ǁXegwi (pronounced ), also known as ''Batwa,'' is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
ǃKwi language spoken at
Lake Chrissie in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, near the
Swazi border. The last known speaker, Jopi Mabinda, was murdered in 1988. However, a reporter for the South African newspaper ''
Mail & Guardian
The ''Mail & Guardian'', formerly the ''Weekly Mail'', is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, loca ...
'' reports that ǁXegwi may still be spoken in the
Chrissiesmeer district.
The ǁXegwi name for their language has been spelled ''giǁkwi꞉gwi'' or ''kiǁkwi꞉gwi.'' Their name for themselves has been transcribed ''tlou tle'' or ''kxlou-kxle'', presumably . The Nguni (Zulu and Swazi) called them ''(a)batwa, amaNkqeshe, amaNgqwigqwi''; the Sotho called them ''Baroa/Barwa''.
Phonology
ǁXegwi lost the abrupt clicks (the various manners of
ǂ and
ǃ) found in its relatives. It reacquired from
Nguni Bantu languages
The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...
, but clicks remained relatively infrequent, compared to other Tuu languages. It also had a series of
uvular plosives
In phonetics, a plosive, also known as an occlusive or simply a stop, is a pulmonic consonant in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
The occlusion may be made with the tongue tip or blade (, ), tongue body (, ), lip ...
not found in other Tuu languages.
References
External links
ǁXegwi basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xegwi language
Extinct languages of Africa
Tuu languages
Languages of South Africa
Languages extinct in the 1980s
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