Shua , or ''Shwakhwe'', is a Khoe language (Central Khoisan) of

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

. It is spoken in central Botswana (in

Nata Nata could refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Nata, Botswana, a village in Central District of Botswana * Nata, Cyprus, a small village near Paphos, Cyprus * Natá, Coclé, a town and corregimiento in Natá District, Coclé Province, Panama * Natá D ...

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. The linguistic variety spoken in the township of

in northeast Botswana is highly endangered and spoken fluently only by adults over about thirty years of age. The term ''Shwakhwe'' means people (''khwe'') from the salty area (''shwa'').

Phonology

Consonants

* // is only phonemic in the Ts'ixa and Danisi dialects only.

Vowels

Shua has the five vowels , and three nasal vowels .

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. * '', uˉiˉ'' ‘one’ * '', am'' ‘two’ * ''ngona: ~ ‖obeˉ:ˉ'' ‘three’ * ''hatsa:'' ‘four’ * '', ’oˉra:'' ‘a few’ * ''‖hara:'' ‘many’ 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."

Dialects

Shua is a

dialect cluster A dialect continuum or dialect chain is a series of language varieties spoken across some geographical area such that neighboring varieties are mutually intelligible, but the differences accumulate over distance so that widely separated vari ...

. *Deti (10 or fewer speakers) *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 ''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.

References

External links

Shua basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
{{Languages of Botswana Khoe languages Languages of Botswana stub