Tshwa language

"Kua" redirects here. For other uses, see KUA (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Tshwa language (Bantu).

Tsoa, Tshwa or Tshuwau, also known as Kua and Hiechware, is an East Kalahari Khoe dialect cluster spoken by several thousand people in Botswana and Zimbabwe.

Tsoa
Kua, "Koisan"
Hiechware
Native to	Botswana, Zimbabwe
Native speakers	6,000 (2000–2013)
Language family	Khoe–Kwadi Khoe Kalahari (Tshu–Khwe) East Tsoa
Dialects	Hiechware Kua Cire Cire
Official status
Official language in	Zimbabwe (as 'Koisan')
Language codes
ISO 639-3	Either: hio – Tsoa tyu – Kua
Glottolog	tshw1239
ELP	Tshwa

One of the dialects is Tjwao (formerly spelled 'Tshwao'), the only Khoisan language in Zimbabwe, where "Koisan" is a language officially recognised in the constitution.

Dialects

Tsoa–Kua is a dialect cluster, which is still poorly studied but seems to include:

• Tsoa, also known as Hiechware and as various other combinations of Hio-, Hie-, Hai- + Chwa, Tshwa, Chuwau, Tshuwau + -re, -ri; also as Sarwa, Sesarwa (the Tswana name), Gǁabake-Ntshori, Tati, and Kwe-Etshori Kwee. Zimbabwean Tshwao apparently belongs here.
• Kua, also spelled Cua and Tyhua. That is, both Tsoa and Kua may be pronounced something like [tʃwa], and it's not clear that they are distinct dialects.
• Cire Cire [tʃire tʃire], spoken in the area around Nata in Botswana.

Phonology

The following inventory is of the Kua dialect:

Consonant phonemes of the Kua dialect, Mathes (2015)

			Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar		Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Click	nasal			ᵑǀ	ᵑǃ		ᵑǁ	ᵑǂ
	voiceless			ᵏǀ	ᵏǃ		ᵏǁ	ᵏǂ
	voiced			ᶢǀ			ᶢǁ	ᶢǂ
	aspirated			ǀʰ			ǁʰ	ǂʰ
	ejective			ǀʼ			ǁʼ
	glottalized			ǀˀ	ǃˀ		ǁˀ	ǂˀ
Nasal			m		n			ɲ	ŋ
Plosive/ Affricate	voiceless		p		t	ts		c	k	q	ʔ
	aspirated		pʰ		tʰ	tsʰ		cʰ	kʰ	qʰ
	ejective				tʼ	tsʼ		cʼ	kʼ	qχʼ
	voiced		b		d	dz		ɟ	ɡ	ɢ
Fricative					s					χ	h
Rhotic					r
Approximant			w				l	j
Clusters
Click	+fricative			ǀχ			ǁχ
	+affricate			ǀqχʼ	ǃqχʼ		ǁqχʼ
	+uvular	vl		qǀ	qǃ		qǁ	qǂ
		vd		ɢǀ			ɢǁ
		+asp		qǀʰ			qǁʰ	qǂʰ
Plosive	+fricative				tχ			cχ
Affricate	+fricative				tsχ
Ejective	+affricate				tsqχʼ			cqχʼ

The Cire-cire (not cited) dialect has the following consonant inventory:

Consonant phonemes of the Cire-cire dialect (not cited)

		Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Post- alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Click	nasal		ᵑǀ	(ᵑǃ)	ᵑǁ	(ᵑǂ)
	voiceless		ᵏǀ	(ᵏǃ)	ᵏǁ	(ᵏǂ)
	voiced		ᶢǀ	(ᶢǃ)	ᶢǁ	(ᶢǂ)
	aspirated		ǀʰ	(ǃʰ)	ǁʰ	(ǂʰ)
	glottalized		ᵑǀˀ		ᵑǁˀ
	affricate		(ǀqχ)		(ǁqχ)
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	voiceless	p		t			k	q	ʔ
	voiced	b		d			ɡ
Affricate	voiceless					tʃ
	voiced			dz		dʒ
Fricative	voiceless			s		ʃ		χ
	voiced			z
Approximant					l

The clicks have a very uneven distribution: Only a dozen words begin with one of the palatal clicks (ǂ), and these are replaced by dental clicks (ǀ) among younger speakers. Only half a dozen words start with one of the alveolar clicks (ǃ), and half a dozen more with one of the affricated clicks. These rather marginal sounds are placed in parentheses in the chart.

	front	back
high	i ĩ	u ũ
mid	e	o
low	a ã

Tsoa has the five vowels /a e i o u/, and three nasal vowels /ĩ ã ũ/. It is not clear if Tsoa has long vowels, or simply sequences of identical vowels /aa ee ii oo uu/.

There are two tones, high and low, plus a few cases of mid tone.

In the northern dialect of Kua, like all other East Kalahari Khoe languages, the palatal click series has become palatal stops. Southern Kua has retained the palatal clicks, but the dental stops have palatalized, as they have in Gǀui and ǂʼAmkoe. Thus northern Kua has /ɟua/ 'ash' and /d̪u/ 'eland', whereas southern Kua has ᶢǂua 'ash' and /d̪ʲu/ (or perhaps /ɟu/) 'eland'.

Bibliography

• Vossen, Rainer (ed.). 2013a. The Khoesan Languages. London & New York: Routledge.

External links

• Kua/Tsua basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database