Editing Khwe language (section)

==Phonology==
{{cleanup lang|date=September 2021}}
Khwe has 70 phonemic [[consonant]]s, including 36 [[Click consonant|clicks]], as well as 25 vowel phonemes, including diphthongs and nasalised vowels. Khwe's tone system has been analysed as containing 9 syllabic tones (3 register and 6 contour),<ref>{{Cite journal|title = The development of sound systems in human language|last = Köhler|first = K.|date = 1998|journal = Approaches to the Evolution of Language: Social and Cognitive Bases|editor-last = Hurford|editor-first = J.}}</ref> although more recent proposed analyses identify only 3 lexical tones, high, mid and low, with the [[Mora (linguistics)|mora]] as the basic unit of phonological structure.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title = A grammar of modern Khwe|last = Kilian-Hatz|first = Christa|publisher = Rüdiger Köppe|year = 2008|location = Cologne|work = Quellen zur Khoisanforschung 23}}</ref> Tone sandhi processes are common in Khwe and related languages.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title = Perception and Cognition in Language and Culture|last1 = Storch|first1 = Ann|publisher = Brill|year = 2013|location = Leiden|first2 = Alexandra|last2 = Aikhenvald}}</ref>

=== Vowels ===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+ Khwe vowels
|-
! !![[Front vowel|Front]]
![[Central vowel|Central]]!![[Back vowel|Back]]
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|{{IPA link|i}}
| ||{{IPA link|u}}
|-
![[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|{{IPA link|e}}
|
| rowspan="2" |{{IPA link|o}}
|-
![[Open-mid vowel|Open-mid]]
|{{IPA link|ɛ}}
|
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|
|{{IPA link|a}}
|
|}
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
! colspan="5" |Diphthongs
|-
![[Close vowel|Close]]
|ui
|ue
|uɛ
|ua
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Close-mid vowel|Close-mid]]
|ei
|eu
|
|
|-
|oe
|oɛ
|oa
|
|-
![[Open vowel|Open]]
|ae
|ao
|
|
|}

* /o/ is realized as [o] when lengthened, but is realized as [ɔ] if it is pronounced short.
* Three nasal vowels are recognized as /ã ĩ ũ/. A nasal /õ/ also exists, but only in diphthongs as /õã/.
* Nasal diphthongs include /ãĩ, ũĩ, ãũ, õã/.
* /oɛ/ and /uɛ/ are free in variation with /oe/ and /ue/, but only dependent upon speakers.

=== Consonants ===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+Khwe pulmonic consonants
! colspan="2" rowspan="2" |
! rowspan="2" |[[Labial consonant|Labial]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Dental consonant|Alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br>alveolar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
! colspan="2" |[[Velar consonant|Velar]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Uvular consonant|Uvular]]
! rowspan="2" |[[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
!<small>plain</small>
!<small>[[Palatalization (phonetics)|pal.]]</small>
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
| {{IPA link|ɲ}}
| {{IPA link|ŋ}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="5" |[[Stop consonant|Plosive]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPA link|p}}
| {{IPA link|t}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|k}}
| {{IPA link|kʲ}}
| {{IPA link|q}}
| {{IPA link|ʔ}}
|-
!<small>[[Aspirated consonant|aspirated]]</small>
| {{IPA link|pʰ}}
| {{IPA link|tʰ}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|kʰ}}
| {{IPA link|kʰʲ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
|
| {{IPA link|tʼ}}
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA link|b}}
| {{IPA link|d}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ɡ}}
| {{IPA link|ɡʲ}}
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Prenasalized consonant|prenasal]]</small>
| {{IPA link|ᵐb}}
| {{IPA link|ⁿd}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|ᵑɡ}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="4" |[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
|
|
| {{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
|
|
| {{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Velar consonant|velar]]</small>
|
| {{IPA|tx}}
| {{IPA|t͡ʃx}}
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
!<small>[[Ejective consonant|ejective]]</small>
|
|
| {{IPA link|t͡ʃʼ}}
|
| {{IPA link|kxʼ}}
|
|
|
|-
! rowspan="2" |[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!<small>[[Voicelessness|voiceless]]</small>
| {{IPA link|f}}
| ({{IPA link|s}})
| {{IPA link|ʃ}}
| ({{IPA link|ç}})
| {{IPA link|x}}
|
|
| {{IPA link|h}}
|-
!<small>[[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]]</small>
| {{IPA link|v}}
|
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Trill consonant|Trill]]
|
| {{IPA link|r}}
|
|
| colspan="2" |
|
|
|-
! colspan="2" |[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|
| ({{IPA link|l}})
|
| {{IPA link|j}}
| {{IPA link|w}}
|
|
|
|}

* /ʃ/ is realized as [ç] only in Buma-Khwe, but as [s] in ǁXo-Khwe and Buga-Khwe, and as [ʃ] in ǁXom-Khwe
* /l/ is only found in borrowings.

=== Click consonants ===
Khoe click inventories generally combine four anterior constrictions types with nine to eleven anterior constrictions. The exact size of the click inventory in Khwe is unclear. Köhler established an inventory of 36 click phonemes, from combinations of four influxes /ǀ ǂ ǃ ǁ/, and nine effluxes (only five on the alveolar), as well as a borrowed [[voiced alveolar click]], /ǃᶢ/. Khwe is the only language to have a pre-nasalized voiced click.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite book|title = Khwe dictionary with a supplement on Khwe place names of West Caprivi|last = Kilian-Hatz|first = Christa|publisher = Rüdiger Köppe Verlag|year = 2003|isbn = 3-89645-083-2|location = Cologne|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/khwedictionary00chri}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+Khwe clicks
!
![[Dental click|Dental]]
![[Alveolar click|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal click|Palatal]]
![[Lateral click|Lateral]]
|-
![[Voicelessness|Voiceless]]
|{{IPA link|ǀᵏ}}
|{{IPA link|ǃᵏ}}
|{{IPA link|ǂᵏ}}
|{{IPA link|ǁᵏ}}
|-
![[Glottalized click|Glottalized]]
|{{IPA link|ǀˀ}}
|{{IPA link|ǃˀ}}
|{{IPA link|ǂˀ}}
|{{IPA link|ǁˀ}}
|-
![[Voice (phonetics)|Voiced]]
|{{IPA link|ǀᶢ}}
|{{IPA link|ǃᶢ}}
|{{IPA link|ǂᶢ}}
|{{IPA link|ǁᶢ}}
|-
![[Aspirated consonant|Aspirated]]
|{{IPA link|ǀᵏʰ}}
|{{IPA link|ǃᵏʰ}}
|{{IPA link|ǂᵏʰ}}
|{{IPA link|ǁᵏʰ}}
|-
![[Nasal click|Nasal]]
|{{IPA link|ᵑǀ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑǃ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑǂ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑǁ}}
|-
![[Nasal click|Voiced nasal]]
|{{IPA link|ᵑǀᶢ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑǃᶢ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑǂᶢ}}
|{{IPA link|ᵑǁᶢ}}
|-
![[Pulmonic-contour click|Uvular stop]]
|{{IPA|ǀq}}
|{{IPA|ǃq}}
|{{IPA|ǂq}}
|{{IPA|ǁq}}
|-
![[Pulmonic-contour click|Fricative]]
|{{IPA link|ǀᵏˣ}}
|{{IPA link|ǃᵏˣ}}
|{{IPA link|ǂᵏˣ}}
|{{IPA link|ǁᵏˣ}}
|-
![[Pulmonic-contour click|Affricate ejective]]
|{{IPA link|ǀᵏˣʼ}}
|{{IPA link|ǃᵏˣʼ}}
|{{IPA link|ǂᵏˣʼ}}
|{{IPA link|ǁᵏˣʼ}}
|}

=== Tones ===
There are three tones in Khwe: high /V́/, mid /V̄/, low /V̀/. Long vowels and diphthongs have eight tones (missing only *mid–low as a combination).