link|b}}

|

|{{IPA link|d}}

|{{IPA link|dz}}

|

|

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ɡ}}

|

aspirated

|

|

|{{IPA link|tʰ}}

|{{IPA link|tsʰ}}

|

|

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|kʰ}}

|

ejective

|

|

|{{IPA link|tʼ}}

|{{IPA link|tsʼ}}

|

|

|{{IPA link|kʼ}}

|({{IPA link|kxʼ}})

|

prenasal

|

|

|

|

|

|

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}

|

colspan="2" |Fricative

|

|

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|s}}

|

|

|colspan="2"|{{IPA link|x}}

|{{IPA link|h}}

colspan="2" |Approximant

|

|

|colspan="2"|

|

|{{IPA link|j}}

|colspan="2"|

|

colspan="100%" |Cluster
colspan="2" | +Velar fricative

|

|{{IPA|ǀˣ}}

|colspan="2"|{{IPA|ǃˣ}}

|{{IPA|ǁˣ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

colspan="2" | +Vd +Velar fricative

|

|

|colspan="2"|

|{{IPA link|ᶢǁˣ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

colspan="2" | +Nasal +Velar fricative

|

|{{IPA link|ᵑǀᶢˣ}}

|colspan="2"|

|{{IPA link|ᵑǁᶢˣ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

colspan="2" | +Velar ejective

|

|{{IPA link|ǀˣʼ}}

|colspan="2"|

|{{IPA link|ǁˣʼ}}

|

|colspan="2"|

|

  • /{{IPA link|kxʼ}}/ is only phonemic in the Tsʼixa and Danisi dialects.

= Vowels =

Shua has the five vowels {{IPA|/a e i o u/}}, and three nasal vowels {{IPA|/ĩ ã ũ/}}.{{Cite book |last=Vossen |first=Rainer |title=Shua |publisher=London & New York: Routledge |year=2013 |location=The Khoesan languages |pages=190–194}}

Syntax

Unlike most Khoisan languages, but like Nama, the most neutral word order is SOV, though word order is relatively free. As with most Khoisan languages, there are postpositions. There is a tense-aspect marker ke which often appears in second position in affirmative sentences in the present tense, giving X Aux S O V order (e.g. S Aux O V).

{{interlinear|number=ex:

|Kʼarokwa ke ǀʼuizi ʼa gam

|boys ASP rock-PL OBL throw

|"The boys are throwing rocks"}}

{{interlinear|number=ex:

|ǀʼui-zi ʼa ke kʼarokwa gam

|rock-PL OBL ASP boys throw

|"The boys are throwing rocks"}}

This marker appears first in certain subordinate clauses in a manner reminiscent of V2 languages such as German, where a clause-initial complementizer is in complementary distribution with a second position phenomenon (in German, it would be the finite verb which appears in second position).

=Numerals=

Shua has indigenous terms for numeral terms, it is a restrictive and limited system of numerals.

  • |uˉiˉ{{what|date=November 2024}} ‘one’
  • |am{{what|date=November 2024}} ‘two’
  • ngona: ~ ‖obeˉ:ˉ{{what|date=November 2024}} ‘three’
  • hatsa:{{what|date=November 2024}} ‘four’
  • |’oˉra:{{what|date=November 2024}} ‘a few’
  • ‖hara:{{what|date=November 2024}} ‘many’ {{Cite journal |last=McGregor |first=William B. |title=Numerals and number words in Shua |journal=De Gruyter Mouton |url=https://doi.org/10.1515/jall-2014-0002 |doi=10.1515/jall-2014-0002 |date=2014 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=53–55|s2cid=144719803 }}

{{interlinear|number=1)

|ta: ngona:-n ʔau xo:-ha

|1SG three-PL fish catch-PAST

|‘I caught three fish.’}}

Using this example, the numeral comes before the head noun. More specifically, it appears in the second "opening" of a noun phrase "following a demonstrative or determiner (if there is one), and preceding a qualifying nominal or adjective."

Dialects

Shua is a dialect cluster.

  • Deti (10 or fewer speakers){{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sl_dDVctycgC&pg=RA1-PA362|title=International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: AAVE-Esperanto. Vol. 1|date=2003|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780195139778|language=en}}
  • Ganádi
  • Shwa-khwe
  • Nǀoo-khwe
  • Kǀoree-khoe or ǀOree-khwe
  • ǁʼAiye or ǀAaye
  • ǀXaise or ǀTaise
  • Tshidi-khwe or Tcaiti or Sili or Shete Tsere
  • Danisi or Demisa or Madenasse or Madinnisane
  • Cara
  • ǁGoro (ǁ᪶Oro) or ǀXaio

The term Hietshware (Hietʃware, Hietʃo) is used for varieties of both Shua and its sister-language Tshwa.

Tsʼixa (200 speakers) is evidently a distinct language.

= References =

{{reflist}}

External links

  • [http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=new100&morpho=0&basename=new100\ckh\kho&limit=-1 Shua basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database]

{{Khoisan}}

{{Languages of Botswana}}

Category:Khoe languages

Category:Languages of Botswana

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