Gǀwi language

Gǀwi or Gǀui (sometimes spelled Dcui) is a Khoisan language of Botswana with 2,500 speakers (2004 Cook). It is part of the Gǁana-Gǀwi dialect cluster of the Tshu-Khwe family, and is closely related to Naro.

Phonology

Clicks

Gǀwi may have up to 48 click consonants. As with many of the Tshu-Khwe languages, clicks have lost some of their importance under the influence of neighboring Bantu languages. Many words which previously began with clicks (as shown by cognates in related languages) have lost them over the past few centuries in Gǀwi.

Gǀwi has both velar and uvular clicks. (However, see Nǀu language for an alternative analysis of this distinction.) Altogether there are thirteen such accompaniments, or effluxes; all 52 possible clicks are found. Except for the lack of a bilabial click release, this inventory is nearly identical to that of ǂHõã.

accompaniment	affricated clicks		'sharp' clicks
	dental clicks	lateral clicks	alveolar clicks	palatal clicks
Velar nasal	ǀŋ	ǁŋ	ǃŋ	ǂŋ
Voiced velar	ǀɡ	ǁɡ	ǃɡ	ǂɡ
Tenuis velar	ǀk	ǁk	ǃk	ǂk
Aspirated velar	ǀkʰ	ǁkʰ	ǃkʰ	ǂkʰ
Velar ejective	ǀkʼ	ǁkʼ	ǃkʼ	ǂkʼ
Glottalized velar (prenasalized between vowels)	ǀkˀ (ŋˀǀk)	ǁkˀ (ŋˀǁk)	ǃkˀ (ŋˀǃk)	ǂkˀ (ŋˀǂk)
Delayed aspiration (voiceless delayed-aspirated velar nasal)	ǀŋ̊ʰ	ǁŋ̊ʰ	ǃŋ̊ʰ	ǂŋ̊ʰ
Prenasalized voiced uvular	ɴǀɢ	ɴǁɢ	ɴǃɢ	ɴǂɢ
Tenuis uvular	ǀq	ǁq	ǃq	ǂq
Aspirated uvular	ǀqʰ	ǁqʰ	ǃqʰ	ǂqʰ
Voiceless uvular affricate	ǀq͡χ	ǁq͡χ	ǃq͡χ	ǂq͡χ
Uvular ejective	ǀqʼ	ǁqʼ	ǃqʼ	ǂqʼ
Uvular ejective affricate	ǀq͡χʼ	ǁq͡χʼ	ǃq͡χʼ	ǂq͡χʼ

Other consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Alveolar affricate	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Voiced	b	d	dz	ɟ	ɡ	ɢ
Tenuis	p	t	ts	c	k	q	ʔ
Aspirate	pʰ	tʰ	tsʰ	cʰ	kʰ	qʰ
Ejective		(t’)	ts’	c’	k’	q’
Ejective lateral					kʟ̥’
Uvular affrication		tχ	tsχ
Affricated ejectives		tχ’	tsχ’
Fricative			s			χ	h
Nasal	m	n			(ŋ)
Approximant	w	ɾ		j

Most words are of the form CV, CVV, CVCV, CVN, where C stands for a consonant, V for a vowel, and N for a nasal consonant (m, n). In CVCV words, only a limited set of consonants (b m ɾ n j w) may occur in medial position (the second syllable). Of these, two (n, ɾ) may not occur at the beginning of a word. /ŋ/ only occurs in mimesis.

Vowels

The five modal vowels a e i o u occur in monosyllabic roots, which except for the noun χò 'thing, place, case' are all grammatical morphemes.

The modal vowels and the pharyngeal vowels aˤ oˤ oaˤ occur as the first vowel of disyllabic roots, CVCV (CVV), whereas o u do not occur with a nasal coda, CVN, although a diphthong not found elsewhere, oa, does. There are restrictions on which vowels may follow which consonants.

The modal vowels and the nasal vowels ã ẽ õ occur as the second vowel of disyllabic roots, CVCV or CVV, though only modal vowels may follow the medial consonants b r, and only nasal vowels follow the medial consonants m n.

Tone

Monosyllabic morphemes carry one of two tones, HIGH or LOW. Disyllabic morphemes carry one of six tones, the level tones HIGH, MID, LOW, and the contour tones HIGH FALLING, FALLING, LOW RISING. It is possible that the contour tones are sequences of two different register tones, whereas the level tones may be sequences of two similar register tones.

Dialect

• Khute

References

• Hirosi Nakagawa, 1995. "A Preliminary Report on the Click Accompaniments of |Gui". Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 25.2, 49-63.
• Nakagawa, 1996. "An Outline of |Gui Phonology". African Study Monographs, Suppl. 22, 101-124.

External links

• The Ethnologue Report for Gǀwi