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Hadza language

Hadza language

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{{IPA notice}} '''Hadza''' is a [[language isolate]] spoken by fewer than a thousand [[Hadza people]] along the shores of [[Lake Eyasi]] in [[Tanzania]], the last full-time [[hunter-gatherer]]s in Africa. Despite the small number of speakers, language use is vigorous, with most children learning it. Hadza has traditionally been grouped with Khoisan, but largely on the basis of its use of clicks, and this classification is no longer generally accepted. ==Classification== Hadza is a language isolate (Sands 1998). It has traditionally been classified as a [[Khoisan languages|Khoisan language]], along with its neighbor [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]], primarily because they both have [[click consonant|clicks]]. However, Hadza has very few proposed [[cognate]]s with either Sandawe or the other Khoisan languages, and many of the ones that have been proposed appear doubtful. The links with Sandawe, for example, are Cushitic loan words, while the links with southern Africa are so few and short (usually single [[consonant|C]] [[vowel|V]] syllables) that they could easily be coincidence. A few words link it with [[Oropom language|Oropom]], which may itself be spurious; the numerals ''itchâme'' 'one' and ''pihe'' 'two' suggest a connection with [[Kw'adza language|Kw'adza]], an extinct language of hunter-gatherers who may have had recently shifted to Cushitic. (Higher numerals were borrowed in both languages.) ==Theories about early human language== In 2003 the press widely reported suggestions by Alec Knight and Joanna Mountain of [[Stanford University]] that the original human language may have had clicks. The evidence for this is genetic: speakers of [[Ju/’hoan language|Juǀʼhoan]] and Hadza have the most divergent known [[mitochondrial DNA]] of any human populations, suggesting that they were the first, or at least among the first, surviving peoples to have split off the family tree. In other words, the three primary genetic divisions of humanity are the Hadzabe, the Juǀʼhoansi and relatives, and everyone else. Since two of the three groups speak languages with clicks, perhaps their common ancestral language, which by implication is the ancestral language for all humankind, had clicks as well. However, this conclusion rests on several unsupported assumptions: * Both groups have kept their languages intact, without [[language shift]], since they branched off of the rest of humanity; * Neither borrowed clicks as part of a [[Sprachbund]], as the [[Xhosa language|Xhosa]], [[Zulu language|Zulu]] and [[Sotho language|Sotho]] did; and * Neither the ancestors of the Juǀʼhoansi nor those of the Hadzabe developed clicks independently. Alec Knight has also suggested a practical advantage to clicks: When hunting, the Juǀʼhoansi report that they do not use regular speech, which might spook their prey, but communicate solely by means of hand gestures and clicks. (The Hadzabe are currently mostly solitary hunters.) If Knight is correct, and clicks do provide an advantage to savanna hunters, then it is untenable to assume that they have not arisen independently, or at least not spread from one group to another, over the last several tens of thousands of years. However, the Hadza have almost no clicks in their specialized hunting vocabulary, such as the hunting names of animals. ==Sounds== Hadza syllable structure is limited to CV, or CVN if nasal vowels are analyzed as a coda nasal. Vowel-initial syllables do not occur initially, and are uncommon medially, perhaps restricted to loanwords. ===Tone=== It is not known if Hadza has lexical [[tone (linguistics)|tone]]. It may have a [[pitch accent]] system, but the details have not been worked out. ===Vowels=== Hadza has five vowels, {{IPA|[i e a o u]}}. Long vowels may occur when intervocalic {{IPA|[ɦ]}} is elided. For example, {{IPA|[kʰaɦa]}} or {{IPA|[kʰaː]}}, ''to climb''. [[Nasal vowel]]s, while uncommon, do occur, though not before consonants that have [[prenasalized consonant|prenasalized]] homologues. (That is, {{IPA|CṼCV}} and {{IPA|CVNCV}} are in [[complementary distribution]].) Vowels are also nasalized before glottalized nasal clicks. ===Consonants=== {| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center ! rowspan=2 colspan=2 | ! rowspan=2 | [[labial consonant|Labial]] ! rowspan=2 | [[Dental consonant|Dental]] ! colspan=2 | [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] ! colspan=2 | [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]/
[[Postalveolar consonant|Postalveolar]] ! colspan=2 | [[Velar consonant|Velar]] ! rowspan=2 | [[Epiglottal consonant|Epiglottal]] ! rowspan=2 | [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]] |- class=small ! [[Central consonant|central]] ! [[Lateral consonant|lateral]] ! central ! lateral ! plain ! [[Labialization|labialized]] |- ! rowspan=4 | [[Click consonant|Click]] ! Aspirated | | {{IPA|ᵏǀʰ}} | {{IPA|ᵏǃʰ}} | | | {{IPA|ᵏǁʰ}} | | | | |- ! Tenuis | | {{IPA|ᵏǀ}} | {{IPA|ᵏǃ}} | | | {{IPA|ᵏǁ}} | | | | |- ! Nasal |rowspan=2| {{IPA|(ᵑʘʷ
~ ᵑʘˀ)}}1 | {{IPA|ᵑǀ}} | {{IPA|ᵑǃ}} | | | {{IPA|ᵑǁ}} | | | | |- ! [[glottalization|Glottalized]] nasal1 | {{IPA|ᵑǀˀ}} | {{IPA|ᵑǃˀ}} | | | {{IPA|ᵑǁˀ}} | | | | |- ! rowspan=7 | [[Stop consonant|Stop]] ! [[Aspiration (phonetics)|Aspirated]] | {{IPA|pʰ}} | | {{IPA|tʰ}} | | | | {{IPA|kʰ}} | {{IPA|kʷʰ}} | | |- ! [[Tenuis consonant|Tenuis]] | {{IPA|p}} | | {{IPA|t}} | | | | {{IPA|k}} | {{IPA|kʷ}} | | {{IPA|ʔ}} |- ! [[Voiced consonant|Voiced]] | {{IPA|b}} | | ''{{IPA|d}} | | | | ''{{IPA|ɡ}} | ''{{IPA|ɡʷ}} | | |- ! [[Ejective consonant|Ejective]] | {{IPA|(pʼ)}}2 | | | | | | | | | |- ! Aspirated [[Prenasalized consonant|prenasalized]] | ''{{IPA|mpʰ}} | | ''{{IPA|ntʰ}} | | | | ''{{IPA|ŋkʰ}} | | | |- ! Voiced prenasalized | ''{{IPA|mb}} | | ''{{IPA|nd}} | | | | ''{{IPA|ŋɡ}} | ''{{IPA|ŋɡʷ}} | | |- ! [[Nasal consonant|Nasal]] | {{IPA|m}} | | {{IPA|n}} | | ''{{IPA|ɲ}} | | ''{{IPA|ŋ}} | ''{{IPA|ŋʷ}} | | |- ! rowspan=6 | [[Affricate consonant|Affricate]] ! Aspirated | | | {{IPA|t͡sʰ}} | | {{IPA|t͡ʃʰ}} | {{IPA|c͡ʰ}} 3 | | | | |- ! Tenuis | | | {{IPA|t͡s}} | | {{IPA|t͡ʃ}} | {{IPA|c͡}} 3 | | | | |- ! Voiced | | | ''{{IPA|d͡z}} | | ''{{IPA|d͡ʒ}} | | | | | |- ! Ejective | | | {{IPA|t͡sʼ}} | | {{IPA|t͡ʃʼ}} | {{IPA|c͡ʼ}} 3 | {{IPA|k͡xʼ}} 4 | {{IPA|k͡xʷʼ}} | | |- ! Aspirated prenasalized | | | ''{{IPA|nt͡sʰ}} | | | | | | | |- ! Voiced prenasalized | | | ''{{IPA|nd͡z}} | | ''{{IPA|ɲd͡ʒ}} | | | | | |- ! colspan=2 | [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]] | {{IPA|fʷ}} | | {{IPA|s}} | {{IPA|ɬ}} | {{IPA|ʃ}} | | | | ({{IPA|ʜ}})6 | |- ! colspan=2 | [[Approximant consonant|Approximant]] | | | colspan=2 | {{IPA|ɾ ~ l}} 5 | {{IPA|j}} | | | {{IPA|w}} | | {{IPA|ɦ ~ h}}7 |} #The nasalization of the [[glottalization|glottalized]] nasal clicks is apparent on preceding and sometimes following vowels, but not during the click itself. The labial {{IPA|[ᵑʘˀ]}} (or {{IPA|[ᵑʘʷ]}}) is found in a single mimetic word where it alternates with {{IPA|[ᵑǀ]}}. #The labial ejective {{IPA|/pʼ/}} is only found in a few words. #If the palatal affricates do not display properly, they can also be written {{IPA|[c͡ʎ̥˔]}} ''etc.'' #The velar ejective {{IPA|/k͡xʼ/}} varies between a plosive {{IPA|[kʼ]}}, an affricate {{IPA|[k͡xʼ]}}, a lateral affricate {{IPA|[k͡ʼ]}}, and a fricative {{IPA|[xʼ]}}. The other ejective affricates may also appear as ejective fricatives. #The lateral approximant {{IPA|/l/}} is found as a [[flap consonant|flap]] {{IPA|[ɾ]}} between vowels and occasionally elsewhere. #The [[voiceless epiglottal fricative]] {{IPA|[ʜ]}} is only known from a single word, where it alternates with {{IPA|/kʰ/}}. #The glottal {{IPA|/ɦ/}} is sometimes voiceless, especially in tonic syllables. #The prenasalized consonants, {{IPA|/ɲ ŋ ŋʷ d ɡ ɡʷ dʒ/}}, and perhaps {{IPA|/dz/}} (italicized) seem to be borrowed (Elderkin 1978). Hadza is unusual in having clicks within morphemes. Some are historically analyzable as having been produced morphologically (many appear to reflect lexicalized reduplication, for example), but some are opaque. As in [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]], most are glottalized clicks, but not all: ''puche'' 'spleen', ''tanche'' 'to aim', ''tacce'' 'belt', ''minca'' 'to lick one's lips', ''laqo'' 'to trip s.o.', ''keqhe-na'' 'slow', ''penqhenqhe ~ peqeqhe'' 'to hurry', ''haqqa-ko'' 'stone', ''shenqe'' 'to peer over', ''exekeke'' 'to listen', ''naxhi'' 'to be crowded', ''khaxxe'' 'to jump', ''binxo'' 'to carry small kills under one's belt'. ===Orthography=== A practical orthography has been devised by Miller and Anyawire (Miller 2008). It is broadly similar to the orthographies of neighboring languages such as [[Iraqw language|Iraqw]] and [[Sandawe language|Sandawe]]. The apostrophe, which is ubiquitous in transcription in the anthropological literature but causes problems with literacy, has been eliminated (apart from ⟨ng’⟩ for borrowed {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, as in Swahili): Glottal stop is indicated by vowel sequences (that is, {{IPA|/beʔe/}} is written ⟨bee⟩, as in ⟨Hazabee⟩ {{IPA|/ɦadzabeʔe/}} 'the Hadza'), and ejectives and ɡlottalized clicks by gemination (apart from ⟨dl⟩ for {{IPA|/cʼ/}}). The ejectives are based on the voiced consonants, as these are otherwise found mostly in borrowings and thus not common: :⟨bb zz jj dl gg ggw⟩. Reading from top to bottom in each column of the consonant chart above, the clicks are based on ''c, x, q'', as in Sandawe: :dental ⟨c ch nc cc⟩, alveolar ⟨q qh nq qq⟩, lateral ⟨x xh nx xx⟩. The labial(ized) click is ⟨mcw⟩. The stop series are: :labial ⟨ph p b bb mp mb m⟩, alveolar ⟨th t d nt nd n⟩, velar ⟨kh k g nk ng ng’ gg⟩, labio-velar ⟨kwh kw gw ngw ng’w ggw⟩, though the aspirated consonants are unstable. The affricate series are: :alveolar ⟨tsh ts z zz nts nz⟩, lateral ⟨tlh tl dl⟩, and post-alveolar ⟨tch tc j jj nj⟩ (''tc'' and ''tch'' as in Sandawe). The fricatives are: :⟨f s sl sh h hh⟩, as in Iraqw. (''Sl'' for {{IPA|/ɬ/}} is ultimately a French convention.) The approximants are: :⟨l y w h⟩. Vowels are: : ⟨a e i o u⟩, nasalized ⟨an en in un⟩. Long vowels are ⟨â⟩ or ⟨aha⟩, since they're usually due to an elided {{IPA|/ɦ/}}; likewise, apparent vowel sequences are written with an intervening ⟨h⟩ (or a ⟨y⟩ or ⟨w⟩), as a simple sequence indicates a glottal stop. A tonic syllable may be written with an acute accent, ⟨á⟩, but is generally not marked. ==Grammar== The following is taken from Miller (2008). Reduplication of the initial syllable of a word, usually with tonic accent and a long vowel (VhV), is used to indicate 'just' (either 'only' or 'merely'). This occurs on both nouns and verbs, and reduplication can be used to emphasize other things, such as the habitual suffix ''-hé-'' or the pluractional infix ''⟨kV⟩''. ===Nouns and pronouns=== Nouns have grammatical gender (masculine and feminine) and number (singular and plural). They are marked by suffixes as follows: {|class=wikitable ! ||sg.||pl |- !m | ||-bii |- !f | -ko||-bee |} The f.pl. is used for mixed natural gender, as in ''Hazabee'' 'the Hadza'. For many animals, the grammatical singular is [[transnumeric]], as in English: ''dongo'' 'zebra' (either one or a group). M.pl. may trigger vowel harmony: ''dongobee'' 'zebras' (an individuated number), ''dungubii'' 'zebra bucks'. A couple kin terms and the diminutive suffix ''-nakwe'' take ''-te'' in the m.sg., which is otherwise unmarked. Gender is used metaphorically, with ordinarily feminine words made masculine if they are notably thin, and ordinarily masculine words made feminine if they are notable round. Gender also distinguishes such things as vines (m) and their tubers (f), or berry trees (f) and their berries (m). Mass nouns tend to be grammatically plural, such as ''atibii'' 'water' (cf. ''ati'' 'rain', ''atiko'' 'a spring'). The names reported for dead animals do not follow this pattern. Calling attention to a dead zebra, for example, uses the form ''hantahii'' (masculine ''hantahee'', plural (rare) ''hatahetee'' and ''hantahitchii''). This is because these forms are not nouns, but imperative verbs; the morphology is clearer in the imperative plural, when addressing more than one person: ''hantatate, hantahate, hantahetate, hantahitchate'' (substitute ''-si'' for final ''-te'' when addressing only men; see below for the verbal object suffixes ''-ta-, -ha-, -heta-, -hitcha-''). ====The copula==== The ''-pe'' and ''-pi'' forms of nouns often seen in the anthropological literature (actually ''-phee'' and ''-phii'') are [[copula]]r: ''dongophee'' 'they are zebras'. The copula suffixes distinguish gender in all persons as well as [[clusivity]] in the 1st person. They are: {|class=wikitable ! ||m.sg.||f.sg.||f.pl.||m.pl |- !1.ex |rowspan=2|-nee ||rowspan=2|-neko ||-ophee ||-uphii |- !1.in | -bebee||-bibii |- !2 | -tee||-teko||-tetee||-titii |- !3 | -ha||-hako||-phee||-phii |} Forms with high vowels (''i, u'') tend to raise preceding mid vowels to high, just as ''-bii'' does. Because the Hadza ''h'' is [[murmured]], the 3.sg copula tends to sound like a ''y'' or ''w'' after high and often mid vowels: {{IPA|/oha, eha/}} ≈ {{IPA|[owa, eja]}}, and transcriptions with ''w'' and ''y'' are common in the literature. The 1.ex suffixes begin with a glottal stop, not written here. ====Pronouns==== Personal and demonstrative pronouns are: {|class=wikitable |+Pronouns ! ||m.sg.||f.sg.||f.pl.||m.pl |- !1.exclusive |rowspan=2|ono ||rowspan=2|onoko ||ôbee ||ûbii |- !1.inclusive |onebee||unibii |- !2 |the||theko||ethebee||ithibii |- !3.proximal |hama||hako||habee||habii |- !3.given |bami||bôko||bee||bii |- !3.distal |naha||nâko||nâbee||nâbii |- !3.invisible |himiggê||himiggîko||himiggêbee||himiggîbii |} There are some additional 3rd-person pronouns, including some compound forms. Adverbs are formed from the 3rd-person forms by adding locative ''-na'': ''hamana'' 'here', ''beena'' 'there', ''naná'' 'over there', ''himiggêna'' 'in/behind there'. ===Verbs and adjectives=== An [[infix]] ⟨kV⟩, where V is an [[echo vowel]], occurs after the first syllable of verbs to indicate [[pluractional]]ity. The copula was covered above. Hadza has several [[auxiliary verb]]s: sequential ''ka-'' and ''ya-'' 'and then', negative ''akhwa-'' 'not', and [[subjunctive]] ''i-''. Their inflections may be irregular or have different inflectional endings from those of lexical verbs, which are as follows: {|class=wikitable |+Hadza TAM ([[tense–aspect–mood]]) inflections ! ||anterior/
(subjunctive) |- !1sg | -ˆta||-naa||-nee||-nikwi|| ||-na |- !1.ex | -ota||-aa||-ee||-ukwi|| ||-ya |- !1.in | -bita||-baa||-bee||-bikwi||(use 2pl)||-ba |- !2sg | -tita ~ -hita||-taa||-tee||-tikwi||-V||-ta |- !2f.pl | -(he)têta||-(he)tea||-hetee||rowspan=2|-ˆtîkwi||colspan=2|-(ˆ)te |- !2m.pl | -(hi)tîta||-(hi)tia||-hitii||colspan=2|-(ˆ)si |- !3m.sg | -heya||-hamo||-heso||-kwiso||-ka||-so |- !3f.sg | -hako||-hakwa||-heko||-kwiko||-kota||-ko |- !3f.pl | -hephee||-ame||-hese||-kwise||-keta||-se |- !3m.pl | -hiphii||-ami||-hisi||-kwisi||-kitcha||-si |} The functions of the anterior and posterior differs between auxiliaries; with lexical verbs, they are non-past and past. The potential and veridinal conditionals reflex the degree of certainty that something would have occurred. 1sg.npst ''-ˆta'' and a couple other forms lengthen the preceding vowel. The 1.ex forms apart from ''-ya'' begin with a glottal stop (not written). The imp.sg is a glottal stop followed by an [[echo vowel]]. Habitual forms take a tonic ''-hé'', which tends to reduce to a long vowel, before these endings. In some verbs, the habitual has become lexicalized (replacing the ''h'' of the 3.post forms to glottal stop), and so an actual habitual takes a second ''-hé''. Various compound tense-aspect-moods occur by doubling up the inflectional endings. There are several additional inflections which have not been worked out. The inflectional endings are [[clitic]]s and may occur on an adverb before the verb, leaving a bare verb stem (verb root plus object suffixes). ====Attributives==== As is common in the area, there are only a few bare-root adjectives in Hadza, such as ''pakapaa'' 'big'. Most attributive forms take a suffix with cross-gender-number marking: ''-he'' (m.sg. and f.pl.) ~ ''-hi'' (f.sg. and m.pl.). These agree with the noun they modify. The ''-hi'' form tends to trigger vowel harmony, so that, for example, the adjective ''one-'' 'sweet' has the following forms: {|class=wikitable |+''one'' 'sweet' ! ||sg.||pl |- !m | onê (onehe)||unîbii |- !f | unîko||onêbee |} The ''-ko/-bee/-bii'' ending may be replaced by the copula, but the ''e/i'' cross-number-gender marking remains. Demonstratives, adjectives, and other attributives may occur before or after a noun, but nouns only take their gender-number endings when they occur first in the noun phrase: ''Ondoshibii unîbii'' 'sweet cordia berries', ''manako unîko'' 'tasty meat', but ''unîbii ondoshi'' and ''unîko mana''. Similarly, ''dongoko bôko'' but ''bôko dongo'' 'those zebra'. Verbs may also be made attributive: ''dluzîko akwiti'' 'the woman (''akwitiko'') who is speaking', from ''dlozo'' 'to say'. This attributive form is used with the copula to form the [[progressive aspect]]: ''dlozênee'' 'I am speaking' (male speaker), ''dluzîneko'' 'I am speaking' (female speaker). ====Object marking==== Verbs may take up to two object suffixes, for a direct object (DO) and indirect object (IO). These only differ in the 1ex and 3sg. The IO suffixes are also used on nouns to indicate possession (''mako-kwa'' 'my pot', ''mako-ha-kwa'' 'it is my pot'). {|class=wikitable |+Object/possessive suffixes !rowspan=2| !!colspan=2|sing.!!colspan=2|plural |- !DO||IO||DO||IO |- !1.ex |rowspan=2 colspan=2| -kwa || -hoba || -ya |- !1.in |colspan=2| -hona ~ -yona |- !2m |colspan=2| -hena||colspan=2 rowspan=2| -hina |- !2f |colspan=2| -na |- !3m | -ha ~ -ya ~ -na||-ma||colspan=2| -hitcha |- !3f | -ta||-sa||colspan=2| -heta |} Two object suffixes are only allowed if the first (the DO) is 3rd person. In such cases the DO reduces to the form of the attributive suffix: ''-he'' (m.sg. / f.pl.) or ''-hi'' (f.sg. / m.pl.); only context tells which combination of number and gender is intended. 3rd-singular direct objects also reduce to this form in the imperative singular; 3rd-plural change their vowels but do not conflate with the singular: see 'dead zebra' under nouns above for an example of the forms. ==Dead animal names== Hadza has received some attention for a dozen 'celebratory' (Woodburn) or 'triumphal' (Blench) names for dead animals. These are used to announce a kill. They are (in the imperative singular): {|class=wikitable !Animal!!Generic name!!Triumphal name |- |zebra||dóngoko||hantáhii |- |giraffe||zzókwanako||háwahii |- |buffalo||naggomako||tíslii |- |leopard||nqé, tcánjahi||henqéhee |- |lion||séseme||hubúhee |- |eland||khómatiko||hubúhii |- |impala||p(h)óphoko||dlunkúhii |- |wildebeest
qqeléko||zzonóhii |- |colspan=2|other large antelope||hephéhee |- |colspan=2|small antelope||hichíhee |- |rhinoceros||tlhákate||hukhúhee |- |elephant
wezzáhiko||kapuláhii |- |warthog
kwai||hatcháhee |- |baboon||neeko||nqokhóhii |- |ostrich||khenángu||hushúhee |} The words are somewhat generic: ''henqehee'' may be used for any spotted cat, ''hushuhee (hushuwee)'' for any running ground bird. 'Lion' and 'eland' are distinguished only by gender. Blench (2008) thinks this may have something to do with the eland being considered magical in the region. An IO suffix may be used to reference the person who made the kill. Compare ''hanta'' 'zebra' with the more mundane verbs, ''qhasha'' 'to carry' and ''kw-'' 'to give', in the imperative singular and plural (Miller 2009): {|class=wikitable |hanta-hi-i
(hanta-hi-kwa-te) |- |zebra-DO.3fs-IMP||zebra-DO.3fs-IO.1sg-IMP |- |a zebra!||I got a zebra! |} {|class=wikitable |qhasha-hi-i
(kw-i-kwa-te) |- |carry-DO.3fs-IMP||give-DO.3fs-IO.1sg-IMP |- |carry it!||give it to me! |} ==External links== *[http://www.african.gu.se/maho/eball/samples/sample_w500.html Hadza bibliography] *[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=hts Ethnologue Report for Hadza] *[http://www.bec.ucla.edu/papers/Mountain_3-7-05_science.clicks.pdf ''Science'' article speculating on the status of clicks in the original human language (PDF file)] Hadza wordlist and sound files.