Shua language

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Shua Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, or Shwakhwe, is a Khoe language (Central Khoisan) of Botswana. It is spoken in central Botswana (in Nata and its surroundings), and in parts of the Chobe District in the extreme north of Botswana. There are approximately 6,000 speakers (Cook 2004) and approximately 2,000 out of those 6,000 speakers are native speakers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The linguistic variety spoken in the township of Nata in northeast Botswana is highly endangered and spoken fluently only by adults over about thirty years of age.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The term Shwakhwe means people (khwe) from the salty area (shwa).

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Lateral	Post- alveolar	Velar		Glottal
Click	nasal		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
	voiceless		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	voiced		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
	aspirated		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
	ejective		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
	uvular		main}}			main}}	main}}
	prenasal		Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
Nasal		Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
	voiced	Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
	aspirated			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
	ejective			Template:IPA link	Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link	(Template:IPA link)
	prenasal							Template:IPA link
Fricative				Template:IPA link				Template:IPA link		Template:IPA link
Approximant							Template:IPA link
Cluster
+Velar fricative			main}}	{{#invoke:IPA|main}}		main}}
+Vd +Velar fricative						Template:IPA link
+Nasal +Velar fricative			Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link
+Velar ejective			Template:IPA link			Template:IPA link

• /Template:IPA link/ is only phonemic in the Tsʼixa and Danisi dialects.

Vowels

Shua has the five vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}}, and three nasal vowels {{#invoke:IPA|main}}.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Syntax

Unlike most Khoisan languages, but like Nama, the most neutral word order is SOV, though word order is relatively free. As with most Khoisan languages, there are postpositions. There is a tense-aspect marker ke which often appears in second position in affirmative sentences in the present tense, giving X Aux S O V order (e.g. S Aux O V).

This marker appears first in certain subordinate clauses in a manner reminiscent of V2 languages such as German, where a clause-initial complementizer is in complementary distribution with a second position phenomenon (in German, it would be the finite verb which appears in second position).

Numerals

Shua has indigenous terms for numeral terms, it is a restrictive and limited system of numerals.

• |uˉiˉTemplate:What ‘one’
• |amTemplate:What ‘two’
• ngona: ~ ‖obeˉ:ˉTemplate:What ‘three’
• hatsa:Template:What ‘four’
• |’oˉra:Template:What ‘a few’
• ‖hara:Template:What ‘many’ <ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Using this example, the numeral comes before the head noun. More specifically, it appears in the second "opening" of a noun phrase "following a demonstrative or determiner (if there is one), and preceding a qualifying nominal or adjective."<ref name=":0" />

Dialects

Shua is a dialect cluster.

• Deti (10 or fewer speakers)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
• Ganádi
• Shwa-khwe
• Nǀoo-khwe
• Kǀoree-khoe or ǀOree-khwe
• ǁʼAiye or ǀAaye
• ǀXaise or ǀTaise
• Tshidi-khwe or Tcaiti or Sili or Shete Tsere
• Danisi or Demisa or Madenasse or Madinnisane
• Cara
• ǁGoro (ǁ᪶Oro) or ǀXaio

The term Hietshware (Hietʃware, Hietʃo) is used for varieties of both Shua and its sister-language Tshwa.

Tsʼixa (200 speakers) is evidently a distinct language.

External links

• Shua basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database

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