Sekele language
 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references,butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations.(October 2024) |
| Sekele | |
|---|---|
| Northern ǃKung | |
| Native to | Namibia,Angola |
| Region | OkavangoandOvamboland Territory |
Native speakers | 20,000 (2013–2019)[1] |
| Dialects |
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | vaj– inclusive codeIndividual code: knw–Ekoka ǃKung |
| Glottolog | vase1234kung1261 |
Sekeleis the northernlanguageof theǃKungdialect continuum.It was widespread in southernAngolabefore theAngolan Civil War,[2]but those varieties are now spoken principally among adiasporain northernNamibia.There are also a number ofdialectsspoken in far northern Namibia.
Sekele is known by a number of names. "Sekele" itself derives fromVasekele,the AngolanBantuname. It is also known as Northern ǃKung, Northern ǃXuun, and Northern Ju. Two of the Angolan varieties have gone by the outdated term ǃʼOǃKung (orǃʼO ǃuŋ[ǃˀoːǃʰũ],"Forest ǃKung" ) and Maligo (short for "Sekele Maligo" ). There are several Namibian dialects, of which the best-known isEkoka.
Dialects
[edit]There is a division between the northernmost dialects, formerly known as Angolan ǃKung or Northern ǃKung, and the more southern dialects of northernmost Namibia, which are known as Western ǃKung or North-Central ǃKung, as well as between them and the eastern dialect of Kavango ǃKung. These northern dialects include:
- Angolan (Northern) ǃKung, originally of Southern Angola, which is situated around theCunene,Cubango,Cuito,andCuando Rivers;
- (N1) Maligo (ǃxuun, kúándò ǃxuun"Kwando ǃXuun", southeast Angola);
- (N2) ǃʼOǃKung (ǃʼo ǃuŋ"Forest ǃXuun"; east central Angola);
- Western (North-Central) ǃKung(ǃKung-Ekoka), of northern Namibia, between the Ovambo River and the Angolan border, around the tributaries of theOkavango Rivereast ofRunduto theEtosha Pan;
- (W1) — (ǃxūún, ǃʼālè ǃxòān"Valley ǃXuun";Eenhana district,northern Namibia);
- (W2) ǀʼAkhwe (ǃxūún, ǀʼākhòè ǃxòān"Kwanyama ǃXuun"; Eenhana, northern Namibia);
- (W3) Tsintsabis (ǃxūún;Tsintsabis, Tsumeb district, northern Namibia);
- (K) Kavango ǃKung (ǃxūún,known asdom ǃxūún"River ǃXuun" in Ekoka; Western Rundu district, northern Namibia, & Angola adjacent)
The Okongo, Ovambo, and Mpunguvlei dialects may duplicate (W1) and (K) or be additional forms.
A dialect of Angolan Sekele currently being investigated bylinguistshas been labeledMangetti Dune ǃKung,and is spoken by a resettled diaspora community of 500–1000 in Namibia andSouth Africain the settlements of Mangetti Dune and Omtaku, east ofGrootfontein,Namibia; and in Schmidtsdrif, west ofKimberley, South Africa.
Phonology
[edit]- Angolan ǃKung
Mangetti Dune ǃKung hasclickswith four places ofarticulation,/ǃǀǁǂ/.A reported distinction betweendental lateralandpostalveolar lateral clickshas not been confirmed by further research. These clicks come in the same eight series as in Grootfontein ǃKung, represented with the palatal articulation:
- Lingual/ᵏǂᵏǂʰᶢǂᵑǂᵑ̊ǂʰ/
- glottalized/ᵑ̊ǂˀ/
- linguo-pulmonic/ᵏǂχ/
- linguo-glottalic/ǂ͡kxʼ/
- Western (North-Central) ǃKung
Footnotes
[edit]- ^SekeleatEthnologue(25th ed., 2022)
Ekoka ǃKungatEthnologue(25th ed., 2022)
- ^Gordon & Grimes 2005,p. 151
References
[edit]- Gordon, Raymond G. Jr.; Grimes, Barbara G., eds. (2005).Ethnologue: Languages of the World(15th ed.). Dallas, Texas: SIL International.ISBN155671159X.
- Snyman, Jan Winston (1980). "The Relationship Between Angolan ǃXu and Zuǀʼõasi".Bushman and Hottentot Linguistic Studies.Pretoria, South Africa: University of South Africa (UNISA): 1–58.
- Miller, A.L.; Holliday, J.; Howcroft, D.M.; Phillips, S.; Smith, B.; Tsz-Hum, T.; Scott, A. (2011). "The Phonetics of the Modern-Day Reflexes of the Proto-Palatal Click in Juu Languages".Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Khoisan Languages and Linguistics.