Taa language

Taa
!Xoon
Spoken in	Botswana, Namibia
Region	Southern Ghanzi, northern Kgalagadi, western Southern and western Kweneng districts in Botswana; southern Omaheke and northeastern Hardap regions in Namibia.
Native speakers	4,200  (date missing)
Language family	Tuu Taa–Lower Nossob Taa
Language codes
ISO 639-3	nmn
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Taa, also known as !Xoon or ǃXóõ, is a Khoisan language known for its large number of phonemes. As of 2002, it was spoken by about 4,200 people worldwide. These are mainly in Botswana (approximately 4,000 people), but some are in Namibia. The people call themselves ǃXoon (pl. ǃXooŋake) or ‘N|ohan (pl. N|umde).

Relatives

Until the rediscovery of a few elderly speakers of Nǁng in the 1990s, Taa was thought to be the last surviving member of the Tuu language family.

Alternate names

ǀʼAuni (extinct), Kiǀhazi (extinct), Nǀgamani (extinct), Ngǀuǁen (extinct), Nǀu-san, Kakia (extinct), Xatia (Katia, Kattea, Khatia, Vaalpens, ǀKusi, ǀEikusi, Masarwa), ǃKwi.

There is much confusion with these names. For example, ǀʼAuni (which is now generally considered part of a separate language, Lower Nossob) is also the name of a dialect of Nǁng, in the ǃKwi family; and Nguen, Nǀu-san are alternate names of that language. ǃKwi may also be a ǃKwi dialect rather than a dialect of Taa. Kakia may be a separate language in the Taa family, and Xatia etc may be variants of that name. Nonetheless, there is dialectal variation in Taa, which might be better described as a dialect continuum than as a single language.

Dialects

Taa dialects fall into two rather divergent groups:

• West Taa: West !Xoon, N|u‖'en (Nusan, N|usan)^†
• East Taa: East !Xoon, ’N|ohan, N|amani,^† Kakia,^† etc.

Traill worked with East ǃXoon, and the DoBeS project is working with ’N|ohan and West ǃXoon. Botswanan dialects are not well described, though a survey was scheduled to partially remedy that in 2007.

Phonology

Taa has at least 58 consonants, 31 vowels, and four tones (Traill 1985, 1994 on East ǃXoon), or at least 87 consonants, 20 vowels, and two tones (DoBeS 2008 on West ǃXoon), by many counts the most of any known language. These include 20 (Traill) or 43 (DoBeS) click consonants and several vowel phonations, though opinions vary as to which of the 130 (Traill) or 164 (DoBeS) consonant sounds are single segments and which are consonant clusters.

Tones

Traill describes four tones for the East ǃXoon dialect: high [á], mid [ā], low [à], and mid-falling [â]. DoBeS describes two tones, high and low, for the West ǃXoon dialect. This may reflect a difference in analysis rather than a difference in the tone systems.

Vowels

Taa has five vowel qualities, [a e i o u]. The Traill and DoBes descriptions differ in the phonations of these vowels; it is not clear if this reflects a dialectical difference or a difference of analysis.

East ǃXoon (Traill)

Traill describes the phonations of the East ǃXoon dialect as plain, murmured, or glottalized. [a o u] may also be both glottalized and murmured, as well as pharyngealized or strident. [a u] may be both pharyngealized and glottalized, for 26 vowels not counting nasalization or length.

Murmured vowels after plain consonants contrast with plain vowels after aspirated consonants, and likewise glottalized vowels with ejective consonants, so these are phonations of the vowels and not assimilation with consonant phonation.

Vowels may be long or short, but long vowels may be sequences rather than distinct phonemes. The other vowel quality sequences (diphthongs?), disregarding the added complexity of phonation, are [ai, ae, ao, au, oi, oe, oa, ou, ui, ue, ua].

All plain vowels may be nasalized. No other phonation may be nasalized, but nasalization occurs in combination with other phonations as the second vowel of a sequence ("long vowel" or "diphthong"). These sequences alternate dialectically with vowel plus velar nasal. That is, the name ǃXóõ may be dialectically [kǃxóŋ], and this in turn may be phonemically /kǃxóɲ/, since [ɲ] does not occur word-finally. However, this cannot explain the short nasal vowels, so Taa has at least 31 vowels.

A long, glottalized, murmured, nasalized o with falling tone is written <ôʼhõ>. A long, strident nasalized o with low tone is written <òqhõ>, since Traill analyzes stridency as phonemically pharyngealized murmur. (Note that phonetically these are distinct phonations.)

West ǃXoon (DoBeS)

DoBeS describes the phonations of the West ǃXoon dialect as plain, a e i o u; nasalized, an en in on un; epiglottalized or pharyngealized, aq eq iq oq uq; strident, aqh eqh iqh oqh uqh; and glottalized or 'tense', a’ e’ i’ o’ u’.

Consonants

Taa is unusual in allowing mixed voicing in its consonants. These have been called "prevoiced", but they actually appear to be consonant clusters. When homorganic, as in [dt], such clusters are listed in the chart below.

Taa consonants are complex, and it is not clear how much of the difference between the dialects is real and how much is an artifact of analysis.

East ǃXoon (Traill)

Marginal or rare consonants are in parentheses. Asterisks mark consonants added in 1994, which are likely also marginal or rare.

East ǃXoon dialect (Traill 1985, 1994): Non-click consonants

non-click consonants		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	corresponding clicks?	Uvular	corresponding clicks?	Glottal
Oral stop	voiced	b ~ v	d	dz		ɡ	ɡǃ etc.	ɢ ~ ɴɢ	ɢǃ ~ ɴɢǃ etc.
	tenuis	p*	t	ts		k	kǃ etc.	q	qǃ etc.	ʔ
	aspirated	pʰ*	tʰ	tsʰ		kʰ	kǃʰ etc.	qʰ
	ejective		tʼ*	tsʼ		kʼ*, kxʼ	kǃʼqʼ etc.	(qʼ)	qǃʼ etc.
	aspirated cluster		dtʰ	dtsʰ		ɡkʰ*	ɡǃh etc.	ɢqʰ ~ ɴɢqʰ	ɢǃh etc.
	ejective cluster			dtsʼ		ɡkxʼ	ɡǃqʼ etc.
Fricative	voiceless	f*		s		x	kǃx etc. ?			h*
Nasal	voiced	m		n	ɲ	(ŋ)	ŋǃ etc.
	glottalized	mˀ		nˀ			ʔŋǃ etc.
Other			(l)		dʲ ~ j

The nasal [ɲ] only occurs between vowels, and [ŋ] only word finally (and then only in some dialects), so these may be allophones.

There are additional consonant clusters: [pʼkxʼ, tx, dtx, tsʰx, dtsʰx, tʼkxʼ, dtʼkxʼ, tsʼkxʼ, dtsʼkxʼ]. The click accompaniments seen in [ŋ̊ǃ, ŋ̊ǃʰ, kǃˀ, ɡǃkx] also do not fit into the chart.

Taa has 83 click sounds. Given the intricate clusters seen in the non-click consonants, it is not surprising that many of the Taa clicks should be analyzed as clusters. However, while some are clearly simplex and some clearly complex, there is debate over others.

There are five click releases: bilabial, dental, lateral, alveolar, and palatal. There are seventeen accompaniments, both velar and uvular. These are perfectly normal consonants in Taa, and indeed are preferred over non-clicks in word-initial position.

East ǃXoon dialect (Traill 1985, 1994): Click consonants

affricated clicks			'sharp' clicks		accompaniment, along with speaker or dialect variation	DoBeS CC analysis
bilabial clicks	dental clicks	lateral clicks	alveolar clicks	palatal clicks
kʘ	kǀ	kǁ	kǃ	kǂ	Tenuis (k)	kǂ
qʘ	qǀ	qǁ	qǃ	qǂ	Tenuis uvular (q)	kǂ + q
ŋ̊ʘ	ŋ̊ǀ	ŋ̊ǁ	ŋ̊ǃ	ŋ̊ǂ	Voiceless nasal (ŋ̊)	ŋ̊ǂ
ɡʘ	ɡǀ	ɡǁ	ɡǃ	ɡǂ	Voiced (ɡ)	ɡǂ
ɢʘ	ɢǀ	ɢǁ	ɢǃ	ɢǂ	(Prenasalized) voiced uvular (ɢ, ɴɢ)	kǂ + ɢ
ŋʘ	ŋǀ	ŋǁ	ŋǃ	ŋǂ	Voiced nasal (ŋ)	ŋǂ
kʘʰ	kǀʰ	kǁʰ	kǃʰ	kǂʰ	Aspirated (kʰ)	kǂ + qʰ
↓ŋ̊ʘʰ	↓ŋ̊ǀʰ	↓ŋ̊ǁʰ	↓ŋ̊ǃʰ	↓ŋ̊ǂʰ	Ingressive voiceless nasal with delayed aspiration (↓ŋ̊ʰ)	kǂ + h
kʘˣ	kǀˣ	kǁˣ	kǃˣ	kǂˣ	Voiceless affricate (kˣ)	kǂ + x
ˀŋʘ	ˀŋǀ	ˀŋǁ	ˀŋǃ	ˀŋǂ	Preglottalized nasal (ˀŋ)	kǂ + mˀ/nˀ
qʘʼ	qǀʼ	qǁʼ	qǃʼ	qǂʼ	Uvular ejective (qʼ)	kǂ + qʼ
kʘˀ	kǀˀ	kǁˀ	kǃˀ	kǂˀ	Glottalized plosive (kˀ)	kǂ + ʔ
ɡʘx	ɡǀx	ɡǁx	ɡǃx	ɡǂx	Voiced velar plosive followed by voiceless velar fricative (ɡx, ɡkx)	ɡǂ + x
kʘʼqʼ	kǀʼqʼ	kǁʼqʼ	kǃʼqʼ	kǂʼqʼ	Velar ejective followed by uvular ejective (kʼqʼ, dialectically kxʼ)	kǂ + kxʼ
ɡʘqʼ	ɡǀqʼ	ɡǁqʼ	ɡǃqʼ	ɡǂqʼ	Voiced velar plosive followed by uvular ejective (ɡqʼ, dialectically ɡkxʼ)	ɡǂ + kxʼ
ɡʘh	ɡǀh	ɡǁh	ɡǃh	ɢǂh	Voiced velar plosive followed by aspiration (ɡh, ɡkʰ)	ɡǂ + qʰ
	ɢǀh		ɢǃh	ɢǂh	Voiced (prenasalized) uvular plosive followed by aspiration, velar frication, or uvular trill (ᴺɢh, ᴺɢx, ᴺɢʀ)	ɡǂ + ɢqʰ

The DoBeS project takes Traill's cluster analysis to mean that only the twenty tenuis, voiced, nasal, and voiceless nasal clicks are basic, with the rest being clusters of the tenuis and voiced clicks with x, kxʼ, q, ɢ, qʰ, ɢqʰ, qʼ, ʔ, h and either mˀ or nˀ.

Peter Ladefoged analyses the first ten accompaniments (through the ʔŋǃ series) as simplex, and the last seven as complex. This would mean that Taa has fifty simple clicks. However, it is not clear that the uvular ejective click series (qǃʼ, etc) are consonant clusters, since the double-ejective clicks (kǃʼqʼ etc) are analysed as two segments, not three. Also, glottalized clicks similar to the kǃˀ series are analysed as simple consonants in other Khoisan languages. Recent work on Taa's sister language Nǁng suggests that all clicks in both languages have a uvular or rear articulation, and that the clicks considered to be uvular here are actually velo-pulmonic and velo-glottalic airstream contours. It may be that the 'prevoiced' consonants of Taa can also be analysed as contour consonants, in this case with voicing contours.

All nasal clicks have twin airstreams, since the air passing through the nose bypasses the tongue. Usually this is pulmonic egressive. However, the ↓ŋ̊ʰ series in Taa is characterized by pulmonic ingressive nasal airflow. Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996:268) state that "This ǃXóõ click is probably unique among the sounds of the world's languages that, even in the middle of a sentence, it may have ingressive pulmonic airflow."

West ǃXoon (DoBeS)

These are written in the practical orthography. Marginal consonants are not marked.

West ǃXoon dialect (DoBeS 2008): Consonants other than clicks

non-click consonants		labial	alveolar		palatal	velar	uvular		clicks (5)	glottal
oral stop	voiced	b	d	dz		g	gq		gǃ etc.
	tenuis	p	t	ts		k	q		kǃ etc.	’
	aspirated	ph	th	tsh		kh	qh		ǃh etc.
	ejective	p’	t’	ts’		k’	q’	qx’	ǃ’ etc.
	voiced aspirated (cluster?)	bh	dh	dzh		gh	gqh		gǃh etc.
	voiced ejective (cluster?)			dz’		g’	gq’	gqx’	gǃ’ etc.
fricative	voiceless	f	s				x			h
nasal	voiced	m	n ~ nn		ny	ng			nǃ etc.
	voiceless								nhǃ etc.
	glottalized	’m	’n						‘nǃ etc.
approximant		w?	l		y
"intermittent"			r

Clusters in x are tx, dx, tsx, dzx; clusters in qx’ are pqx’, tqx’, dqx’, tsqx’, dzqx’.

The identification of voiceless/voiced pairs of click clusters is aided by the morphology of West ǃXoon, where a significant number of nouns have a voiceless first consonant in the singular and a voiced first consonant in the plural. The rows of clicks below are all arranged in voiceless-voiced pairs, except for the pre-glottalized nasal clicks, which don't have a voiceless counterpart.

West ǃXoon dialect (DoBeS 2008): Click consonants

affricated clicks			'sharp' clicks		accompaniment and DoBeS analysis
labial clicks	dental clicks	lateral clicks	alveolar clicks	palatal clicks
Clicks analyzed as segments
ʘ	ǀ	ǁ	ǃ	ǂ	Tenuis
gʘ	gǀ	gǁ	gǃ	gǂ	Voiced
ʘh	ǀh	ǁh	ǃh	ǂh	Aspirated. <ǂha> is explosively aspirated [ǂʜa].
gʘh	gǀh	gǁh	gǃh	gǂh	Breathy voiced. <gǂh> is phonetically [ǂ̬ʱa]
ʘ’	ǀ’	ǁ’	ǃ’	ǂ’	Ejective. <ǂ’a> is phonetically [ǂkʼʔa]; the strong burst of the [kʼ] immediately follows that of the [ǂ], but there is a delay before the onset of the vowel comparable to that of <ǂ"a> [ǂʔa].
	gǀ’	gǁ’	gǃ’	gǂ’	<gǂ’a> is phonetically [ǂă̰a], with a creaky onset to the vowel.
	nhǀ	nhǁ	nhǃ	nhǂ	Voiceless nasal. <nǂa> is phonetically [ŋ̊ǂ̃ã], nasal with voiceless prenasalization even between vowels.
nʘ	nǀ	nǁ	nǃ	nǂ	Voiced nasal. <nǂa> is phonetically [ŋ̈ǂ̃ã], nasal with murmured prenasalization.
’nʘ	’nǀ	’nǁ	’nǃ	’nǂ	Preglottalized nasal. <’nǂa> is phonetically [ʔŋ̆ǂ̃ã], nasal with a glottal stop and brief prenasalization.
Clicks analyzed as clusters
qʘ	qǀ	qǁ	qǃ	qǂ	<qǂ> ← /ǂ/ + /q/. Two releases, /ǂ/ and /q/.
gʘq	gǀq	gǁq	gǃq	gǂq	<gǂq> ← /ǂ̬/ + /q/
ʘqh	ǀqh	ǁqh	ǃqh	ǂqh	<ǂqh> ← /ǂ/ + /qʰ/. Two releases, /ǂ/ and /qʰ/.
	gǀqh	gǁqh	gǃqh	gǂqh	<gǂqh> ← /ǂ̬/ + /qʰ/ ([qʰ] ~ [ɢʱ])
ʘq’	ǀq’	ǁq’	ǃq’	ǂq’	<ǂq’> ← /ǂ/ + /qʼ/. <ǂq’a> is phonetically /ǂqʔa/.
	gǀq’	gǁq’	gǃq’	gǂq’	<gǂq’> ← /ǂ̬/ + /qʼ/
ʘx	ǀx	ǁx	ǃx	ǂx	<ǂx> ← /ǂ/ + /x/ (analogous to <tx, tsx>)
gʘx	gǀx	gǁx	gǃx	gǂx	<gǂx> ← /ǂ̬/ + /x/ (analogous to <dx, dzx>)
ʘqx’	ǀqx’	ǁqx’	ǃqx’	ǂqx’	<ǂqx’> ← /ǂ/ + /qxʼ/ (analogous to <pqx’, tqx’, tsqx’>)
gʘqx’	gǀqx’	gǁqx’	gǃqx’	gǂqx’	<gǂqx’> ← /ǂ̬/ + /qxʼ/ (analogous to <dqx’, dzqx’>)
ʘ"	ǀ"	ǁ"	ǃ"	ǂ"	<ǂ"> ← /ǂ/ + /ʔ/. Initial <ǂ"a> is phonetically [ǂʔa]; after a vowel, <a ǂ"a> is [ãǂ̃ʔa] or [ãŋǂ̃ʔa]. The nasal venting may maintain low air pressure to contrast with the ejective click <ǂ’a>.
nʘ"	nǀ"	nǁ"	nǃ"	nǂ"	<nǂ"> ← /ǂ̬/ + /ʔ/. <nǂ"a> is phonetically [ŋǂ̃ˀa]. The nasal venting may maintain low air pressure to contrast with the ejective click <gǂ’a>.
ʘhh	ǀhh	ǁhh	ǃhh	ǂhh	<ǂhh> ← /ǂ/ + /h/. <ǂhha> is phonetically [ŋ̊ǂha]; the [h] is weak. The nasal venting may maintain low air pressure to contrast with the aspirated click <ǂha>.
nʘhh	nǀhh	nǁhh	nǃhh	nǂhh	<nǂhh> ← /ǂ̬/ + /h/. <nǂhha> is phonetically [ŋǂ̬ɦa]. The nasal venting may maintain low air pressure to contrast with the voiced aspirated click <gǂha>.

Vowel nasalization is only phonemic on the second mora (in CCVV etc. syllables), as it is a phonetic effect of clicks such as <nǂhh> on the first mora. <nǂhh> does not make the following vowel breathy, maintaining a contrast between <nǂhha> and <nǂhhah>. Likewise, while <gǂ’> does make the following vowel creaky, there is a delayed onset to the vowel and the amplitude of the glottalization is less than that of <gǂa’> with a phonemically creaky vowel.

In an attempt to keep the phonemic inventory as symmetric as possible, the DoBeS team analyzed as segments two of the click types that Traill analyzed as clusters. These are (using the palatal clicks as examples) the pre-glottalized nasal clicks, ’nǂ, which Traill had analyzed as /ǂ/ + /ʼn/, and the voiced aspirated clicks, gǂh, which Traill had analyzed as /ɡǂ/ + /qʰ/.

The expectation, from the morphology of ǃXoon, for voiceless-voiced pairs of click clusters led to the discovery of several click accompaniments not distinguished by Traill. (This morphology appears to be more pervasive in West ǃXoon than in the East ǃXoon dialect that Traill worked on.) Thus for Trail's ǂqh, the DoBeS team distinguishes two phonemes, ǂqh and ǂh, and for Traill's ǂ’, they have ǂ" and ǂ’. It also lead to the discovery of voiced click types which may not exist in East ǃXoon at all, namely nǂ", nǂhh, gǂ’, and gǂq’.

Phonotactics

The Taa syllable structure, as described by DoBes, may be one of the following:

• CVV
• CCVV
• CVC₂V
• CCVC₂V
• CVN
• CCVN

where C is a consonant, V is a vowel, and N is a nasal consonant. There is a very limited number of consonants which can occur in the second (C₂) position and only certain vowel sequences (VV and V…V) occur. The possible consonant clusters (CC) is covered above; C₂ may be [b~β̞], [dʲ~j], [l], [m], [n], [ɲ].

Grammar

Taa is a subject–verb–object language with serial verbs and inflecting prepositions. Genitives, adjectives, relative clauses, and numbers come after the nouns they apply to. Reduplication is used to form causatives. There are seven nominal agreement classes in two tone groups which combine for nine or more grammatical genders. Agreement occurs on pronouns, transitive verbs (with the object), adjectives, prepositions, and some "particles".

Anthony Traill did extensive research concerning the language and its various aspects. He even wrote a dictionary of the Taa language, named A ǃXóõ Dictionary, as well as a book on the phonetics of the language.

Example phrases

These example phrases are from the Eastern ǃXóõ dialect and were compiled by Anthony Traill.

ǃnˤù.ṵ	ì	à	ǁʼà-be	ǃù.m	ʘàa	sâa
Hare.14	1PRO	PST	take:S-3	Eland.3	child:34	thither
"As for Hare, she took Eland's child away."

ǃqháa̰	kū	ǂnûm	ǁɢˤûlitê	ǀè	dtxóʔlu	ǀnàe	ǂʼá	sˤàa̰
give	MPO:4PRO	two	genital:22-P	ASS:3	stench:3	DAT:3PRO	COM:2	fat:22
"Give them their stinking genitals with the fat!"

References

• Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8. 
• Traill, Anthony (1994). A ǃXóõ Dictionary. (Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung, vol. 9). Köln: Rüdiger Köppe. ISBN 3927620564. 
• Traill, Anthony (1985). Phonetic and phonological studies of ǃXóõ Bushman. Hamburg: Helmut Buske. ISBN 3871186694. 

External links

• Map of Taa language (!Xóõ) from the LL-Map Project
• Information on Taa language from the MultiTree Project
• DoBeS Taa language project
• Large collection of ǃXóõ parts of speech based on the 2009 ǃXóõ dictionary
• Swadesh list for !Xóõ
• Ethnologue Report for ǃXóõ/Taa
• UCLA Archive for ǃXóõ, includes story and language sound files