The Tonology of Khoekhoe (Nama/Damara)

Author: Wilfrid H.G. Haacke. Series edited by: Rainer Voßen.

Series: QKF Research in Khoisan Studies Volume 16

1999
16 pp. Roman, 233 pp.
45 graphs, 23 tables, subject index
Text language(s): English
Format: 160 x 240 mm
460 g
Paperback
€ 49.80

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Khoekhoe / Khoekhoegowab (formerly known as Nama/Damara) is a Central Khoesaan language. It is spoken by the Nama, the Damara, and the Hai//om in Namibia. In linguistics, Khoekhoe achieved prominence in 1938 through D.M. Beach’s linguistic study, The Phonetics of the Hottentot Language. The present publication builds on Beach’s classic and elaborates his phonetic study into a study of the tonal system of Khoekhoe, based on data drawn from a lexicographic project instituted by the author in 1981.

The study furthermore fills a gap in modern Nama research, since, with few exceptions, recent publications on Khoesaan languages mostly neglect Khoekhoe (Nama), even though it is officially recognized for literary purposes in Namibia and is taught as a major degree course at university level. Following the introduction Chapter 2 presents an instrumental analysis of the surface tone of radicals. Chapter 3 deals with the formation of compound words and derivations in the realm of lexical tonology. Chapter 4 presents an overview of the post-lexical tonology with regard to the major syntactic structures. It is demonstrated that Khoekhoe corroborates a universal, namely that tonal domains coincide with independently established syntactic domains that commence with a double left bracket in a bracketed representation of an IC structure. To sum up, Khoekhoe tonology has semantic as well as syntactic and derivational functions.

Under these links you will find publications by the author and descriptions of further Central Khoisan languages:

Accompanying material:

• Khoisan Languages and Linguistics – 1st Symposium 2003 (ISBN 978-3-89645-864-3)
• Khoisan Languages and Linguistics – 2nd Symposium 2006 (ISBN 978-3-89645-150-7)
• Khoisan Languages and Linguistics – 5th Symposium 2014 (ISBN 978-3-89645-878-0)
• Language, Identity, and Conceptualization among the Khoisan (ISBN 978-3-89645-143-9)
• Linguistics across Africa (ISBN 978-3-89645-510-9)
• Lone Tree – Scholarship in the Service of the Koon (ISBN 978-3-89645-227-6)
• Namibian Languages (ISBN 978-3-89645-080-7)
• The Complete Linguist (ISBN 978-3-927620-84-1)

Cross-reference:

• A Grammatical Sketch of Kuasi (Botswana) (ISBN 978-3-89645-882-7)
• Aktuelle Forschungen zu afrikanischen Sprachen (ISBN 978-3-89645-401-0)
• Catalogue of the Khoisan Folktales of Southern Africa (ISBN 978-3-89645-870-4)
• Die Khoe-Sprachen (ISBN 978-3-927620-59-9)
• Eastern and Southern African Khoisan (ISBN 978-3-89645-142-2)
• Ein Heilungsritual der Dama, Südwestafrika/Namibia (ISBN 978-3-89645-351-8)
• Focus and Topic in African Languages (ISBN 978-3-89645-718-9)
• Folktales of the Kxoe in the West Caprivi (ISBN 978-3-89645-081-4)
• Hai||om and !Xû Stories from North Namibia – Collected and translated by Terttu Heikkinen (1934–1988) (ISBN 978-3-89645-175-0)
• Khwe Dictionary (ISBN 978-3-89645-083-8)

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