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In 2003 the press widely reported suggestions by Alec Knight and Joanna Mountain of ] that the original human language may have had clicks. The evidence for this is genetic: the ] and the Hadza have the most divergent known ] 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: In 2003 the press widely reported suggestions by Alec Knight and Joanna Mountain of ] that the original human language may have had clicks. The evidence for this is genetic: the ] and the Hadza have the most divergent known ] 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 ], since the origin of humanity; * Both groups have kept their languages intact, without ], since the origin of humanity;
* Neither borrowed clicks as part of a ], as the ] and ] did; and * Neither borrowed clicks as part of a ], as the ], Zulu and ] did; and
* Neither the ancestors of the Juǀʼhoansi nor those of the Hadzabe developed clicks independently. * Neither the ancestors of the Juǀʼhoansi nor those of the Hadzabe developed clicks independently.
Intriguingly, Alec Knight himself suggests 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 mostly solitary hunters, at least currently.) If he's right, 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. Intriguingly, Alec Knight himself suggests 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 mostly solitary hunters, at least currently.) If he's right, 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.

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Hadza
RegionLake Eyasi, Tanzania
Native speakers975 (2005)
Language familylanguage isolate
Language codes
ISO 639-3hts
ELPHadza

Hadza is a language isolate spoken by fewer than a thousand people along the shores of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania. Despite the small number of speakers, language use is vigorous, with most children learning it.

The Hadza people are still partially hunter-gatherers, though there have been repeated efforts to settle them. However, the recent eradication of the tsetse fly from Hadza lands has cleared the way for cattle herders, charcoal burners, game hunters, and farmers, and the Hadza are losing their water, forest, food, and land to overexploitation. Today the Hadza are in partial control of around 30% of their original homeland.

Classification

Hadza has traditionally been classified as a Khoisan language, along with its neighbor Sandawe, primarily because they both have clicks. However, Hadza has very few proposed cognates 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, appear to be Cushitic loan words, while the links with southern Africa are so few and short (usually single CV syllables) that they could easily be coincidence. There are also a few apparent cognates with the possibly spurious Oropom language.

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: the Juǀʼhoan and the 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 the origin of humanity;
  • Neither borrowed clicks as part of a Sprachbund, as the Xhosa, Zulu and Sotho did; and
  • Neither the ancestors of the Juǀʼhoansi nor those of the Hadzabe developed clicks independently.

Intriguingly, Alec Knight himself suggests 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 mostly solitary hunters, at least currently.) If he's right, 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

Tone

It is not known if Hadza has lexical tone. It may have a pitch accent system, but the details have not been worked out.

Vowels

Hadza has five vowels, . Long vowels may occur when intervocalic is elided. For example, or , to climb. Nasal vowels, while uncommon, do occur. Vowels are also nasalized before glottalized nasal clicks.

Consonants

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal/
Postalveolar 		Velar Epiglottal Glottal
Central Lateral Central Lateral Plain Labialized
Click Aspirated ǀʰ ǃʰ ǁʰ
Tenuis ǀ ǃ ǁ
Nasal ǀ ǃ ǁ
Glottalized nasal (ʘˀ) ǀˀ ǃˀ ǁˀ
Stop Aspirated pʰ tʰ kʰ kʷʰ
Tenuis p t k kʷ ʔ
Voiced b d ɡ ɡʷ
Ejective (pʼ)
Aspirated prenasalized pʰ tʰ kʰ
Voiced prenasalized b d ɡ ɡʷ
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ ŋʷ
Affricate Aspirated tsʰ tʃʰ cʰ
Tenuis ts tʃ c
Voiced dz dʒ
Ejective tsʼ tʃʼ cʼ kxʼ kxʷʼ
Aspirated prenasalized tsʰ
Voiced prenasalized dz dʒ
Fricative f s ɬ ʃ (ʜ)
Approximant ɾ ~ l j w ɦ
  1. The nasalization of the glottalized nasal clicks is apparent on preceding and sometimes following vowels, but not during the click itself. The labial /ŋʘʔ/ (or /ŋʘ/) is found in a single mimetic word where it alternates with /ŋǀ/.
  2. The labial ejective /pʼ/ is only found in a few words.
  3. If the palatal affricates do not display properly, they can also be written etc.
  4. The velar ejective /kxʼ/ varies between a plosive , an affricate , a lateral affricate , and a fricative . The other ejective affricates may also appear as ejective fricatives.
  5. The lateral approximant /l/ is found as a flap between vowels and occasionally elsewhere.
  6. The epiglottal fricative ʜ is only known from a single word, where it alternates with /kʰ/.

Bibliography

  • Sands, Bonny E. (1998) 'The Linguistic Relationship between Hadza and Khoisan' In Schladt, Matthias (ed.) Language, Identity, and Conceptualization among the Khoisan (Quellen zur Khoisan-Forschung Vol. 15), Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 265-283.
  • Bonny Sands, Ian Maddieson, Peter Ladefoged (1993). 'The Phonetic Structures of Hadza', UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics, No. 84: Fieldwork Studies in Targeted Languages.
  • A.N. Tucker, M.A. Bryan, and James Woodburn as co-author for Hadza (1977). 'The East African Click Languages: A Phonetic Comparison'. In J.G. Moehlig, Franz Rottland, Bernd Heine, eds, Zur Sprachgeschichte und Ethnohistorie in Afrika. Berlin: Dietrich Diener Verlag.

External links

References

Khoisan languages
Khoe–Kwadi
Khoe
Kwadi
Kxʼa
ǃKung
ǂʼAmkoeǂʼAmkoe (ǂHoan)
Tuu
Taa
ǃKwi
Isolates
  • Italics indicate extinct languages.

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