Voices past and present: A comparison of Old Cape dialectal, Bushman and Khoikhoi words

Peter E. Raper

Description

The preservation of South Africa’s indigenous languages – the extinct Bushman and Khoikhoi languages in particular – is a pressing concern. Voices Past and Present serves as a comprehensive, scholarly and practical source for documenting and preserving some of them. The subcontinent of Africa has been inhabited by Bushman, Khoikhoi and Bantu-speaking peoples for thousands of years, and, for the past few centuries, also by European-speaking peoples. Contact between these peoples brought about changes in the different languages. As a result, modern languages are no longer identical to the original ones, many of which, especially in the case of the Bushman and Khoikhoi languages, have become extinct. Words used in ancient times and recorded long ago often bear no resemblance to their modern counterparts.In this book, Peter E. Raper provides a detailed investigation of the earliest recordings of words available. Words from Old Cape dialects are compared for correspondences in sound and meaning to words from 29 Bushman languages and dialects, as well as to words from Nama, Koranna, Griqua, !Xuhn, !Xoon, Khwe and N/uu.Voices Past and Present provides an extensive corpus of words that can be further utilised for the purpose of shedding light on the specific languages from which the recorded words (and names) were derived, on historical distribution of the various groups, on the classification of the different languages and peoples, for determining relationships or otherwise between the different languages, potentially identifying components of place-names and ethnonyms from ancient and extinct languages, and elucidating other matters that have long vexed scholars who have complained about a lack of recorded data.

Sujets

• Littérature Sud-Africaine
• Littérature sud-africaine
• San
• Bushman
• Consonant
• Vowel
• Khoisan
• Orthographic projection
• Indigenous

Informations

• Publié par: UJ Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781928424499
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

VOICES PAST PRESENT AND

A comparison o Old Cape dialectal, Bushman and Khoikhoi words

Peter E. Raper

PETER E. RAPER

Professor Extraordinaire and Research Fellow

Faculty of the Humanities | University of the Free State

Voices Past and Present – A comparison of Old Cape dialectal, Bushman and Khoikhoi words

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First edition 2020 978-1-928424-48-2 (Print 978-1-928424-49-9 (electronic PDF) DOI: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424499

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Research, professional and reference works are published under this imprint in print and electronic format.

This printed copy can be ordered directly from: [e-mail] The e-book is available at the following link: https://doi.org/10.18820/9781928424499

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PREFACE ..............................................................................................

1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9

INTRODUCTION ......................................................................

Scope o the present study ................................................................ Khoisan, Bushman and San ............................................................... Identity o the speakers ...................................................................... Cultural distinction ............................................................................ Earliest indigenous words recorded ................................................ Cape dialects ......................................................................................... Orthographic representation ............................................................ Extinct Bushman ethnic groups and languages ........................... Modern Khoisan languages ...............................................................

2 ORTHOGRAPHIES .................................................................. 2.1 Ancient and extinct Bushman languages ...................................... 2.1.1 Clicks ......................................................................................... 2.1.2 Click releases, accompaniments or eluxes .................... 2.1.3 Consonants and vowels ........................................................ 2.1.4 Other symbols ......................................................................... 2.2Nama...................................................................................................... 2.2.1 Clicks ......................................................................................... 2.2.2 Vowels ....................................................................................... 2.2.3 Consonants .............................................................................. 2.2.4 Gender endings ....................................................................... 2.3 Khoekhoegowab .................................................................................. 2.4 The !Xuhn language ............................................................................ 2.4.1 Clicks ......................................................................................... 2.4.2 Vowels ....................................................................................... 2.4.3 Consonants .............................................................................. 2.4.4 Consonants used as symbols to indicate  vowel values ............................................................................ 2.4.5 Tone ...........................................................................................

VII

1 3 3 6 8 10 10 11 14 16

19 19 19 19 20 23 23 23 24 24 25 25 27 28 28 28

29 29

2.5

2.6

3 3.1 3.2

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6 6.1

6.2 6.3

7

West !Xoon .......................................................................................... 2.5.1 Click symbols ......................................................................... 2.5.2 Click eluxes ........................................................................... Khwe ..................................................................................................... 2.6.1 Clicks ....................................................................................... 2.6.2 Click accompaninents ........................................................... 2.6.3 Consonants .............................................................................. 2.6.4 Applied orthography .............................................................

COMMENTS ............................................................................... Click terminology ................................................................................ Click releases and other symbols ....................................................

BUSHMAN AND KHOIKHOI EQUIVALENTS OF OLD CAPE DIALECTAL WORDS .........................................

COGNATE COMPARISONS ....................................................

OBSERVATIONS AND COMMENTS ..................................... Phonological variability ..................................................................... 6.1.1 Consonants .............................................................................. 6.1.2 Vowels ....................................................................................... 6.1.3 Digraphs and diphthongs ..................................................... The suix –qua ................................................................................... Synonyms .............................................................................................

CONCLUSIONS .........................................................................

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................

30 30 30 31 31 31 32 32

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451 451 451 457 460 463 464

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his manuscript was inspired by and is based on the publicationHottentots T (1963) by Proessor Gawie Nienaber, my riend and colleague at the Human Sciences Research Council or more than twenty years, with whom I co- authored the trilogyToponymica Hottentotica(1977 and 1980) and with whom, together with Dr Lucie Möller, I collaborated on the publicationKhoekhoense Stamname(1989).

In his bookHottentotsNienaber compared words rom three old Cape dialects with words rom Nama, Korana and Griqua. The present study has extended the investigation to include comparable words rom some 29 ancient and mainly extinct Bushman languages, as well as rom N/uu, Khwe, West !Xoon, !Xuhn, Cua, Tsua, and G/wi. In the present investigation words rom some orty languages and dialects are compared phonologically, orthographically and semantically to the old Cape dialects.

th The old Cape dialects became extinct by the end o the 18 century. The original indigenous languages and dialects were unwritten, and the earliest recorders o these languages rendered the words in writing as best they could, based on the sounds o the words. For clicks and other sounds a wide variety o letters, signs and symbols were employed. Over the centuries dierent orthographic conventions were instituted or the dierent languages and dialects that were not always in accordance with each other.

Many o the original languages have become extinct, and there is no way o telling exactly how the words were pronounced in speech, and the closest we can get to it is by examining the earliest recorded words. Logically, i words rom dierent languages are to be compared with each other, they should have been in use at the same time, or as close to each other in time as possible. For

VII

VOICES PAST AND PRESENT

this reason the earliest sources o words, dictionaries and so on were used in the present investigation.

In view o the lack o uniormity between the dierent sources, the spelling and symbols used by each are reproduced in the present work.

I take this opportunity o expressing my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my riend and colleague Lucie Möller or her constant encouragement and support, and particularly in bringing the present work to completion. Sincere thanks are also expressed to Proessor L. Theodorus du Plessis, the Head o the Department o Sign Language and Dea Studies o the University o the Free State or his support and encouragement, and or inancial support or this publication, and to the peer reviewers or their positive comments and proposals.

Peter E. Raper

VIII

INTRODUCTION

- 1 - INTRODUCTION

The subcontinent o Arica has been inhabited by many Bushman, Khoikhoi and Bantu-speaking peoples or thousands o years, and, or the past ew centuries, also by European-speaking peoples. Biological and language contact between these peoples, and the mutual eect these have had on each other, have brought about changes in the dierent languages. Words and names have been adopted, adapted, translated, reinterpreted, and so orth. As a result, modern languages are no longer identical to the original ones, many o which, especially in the case o the Bushman and Khoikhoi languages, have become extinct. Words used in ancient times and recorded long ago oten bear no resemblance to their modern counterparts. For this reason, as Brenzinger (2013:2) points out, the earliest sources “are essential to the reconstruction o language history”.

For this reason recourse was taken to the earliest recordings o words available. Nienaber (1963) included Cape dialectal words recorded rom 1595 to about 1820, and compared them with Korana, Griqua and Nama words. Bleek (1929, 1956) included words rom 29 Bushman languages and dialects, not only recorded during her own ield work, but gathered rom other sources. In the Introduction to Bleek’sA Bushman Dictionary(1956:[iv]), Proessor J.A. Engelbrecht wrote: “In compiling it she made it her aim to include every list o Bushman words that had ever been recorded – a most laborious undertaking, in that it meant scrutinising whatever sources were known or presumed to have such lists. It urther meant that larger vocabularies, representing dierent languages and dialects, had to be assembled.” Bleek’s predecessors utilised dierent symbols to denote the clicks and other phonological aspects o the recorded words, which she described and indicated in herDictionary, but she used the signs o the International Phonetic Association (IPA), except or the clicks, “or which I

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