Kgalagadi language

Kgalagadi is a Bantu language spoken in Botswana, along the South African border. It is spoken by about 40,000 people.^[3] In the language, it is known as Shekgalagari.

Kgalagadi
Kalahari
SheKgalagadi
Native to	Botswana
Ethnicity	Kgalagadi
Native speakers	65,400 (2015)[1]
Language family	Niger-Congo Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Southern Bantu Sotho–Tswana Kgalagadi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	xkv
Glottolog	kgal1244
Guthrie code	S.311 (ex-S.31d)[2]
ELP	Kgalagadi
Linguasphere	incl. varieties 99-AUT-eha to 99-AUT-ehc 99-AUT-eh incl. varieties 99-AUT-eha to 99-AUT-ehc

Classification

Kgalagadi (also rendered Kgalagari, Kgalagarhi, Kgalagari, Khalagari, Khalakadi, Kxhalaxadi, Qhalaxarzi, Shekgalagadi, Shekgalagari, Kqalaqadi) is most closely related to Tswana, and until recently was classified as a dialect of Tswana.^[2]

Dialects include Shengologa, Sheshaga, Shebolaongwe, Shelala, Shekhena, Sheritjhauba and Shekgwatheng.

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e ~ ɪ		o ~ ʊ
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

• Close-mid vowels /e, o/ are frequently heard as near-close sounds [ɪ, ʊ] among speakers in free variation.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar	Uvular	Glottal
				plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.
Stop	voiceless	p	t̪					c	cʷ	k	q
	aspirated	pʰ	t̪ʰ					cʰ	cʰʷ	kʰ	qʰ
	voiced	b	d̪					ɟ		g
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡sʷ	t͡ʃ	t͡ʃʷ
	aspirated			t͡sʰ	t͡sʰʷ	t͡ʃʰ	t͡ʃʰʷ
	voiced			(d͡z)		d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless			s		ʃ	ʃʷ				χ	h
	voiced			z		ʒ	ʒʷ					(ɦ)
Nasal		m	(n̪)	n				ɲ		ŋ
Trill				r
Approximant				l				j		w

• Click sounds /ʘ, ǀ, ǀŋ, ǃŋ/ are also said to occur, but mostly in rare cases.^[4]
• A voiceless trill [r̥] may also occur phonemically among dialects, and may also be pronounced as breathy [r̤] in intervocalic positions.
• /r/ may also be heard as a flap [ɾ].
• /n/ may also be heard as [n̪] in free variation, or when preceding dental stops.
• /qʰ/ may also be heard as [q͡χʰ] in free variation.
• Lateral affricates [t͡ɬ, t͡ɬʰ] may occur from loanwords.^[5]
• Sounds /z, ʒ/ can be pronounced in free variation as affricates [d͡z, d͡ʒ] in the Bolaongwe dialect.
• /h/ can be heard as voiced [ɦ] when in intervocalic positions.^[6]