Prehistoric language contact in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier area: Khoisan influence on southwestern Bantu languages

Abstract

Abstract:In this article, we show that the influence of Khoisan languages on five southwestern Bantu click languages spoken in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier area is diverse and complex. These Bantu languages acquired clicks through contact with both Khwe and Ju languages. However, they did not simply copy these Khoisan clicks words. They adapted them phonologically, resulting in a reduction of the click inventory and also integrated them into Bantu morphosyntax through the unusual process of paralexification. What is more, clicks do not only occur in words of Khoisan origin, but also spread to native vocabulary as a language-internal change, among other things through sound symbolism. Finally, calques and head-final nominal compounds in a number of these Bantu languages point to structural influence, most likely from Khwe. We argue that the contact-induced changes observed in the southwestern Bantu languages can be partly accounted for by the language shift of native Khoisan speakers who imposed certain features from their native language on the Bantu language they acquired. In addition, Bantu speakers may have used clicks and other Khoisanderived elements as an emblem for marking a separate identity, as they were not only maintained, but extended to native structures as well.

Prehistoric Bantu-Khoisan language contact

“…It should be noted from the outset that this article synthesizes data published previously: for the original results of genetic analyses of populations speaking Bantu languages with clicks, readers are referred especially to Barbieri et al (2013a) and Marks et al (2015), while the linguistic details concerning the copying of clicks into some of the Bantu languages are discussed in depth in Gunnink et al (2015). After a brief discussion of our cross-disciplinary approach in Section 1.1, we review the existence of click consonants in Bantu languages and discuss the considerable differences in size and origin of their click inventories in Section 2.…”

“…We here call this group Language Dynamics and Change 7 (2017) 1-46 of languages the "southeast Bantu" (seb) languages. In the southwest, clicks are found in languages spoken in the Kavango-Zambezi transfrontier region of Angola, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia, namely in Yeyi, Fwe, Mbukushu, Manyo, and Kwangali (Gunnink et al, 2015). We use the term "southwest Bantu" (swb) languages to designate them.…”

“…With respect to the copying of clicks among Bantu languages, up to 50 % of click words are shared between the swb languages Manyo, Kwangali, and Mbukushu, with Manyo playing a central role in their diffusion (Gunnink et al, 2015). Similarly, 376 Xhosa words with clicks (~16 % of the total) also occur in Zulu and Southern Sotho (Bourquin, 1951).…”

“…The swb languages have adopted lexemes from various Ju lects and also, though in smaller numbers, from Khwe, with a small number possibly stemming from Khoe languages spoken in Eastern and Central Botswana. In addition, a substantial proportion of the click words in the swb languages cannot be traced to any known Khoisan language, suggesting that the contact may have taken place with languages that are now extinct (Gunnink et al, 2015).…”

“…In several Nguni languages (seb) and Yeyi (swb), click inventory sizes are relatively large (comprising 10-30 phonemes), while Manyo, Kwangali, Mbukushu, and Fwe (swb) have only four or five distinct click phonemes. The number of words with clicks also differs considerably between the seb languages and Yeyi on the one hand (with up to 27% of the lexicon containing a click consonant) and Manyo, Kwangali, Mbukushu and Fwe on the other, where only~1% of the lexicon comprises a click (Gunnink et al, 2015).…”